✿ Reid's POV

“I still don't like that cousin of yours” Her voice reaches my ears as she comes down the stairs.

I look up from my laptop.

Damn!

She was wearing my shirt, with one half tucked into her jeans and the other half left out. My lips quirk into a smile.

“That's the shirt you chose?”

She reaches behind her and gathers her hair to the top of her head, leaving two tendrils on each side of her face before pulling a hairband around her hair.

Wow.

“What?” she asks. “I just rid you of having to own a baby blue striped shirt, Armani. You're welcome.”

I chuckle.

“Well my clothes look better on you than they do on me so... no complaints here.”

Aileen rolls her eyes, a smile toying at her lips. No makeup and yet she looked flawless. I stare at her quietly for a while before I snap out of it and clear my throat.

“Shall we?” I ask, shutting my laptop and standing up.

“Yeah okay.”

I grab my phone and my keys.

“Are you going to tell me what this surprise is about, Armani?”

I slip on my sunglasses and hold a hand out to her which she takes without hesitation.

“No. You hate surprises, don't you?” I smirk.

“I deserve to know.”

“And you will” I smile at her.

She shakes her head and looks away from me. Then she turns back to look at me and pushes my sunglasses to the top of my head.

“We're indoors.”

I laugh.

“C'mon.”

With her hand still in mine, I lead her outside my office. I spot Hernan hang up his call as he crosses our path.

“Hey, I was just about to come see you about the...” he trails off when he notices us holding hands. “Are you two... going somewhere?” he asks, his eyes flicking between us.

“We have a date” I announce.

“This morning?”

I nod.

“The best dates happen in the morning.”

Hernan shuts the folder he's holding.

“Ignore him” Aileen shakes her head. “He's just taking me to the surprise he won't shut up about.”

I playfully shrug and Hernan gives me a look.

“You've... planned a surprise for her?”

“Yes. And hopefully, we won't be long.”

“I see” he nods. “Well don't let me keep you from the surprise. It was good seeing you again Lee. Reid.”

I return his nod and watch him walk away.

“Now him I like” she mutters to me.

I chuckle softly and exit the building with Aileen at my side. I unlock my car and hold the door open for her.

“I brought my car” she gestures to the far end of the parking lot.

“Leave it. We're taking my car. In you go.”

“I'm not comfortable leaving her here all alone.”

I arch a brow.

“Her?”

Aileen nods.

“My car.”

“Well we're taking mine so say your goodbyes and let's go.”

“No.”

I sigh.

“Lee—”

“I'll drive behind you.”

I furrow my brows.

“You'll what?”

“Drive behind you. It'll be easier and better that way.”

“For who?” I ask.

“Me.”

She was already on her way to her Jeep. I sigh and shake my head. Lowering my sunglasses back on my face, I get in my car and start it. I move the car out of the parking lot and wait for her to drive up behind me like she said, but she never does.

Adjusting my rear-view mirror, I see her climb out of her car and pop the hood open. After a while, she shuts it angrily. I scoff.

“Of course.”

Aileen turns around and walks towards my car. When she reaches my side, I crane my neck to look at her.

“Car trouble?” I smirk.

“Must be the spark plugs.”

I know what she's hinting at and just smile at her.

“As much as I would love to take full credit for that, I'm not that good.”

She folds her arms.

“Get in. I'll have Hernan get someone to take a look and fix it up.”

“Just get him to have it towed to my house. I'll pay.”

I smile.

“What good is a broken Jeep being towed to your house?”

She straps on her seat belt.

“My uncle will take a look.”

I cock a brow.

“Your uncle's an automobile salesperson?”

“Try mechanic.”

Yikes.

“That's an equally important job” I nod.

“Shut up and drive” she chuckles softly at me.

I smile and move the car.

“Has he always been a mechanic?”

She looks at me.

“What, you think we change jobs like you rich folks?”

“Is it a crime to know?”

“It's called being nosy” she makes a face. “And no, he hasn't always been a mechanic.”

Not wanting to be nosy, I wait for her to continue.

“He was deputy chief of police.”

My eyes snap to her face.

“You're  joking.”

“Nooo” she mouths.

“That's... pretty awesome” I chuckle.

Aileen shrugs.

