Chapter 14
At least now he knew how she kept breaking into his house, Garrett thought as he watched the small woman who disappeared this morning lodge what appeared to be a flathead screwdriver beneath the window and pried it open just far enough so that she could slide her fingertips beneath it.
From there, she shoved the window open with an adorable grunt, grabbed what appeared to be a thick stick and propped it beneath the window before tossing a small backpack inside. That was followed by grumbling to herself as she pulled herself inside and-
“My face.”
-had his lips twitching as he sat on the couch, absently petting the dog that refused to leave his side.
For a moment, Garrett considered asking her what happened earlier, but…
He wanted to see how this played out.
He watched as Kristen slapped her small hand on top of his desk with a groan before pulling herself to her feet, grumbling to herself as she reached down and snatched her bag off the floor, threw it over her shoulder, slowly exhaled, and promptly leveled a glare in his direction.
That was followed by shifting that glare to the dog that refused to go home with her this morning during what he could only describe as a nervous breakdown with all that muttering and everything.
“Traitor,” Kristen mumbled pathetically as she shifted the bag over her shoulder, shot him one last glare and stormed off, leaving him sitting there, petting the dog.
When he heard the frantic sounds of cabinet doors opening and closing, he gave the dog one last scratch behind his ears before he got up and made his way to the window.
He pulled the stick free and tossed it outside before closing the window.
He moved to lock it only to decide against it since he didn’t want to discourage her from breaking in again.
As he made his way to the kitchen, he found himself wondering what happened this morning.
He’d been looking forward to another glaring session when his client left, had actually counted down the minutes until he could piss her off again just so that she would glare at him only to have her grab her stuff as soon as his client left, mumbled something that he didn’t understand and quickly headed for the door.
And now, it seemed that she was tearing his kitchen apart, Garrett realized as he stepped into the kitchen in time to watch Kristen shift her focus to the bottom cabinets.
When she leaned over so that she could shove his mixing bowls aside, he was forced to bite back a groan when the move caused her jeans to pull tightly across her ass, hugging every generous curve and making it really fucking difficult to remember that was never going to fucking happen.
He wasn’t about to do anything to fuck this up.
“Where are they?” came the angrily muttered demand that told him just how close she was to pouting.
Having a pretty good idea what the little addict was looking for, Garrett made his way into the pantry and-
“Start talking,” Kristen said, drawing his attention to find her standing in the doorway with her arms folded over her chest, her beautiful blue eyes narrowed on him in a move that dared him to say something that would piss her off.
“What do you want to know?” Garrett asked as he reached up and grabbed a box of Hostess Snoballs off the top shelf.
“Everything,” she said, making his lips twitch as he opened the box only to have it plucked out of his hand.
“Is there any chance that you could narrow it down for me?” Garrett asked, watching as Kristen focused on the box as she made her way back into the kitchen.
“Your bedroom,” Kristen mumbled absently as she tore open a Snoball.
“What about it?” Garrett asked as he grabbed the leftover box of pizza from the fridge and tossed it on the counter.
“You didn’t renovate it yet, did you?” Kristen asked, watching him closely.
Shaking his head, he said, “I haven’t had a chance yet,” as he grabbed a slice of cheese pizza and took a bite.
Nodding absently, Kristen took a bite of her Snoball as she focused her attention on the backpack she’d dropped on the floor.
After a quick search, she pulled out a thick stack of faded notebooks and dropped them on the counter.
Before he could ask what she was doing, Kristen grabbed the notebook on top, quickly flipped through it until she found what she was looking for and tossed it in front of him.
Throwing her a curious look, Garrett took another bite as he glanced down at the notebook and-
“That’s your dining room,” Kristen said, pointing at a drawing that he made when they were fifteen.
He swallowed hard as he took in the dining room that he drew for her from the dining room table that he’d designed and built over the summer to the fireplace that had taken two weeks to get right.
“And this,” Kristen said, finishing off the Snoball before she grabbed another notebook and quickly flipped through it until she found the page she was looking for, “is the hidden room.”
Garrett took another bite of cold pizza before he tossed the crust to the large golden retriever by his side. “It took three months to find the lanterns.” Garrett said, running his fingertips over the edge of the drawing. “I had to rip out the old laundry room to make room for the hidden room.”
“And if I had to guess,” Kristen said, grabbing another notebook and quickly flipped through it before stopping on the drawing he made when they were twelve, “this is going to be your bedroom.”
“No, this is,” Garrett said, shaking his head as he reached over and took her hand in his. He gave it a gentle tug that had her following him as he made his way back to his office.
When they reached his desk, Garrett released her hand and sat down in his chair. After a slight hesitation, he opened the middle drawer and pulled out the designs he came up with for the rest of the house and placed them on the desk.
Kristen threw him a curious look before she glanced at the drawings and-
Tore a pained grunt from him when she dropped down on his lap. With an absently murmured, “I’m gonna need you to move closer,” that had him glaring at the back of her head, he wrapped his arm around her and moved closer so that she could prop her elbows on the desk with a satisfied sigh.
“I forgot how bossy you were,” Garrett said, only to feel his lips twitch when she said, “Give it time. It will come back to you.”
“What do you think?” he asked, watching as she looked over his designs.
“Is this from my first book?”
“Yes,” Garrett said as he wrapped his other arm around her.
“I love it,” Kristen whispered reverently as she ran her fingertips along the edge of his design. “What about the bathroom?”
“Here,” Garrett said, reaching over to turn to the next page.
“This isn’t from my books,” Kristen said as she took in the oversized shower in the corner, the clawfoot bathtub, the sink with an oversized counter and extra drawers, the antique vanity mirror, and the built-in bookshelves with dark wainscotting wrapped around the room.
“It’s your dream bathroom,” he said, knowing without a doubt that this was the bathroom of her dreams. He’d noticed a recurring theme from the stories she wrote when they were children, the same one that made its way into her books as an adult.
“Yes, it is,” Kristen said, tracing the tub with her fingertips. “What else?”
“This living room is from your third book,” Garrett said, turning to the next design.
“You just read my books two weeks ago,” Kristen pointed out, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as she glanced back at him.
Never taking his eyes off her, he opened his bottom desk drawer and grabbed the sketchpad he’d started working on when he bought the house and handed it to her. After a slight hesitation, she took it.
“That’s the original living room,” Garrett said when she came to the first design.
“I like the new one better,” Kristen said as she glanced between the two.
Garrett reached around her and turned the page. “This was going to be my office until I read your description of Tristan’s office.”
Kristen didn’t say anything as she took her time going through the rest of his designs, pausing now and then to compare the old ones to the new ones and-
“Why?” she asked, staring down at the upstairs office that he’d designed with her in mind, the one that he had absolutely no idea why he found himself coming up with a week ago.
“Because I didn’t know how to let you go,” he admitted, because no matter how much he’d tried over the past six years, he’d never been able to let her go and he’d hated her for it.
God, he’d fucking hated this hold that she had over him.
But now…
He’d do anything to keep it.
“I don’t trust you,” Kristen said softly as she pushed his arm away so that she could climb off his lap.
“I know,” Garrett said after a slight hesitation as he forced himself to let her go.
“What do you want?” Kristen asked, glancing back at him.
“A chance,” he said, swallowing hard as he watched her absently nod as she made her way to the door and-
“You won’t get another one.”