Dane(91)

"Is everything all right?" I tried to keep the concern out of my voice by clearing my throat. It was hard, but as long as I focused on the papers in front of me and the emails on my computer, and not on her, I could manage just fine. At least, that's what I told myself.

"Oh, yeah. It's just that I'm moving tomorrow and I wanted to make sure I had everything packed and ready to go. I'll have to clean the apartment, and I didn't want to waste the time tomorrow loading everything up, moving, and then returning to clean." She must've realized she was rambling, over explaining, because she stopped speaking and waited in the silence for my response.

I glanced up, taking her in for the first time all morning. She had her hair up in a tight bun, and her lips were a pale pink rather than the usual red. A light sweater covered her shoulders, and just like every day since Monday, she wore dress slacks. I'd thought telling her to wear pants would help with my desire for her, but it didn't. The way they fit her hips and accentuated her ass was almost worse than seeing her bare thighs. I was resigned to the fact there wasn't a single thing Eden could wear that would not make me want her. I wouldn't be surprised if the sight of her in a garbage bag would give me a hard-on.

"So you're moving in with Heidi?" I asked, hoping she didn't pick up on my disappointment.

"Yeah. It's not permanent, though. Only until I can find a place of my own. So I'm trying to do it on my own time and not miss any work. I didn't want to ask to leave early, but my landlord said he needed the key by tomorrow night, and I got worried it wouldn't leave me enough time to do everything."

"Your own place? Why didn't you just stay where you are until you found somewhere else to rent?"

She rocked on her heels, and I could tell by the way she drew her bottom lip into her mouth she battled with telling me to mind my own business, but in the end, she answered anyway. "I'm actually looking at buying a place. And since that's a longer process than renting, I figured it would be best to stay with a friend and save some money while I hunt for a house and get approved and all that."

The idea of her finding something permanent instead of temporary settled an ache in my chest. "So then what's going to happen when you decide to be with me? Will you sell your place, or are you expecting me to sell mine?"

One corner of her mouth quirked up just enough to cause her Monroe to twinkle at me. "That's not really workplace conversation, is it, Dane?" Then she winked and turned on her heel to return to her office.

Just before she closed her door, I called out, "Fine, then I'll wait until you leave and ask you again."

The click of the door cut off her soft giggle. It was enough to put a smile on my face and made the rest of my day a little bit easier to manage. I tried not to think of it being Friday and not seeing her again until Monday, because that thought was too depressing, but I'd hoped my plans for the weekend would help pass the time until I could see her emerald eyes again.



The weekend didn't go as I had hoped. I'd found a reliable realtor and spent my entire Saturday looking at places he'd found based on my list of wants and needs. Nothing called out to me. I didn't know exactly what I was looking for, but I knew it'd speak to me when I found it. So far, nothing even whispered my name, much less screamed it. Sunday we went around to a few open houses. All in all, every place we viewed only added to my list of things I didn't want. I'd asked to stay on the beach. I just couldn't seem to let go of the idea of not watching the sunset with Eden, like we had done on the pier so many times before. I wasn't looking for something temporary. I sought a place we could spend forever and raise a family in.



       
         
       
        

My list proved to be almost impossible for the realtor.

The condos he found for me only solidified my desire for a house. The idea of a condo had never appealed to me, but I'd settled for one because it was what Gabi had fallen in love with, and at the time, I'd hoped having neighbors close by would make it easier for her to meet people and make friends. That never happened. So I was able to add "no condos" to the list for him.

The houses he found were nice, but I didn't love any of them. Half were old and needed a lot of work. I didn't care for a place I had to fix up. I was looking for something ready to be lived in, because I didn't have any intention of waiting long to make things right with Eden. The ones that were ready to move into screamed money. I may have had it, but I was never one to flaunt it. That added two more things to the list of what I wasn't interested in: houses needing work and ones that unapologetically announced their price tag.