Two
Two
Rosie clapped her hands together. “Enough suspense. Some of us have to commute more than a thirty-second walk next door to get home.”
Grace laughed and leaned against the counter. The first time she’d seen Noah, he’d been running out of the ocean with a paddleboard, pulling gazes like the sun and moon commanded the tides. He wore that persona as well as his Gucci suits.
“That’s actually a perfect segue. I got a call from Emily Swanson,” Noah said, looking at them both.
Surprise and sentiment filled Grace’s chest. Emily was a former magazine editor who’d done a huge, several-page spread on Noah renovating his home. It was she who suggested Noah bring Grace on as his interior decorator. She’d felt that pairing a new-to-the-scene designer and a well-known real estate mogul would make for a good twist that readers of their magazine, Home and Heart , would love.
“How’s she doing?” Grace asked. She remembered—too well—how hard it had been to stay on the line between falling in love and being professional as she and Noah brought their vision to life in what was now their home.
Noah tapped his fingertips softly on the counter. He had a restless energy that ran through him. “She’s great. She’s been greenlit for a documentary-style reality show. She wants to go back to the articles she’s written and do a ‘where are they now?’ premise.” He paused, his smile growing. “And, she wants us to be the first series of episode”
“What?” Rosie asked, slipping onto the stool, clearly abandoning her thoughts of leaving. “In an article or actually on television?”
Noah’s grin stretched wider. “On TV She’d come in, film us, and show what we’re all up to now professionally, so it would be good for all of us there. But, the twist on this one is, I told her we’re getting married, and she said she thinks that would be amazing to announce on TV.” His chest puffed up. “Turns out we have a bit of a fanbase. People love us, Gracie.”
Grace felt Noah’s excitement mounting like a tower of bricks and she didn’t want to be the one to topple it over, so she held on to the questions immediately popping up in her brain. Success was hard to gain and easy to lose. Were they taking on too much? What about their existing clients? Would it take time away from them or current projects? Make them less-authentic through a television lens? What if they gained more popularity—which sounded great on the surface—and couldn’t keep up? She’d seen that impact firsthand when all of this started. Her own social media followers had skyrocketed and when she and Rosie launched their design company, they’d been inundated with good wishes.
Noah started to pace. “The way she pitched it to me was ‘Neighbors to Newlyweds.’ She and a small crew would basically hang with us for several weeks while we live our lives like we normally do. Meanwhile, they’ll be gathering footage of our professional accomplishments, our processes and growth, both for your interior design business and what my brothers and I are doing. At the core though, the episodes would focus on Grace and me, so they’d also have downtime footage. Us planning our wedding, working and living together while we build both our professional and personal lives.”
He let out a long, jittery breath and Rosie whistled low. “This could be life changing.”
Grace liked their life the way it was. But she knew this had serious potential to boost all of them to the next level. Maybe that didn’t matter for the Jansen brothers, but for her and Rosie, it could mean a lot. “Have you talked to your brothers?” Everly, Chris’s fiancée, wouldn’t want to be in the limelight. Hailey, who used to work on film sets, wasn’t shy or reserved and her own business would probably benefit.
Noah shook his head. “No. I wanted to talk to you first. And Rosie, because there’ll be a lot of footage of you two working together.”
Grace stood up, needing to move. “We’d plan our wedding on the episodes?”
Ideas simmered but so did those concerns. It opened them up to a whole host of things. Including opportunity.
“Did you tell her about your wacky wedding planning?” Rosie asked with a teasing affection in her voice.
Noah put his hands on his hips. “She loved it. Said it was completely out of the box and fit perfectly with her vision.”
Grace had to grin. They’d taken a unique approach to planning their wedding for sure, but it was fun and adventurous. Noah Jansen didn’t do anything like anyone else. Grace loved that about him.
Instead of traditionally planning each aspect of their special day like others might, they’d left room for chance to play a role. At home, they had two dozen small jars lining the shelf in Noah’s media room. In each one were wedding plans: dates, venues, colors, cakes, music, themes, seating, flowers, favors, and all the other minutiae that had to be sorted. They’d spent an entire weekend putting ideas and suggestions on little colored slips of paper, folded them, and put them in the jars. So far, their wedding choices (random but not entirely) included lilac and cream for the colors, a vanilla bean groom’s cake, and a three-tiered chocolate brownie cake. They’d also selected, from the jars, a deejay for music, rectangular tables, and slip-covered chairs that matched their colors.
Rosie stood, dug her notebook out of her purse, and flipped it open. “This could be absolutely incredible. If we get release forms signed, we could actually feature a few of our bigger-name clients. It offers them exposure while showcasing our amazing work.”
Noah lowered his arms, stepped in front of Gracie, pressed a kiss to her forehead. “What do you think, Grace?”