“Wait but what happened? Why'd he quit?”

She picks on the zipper of her body cross bag.

“He was two weeks away from being chief of police when his brother died. It's a normal reaction to want to quit your job.”

I swallow slowly.

Maybe I shouldn't have asked.

I glance at Aileen who's looking outside the window.

“Hey...” I say softly, holding out my hand to gently touch her thigh.

Aileen turns away from the window and looks at my hand on her thigh and at me.

“You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to.”

For a moment, her expression is soft. Then she suddenly frowns, takes my hand off her thigh, pushes it onto the steering wheel, and gives my chin a firm yet gentle push.

“Eyes on the road, Armani.”

I chortle. She waits a bit before speaking up again.

“And it's been twenty-four long years since it happened. Of course, I'm okay to talk about it. I'm over it.”

“Lee, no one's truly over losing their parent” I mutter.

She exhales.

“Well, I am.”

I simply nod.

“What happened to your dad?”

She looks at me.

“What?”

“Nosy” she eyes me.

“I thought you said you were okay to talk about it?” I chuckle.

“You're still nosy.”

I shake my head.

“Are you gonna tell me or not?”

She gently brushes the tendrils off her face.

“He was killed on duty.”

I feel my stomach sink.

“He was a cop too?”

I catch Aileen nod and turn to the window again. The silence that follows plays on for a while till I speak up.

“When I was in college, I had this friend who was deaf.”

Aileen turns to me.

“One time in class, I was signing dirty words and funny shit to him to make him laugh.”

“You're not planning on signing to me to make me feel better about anything right? Because I'm fine” she says.

“I'm not” I chuckle. “Now back to my story. But because he's deaf he didn't realize how loud he was being. And then our professor asked us both to leave.”

She squeezes her brows together.

“Then in third grade, I poured water on some kid's test after I was done with mine.”

“That's an irrelevantly disturbing event to remember” she chuckles. “And why would you do that?”

“Because I saw him copying off me the whole time.”

Aileen laughs.

“You're a terrible person, Armani.”

“Same thing Clayton said that day” I chuckle, the memory coming back.

She narrows her eyes.

“He's the kid?”

“Yep,” I nod.

She chuckles and folds her arms.

“Yikes.”

I smile to myself. The tension had been lifted.

“He told me he's Ellen's brother” Aileen days, unfolding her arms.

“He is.”

She makes a face.

“How'd that happen?”

I glance at her as she turns back to the window.

“Allow me to explain. You see when a man has certain feelings for a woman, a powerful urge sweeps over him—”

Aileen whips around and wacks my arm with her purse.

“I know how babies are made!” she exclaims, letting out a contagious heart-fluttering laugh.

I laugh along, ignoring the tingling in my arm.

She had a good aim.

“Eyes on the road, Armani” she scolds again.

I smile and torturously look away from her.

“I meant... they seem so different” she exhales.

I nod.

“Yeah well, they had a bit of a rocky childhood. But that's no excuse.”

“What do you mean?”

“Their dad was never in their lives. And well my aunt wasn't very... motherly” I shake my head. “She was on a lot of drugs and alcohol. The neighbors made a report and social services got involved.”

“Oh no,” I hear her mutter.

“But luckily, a certain aunt of theirs had more than enough to take care of them till they were old and wrinkly” I chuckle. “So after a few calls and lots and lots of paperwork, my mom was given full guardian rights over her niece and nephew.”

“How old were you?”

“Six years old. Clayton was nine and Ellen, sixteen.”

I see Aileen's brows bunch together.

“So how'd you end up in the third grade with Clayton?”

“He was held back a few years.”

Aileen's brows relax for a second, then bunches up again.

“Wait, so that means Ellen had your niece at—”

“Nineteen, yes” I cut her off. “My mom was not happy with her dating Otis. And when the pregnancy came in, well... he wasn't in a very good place with her” I scoff.

“From the way she spoke to him at dinner, I don't think she's still over it.”

I shake my head.

“I'm not either” I admit. “He's a nice guy but... I feel my cousin could have done better.”

“Like you feel your niece could?”

I turn to her.

“Road” she nudges with her head.

I turn, my jaw ticking.

“You're not very good at hiding your displeasure, Armani.”

I scoff.

