He chuckled darkly.
"The Y's still make an appearance every once in a while," he said, kissing the back of my neck. "As for the kissing, I had to get over that one, or I'd give everything I'd worked so hard for away."
That made sense.
"I guess I could see that," I murmured.
Was it bad that I missed it? That I wanted my old Tunnel back?
Those quirks had been one of the reasons that I'd fallen in love with the man. Sure, they were incredibly inconvenient, but that didn't change the way I loved him. If anything, it only made me love him more.
He turned me, sensing my discomfort, and stared down into my eyes.
I raised my hand and smoothed it over his beard.
"I sure do like this beard," I informed him, trying to smile.
He caught the hand and pressed it harder against his face.
"I'm still the same annoying person who'll drive you insane," he promised.
My brows lowered, and a frown took over my face.
"I never thought you were annoying," I told him. "Inconvenient, yes." I studied his beautiful green eyes. "Annoying? Never." I stared at him hard. "Do you want to know the things I missed the most?"
His eyes softened.
"The way you used to kiss me seven times in the middle of the night when you thought I was sleeping."
His grip on my hip tightened.
"The way you used to walk the house to make sure that everything was secure."
His eyes closed.
"The way you used to call me halfway through my shift and tell me something funny that happened to you."
He swallowed, and I saw his Adam's apple work.
"The way you used to play cards with me because I was bored."
His lips twitched.
"How proud you were of Sienna. You used to tell anyone who would listen all about her."
///
He cleared his throat.
"What I missed the most, though, was this feeling right here. Having you to talk to. Being able to tell you anything and everything that I would go through my head, and you not judging me for being a weirdo."
He started to chuckle then.
"Let's go to the shower," he ordered.
I followed behind him, taking one last look at my kitchen before I went.
"This kitchen," I said to his back as he led his way to the bedroom.
He knew this house. Knew where everything was.
Another mystery solved.
"It was the one you wanted," he said. "Everything here is what you wanted."
I knew that, likely better than he did.
"What did you do, look at my Pinterest board?"
He shrugged and I knew that he had.
There was no way that my man would be able to remember everything. The main things, like colors and what kinds of countertops I wanted, sure, but the tiny stuff? The freakin' rustic light plate covers? Yeah, those he wouldn't know.
But he had them in this house, and it showed that he paid attention.
Ghost led me into the bathroom, then pulled out his phone and pulled up an app. I watched as he armed the house, then listened as the robotic voice from the front of the house said, ‘system armed.'
My brows rose.
"Don't want to be stupid here," he said. "I may know what's going on, for the most part, but my parents are sneaky little assholes. They have been able to do some things that I would've never thought possible."
I sighed.
"I hate your parents."
He pressed a button on the shower wall, and the water turned on.
"This bathroom wasn't my idea, though," I mused.
He grinned, and I saw a piece of my Tunnel come out to play.
"This was my dream," he said. "We're putting one of these in the farm house."
I rolled my eyes and started to strip, but Tunnel's big hands stopped me.
"Let me," he rasped.
I raised my arms and allowed him to pull my shirt up and off me, tossing it to the side of the room where the hamper was. It didn't make it, and my pens scattered all across the floor, but neither of us made a move to go pick them up.
"Make sure we get those pens out of the laundry basket, or you'll be getting ink on your pants like the old days," I teased.
I was notorious for leaving pens in my pockets, and the pen exploding somewhere in the washing process.
Then I'd dry the clothes and permanently set the stains in. I'd ruined many clothes in my time, and a lot of the time they were Tunnel's.
He grinned.
"I think I could handle having that happen," he drawled, moving to my sports bra. "Why are you wearing this contraption?"
I grinned.
"I'm all about comfort these days," I teased.