Grace’s throat went dry. “What do you think?”
He tilted his head to the side. “I asked you first.”
She stopped herself from poking him. “Very mature.”
Laughing, he pulled her into a tight hug and turned them to face Rosie. “Come on. It’s great, right?” He pointed to her bestie, who was already jotting down ideas and making lists. “Rosie’s on board.”
Looking up from her notebook, Rosie’s gaze sparkled. “I’ll go with the majority but you don’t have to ask me twice to get more business. Josh and I want to buy a house.”
“I told him I’d help you guys find something,” Noah said.
Grace squeezed Noah around the waist, getting his attention. Talking real estate would sidetrack them. “You really want to do this? Share our lives, our friends, and our wedding plans with the world?”
She pictured mean brides and drama-filled moments.
Noah beamed down at her, a lock of hair brushing his forehead. “I think it would be fun. The worst-case scenario here is we don’t get the viewership she wants. That won’t be on us. We’re irresistible.”
He laughed but Grace didn’t. Noah turned in to her, used both hands to smooth her hair back from her face. “I want you, Gracie. I want to be your husband. I don’t care if we have people watch us plan it or follow us around while we work. It could be fun, but we don’t have to. Who knows, they may love it so much, they’ll want to film our wedding. We could end up with our own network like Chip and Jo.”
They both loved watching the Magnolia network about a couple and their family who’d basically created an empire out of their love for real estate and design.
“You do like to crash through walls,” she murmured, thinking of the husband on the show.
Noah leaned down, brushed his lips along her cheek on his way to her ear. “Crashing through yours was the best thing I ever did.”
She sighed as her heart climbed on board. As if she would say no to her two favorite people.
Rosie clapped her hands together. “Okay, you two. Wait until you’re alone for all the mushy stuff. For real though, can you imagine a fairytale wedding filmed by professionals for the world to see? Oh! Think of the special effects.” Her phone rang. She picked it up and showed them the screen. It was Josh, her boyfriend and Noah’s personal assistant. “I’m going to go. I’ll let you guys hash it out but you have my okay for whatever you decide. I’ll fill Josh in.”
Like a well-dressed whirlwind, Rosie picked up her things, answered her phone, and left through the back door.
Noah pulled Grace closer, two fingers under her chin to tip her gaze up to his. “What’s going on in that busy brain of yours. Gracie?”
She wrapped her arms around his waist. “I see the professional benefits. I have some questions about the more personal pieces but it’s intriguing, for sure.”
Noah ran the tip of his nose along the bridge of hers. “You’re intriguing for sure.”
She tilted her head, told herself not to be such a worrier when the forecast was so bright. But Noah read her well. He stopped her from taking a kiss.
Squeezing her arm, he softened his expression. “Tell me what’s going on, Gracie.”
There was a time when it’d grated on her nerves to have him call her that, but now, it settled and soothed her in a way nothing else did. Noah holding her close as he said those two syllables in his soft, sexy voice unraveled her and put her back together in the same breath.
“I don’t want to take on more than we can handle. I think part of what has made us successful so far, a big reason for all the referrals, is, at this point, we’re able to keep up with demand. Do you remember how much our social media blew up when we did the magazine?”
Noah nodded. “I do.” He pursed his lips—his thinking face. “There’s definitely the possibility that it’ll increase your workload, but babe, that’s going to happen anyway. When it does, you pivot and add more people.”
Grace pulled away, the real issue suddenly becoming clear. “Right. Rosie mentioned something like that earlier. But this business is the two of us. More people complicates things. Being in charge of a staff is a whole different beast, Noah.”
Like he didn’t know how to worry, Noah grinned and pulled her back into his arms. “My sweet Gracie. Sometimes I forget how hard it is for you to trust others. Look, this will go one step at a time. If it’s too much or doesn’t go the way we want, we’ll pull back, shift courses. We don’t have to do anything.”
“How do you make everything seem so simple?” She marveled at his ability to just boil things down.
“Because all that really matters is you and me. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”
God, she was lucky. She laughed and then arched up into the kiss he offered. His arms tightened around her as she went up on tiptoe to get closer, already knowing there was no such thing as close enough. She’d marry him anywhere, if she were being honest. And she didn’t care who was watching.
When he pulled back, he had that slightly lust-addled gaze that always did her in. “What were we talking about?”
Her fingers brushed over the nape of his neck. “Working together professionally and personally.”
“It went well the last time.”
She couldn’t argue with that. “It did. Why don’t you feed me and tell me more?”
Noah let her go but held on to her hand. “I work all day and then you expect me to cook?”
Moving through the house, they locked it up and headed for the front door. “As you said, you’re not just a pretty face.”
Noah Jansen was a lot of things. As long as he was hers, nothing else mattered to Grace.