“Do you blame me? The kid drinks wine for a living. What kind of life is he expected to provide for her?”

“The decent kind.”

There's something about her tone. But she not seeing where I'm coming from with this topic annoys me gravely and I ignore her tone.

“What happened to your mom?”

From the corner of my eye, I see Aileen visibly wince beside me and I instantly hate myself.

Shit!

But before I can take a full look at her, the expression is gone and she's shrugging nonchalantly.

“She died of a broken heart.”

“Lee I—”

“Hey, does the car roof open?” she cuts me off, poking at the buttons on the dashboard.

I sigh. She was clearly avoiding this. I take a turn at the next curve and shake my head.

“No need, we're already here.”

Aileen looks on as I pull off the road down a quiet street and then up to a tall, black gate. I press a button on a clicker inside the car and the gates slowly swing open.

“Show off” I hear her scoff but smile anyway.

I drive up the cobblestone circular driveway, which leads up to a house. She waits for me to park right under the awning before speaking up.

“What is this place?”

“Drumroll, please,” I say and begin to mimic the sound of drums, “Our house.”

Aileen's eyes widen at me.

“Surprise! What do you think?” I ask, glancing at the building and then at her.

“That you're insane” she frowns.

I chuckle.

“Where'd you... how did you... what did you do?” she finally sighs.

“I got us a house.”

“You bought us a house?!”

“Got” I correct.

“Like I don't know that's code for 'spent thousands of dollars on this property', Armani.”

I chuckle.

“Relax. I didn't buy it.”

She folds her arms.

“Explain.”

“I'm an architect—”

“Of lands, not buildings” she cuts me off.

I frown.

“Do you want the explanation or not?”

She rolls her eyes and nods at me.

“Thank you” I nod back. “Land architect or not, I'm still an architect, Lee. And I know people. So I just called in a few favors and voilà! We have a house.”

“They just gave you a house?”

“Us” I correct, pulling out a document from the file that was sitting on the dashboard.

I hand it over to her.

“According to this document, we, are the proud owners of this property. And, we've been living here for...” I lean in to read from the papers.

“Six months and two weeks” she finishes for me.

I smile.

“Just like that?” she asks again.

I nod.

“You're welcome. Now come on,” I say, unbuckling my seatbelt, “Let's go check out our home.”

I flash her a mischievous smile as I get out of the car. Aileen chuckles and gets out of the car.

“Are you not going to tell me how you pulled this off?” she asks.

“I can't tell you all my secrets, Lee, come on.”

She eyes me, then pokes my arm before breaking off into a grin.

“What?”

“You called your valedictorian friend, didn't you?”

I frown playfully.

“First of all, her name's Alexandra. And of course, I called her. She owes me more than one.”

Aileen laughs and shoves me towards the door.

“Shut up and open the door already.”

I smile and enter the code into the door's keypad.

“After you.”

Aileen steps into the house as I hold the door open for her and she gasps at the sight of the chic and already furnished interior. There's so much light streaming into the house from the large glass-paned windows.

“Can I say this is bougie? Because oh my goodness, Armani, this is bougie” she lets out.

Who still says bougie?

But I smile either way.

“With that chandelier? Definitely bougie” I reply.

“Half of my house can fit into this living room alone and look at that view!”

The open living area leads to a sprawling and well-maintained lawn with a platform set up with pearly white deck chairs near a sunken infinity pool that sparkles in the morning sun.

My fingers twitch at my side as I watch Aileen examine every inch of the living room. As much as I love watching her expressions of awe, I can't help but feel unexplainably nervous.

“Do you like it?” my voice comes out low and deep behind her.

She turns to me.

“Are you kidding me, Armani? This is amazing!”

I grin and nod.

“She's... got great taste” I admit.

Aileen pokes my arm.

“I can see how you struggled to get that one out” she teases.

I chuckle.

“The chandelier will have to go though” I glance at it.

I see her frown.

“Go? That thing is actual crystal.”

“Yes but it's a little bit too much, don't you think?”

Aileen arches an amused brow at me.

“What?”

“Did you just say something's a bit too much, Armani?”

I chuckle.

“Sometimes simple is better, Lee. But whatever you want.”

She smiles.

“We'll keep it in storage.”

I nod.

“I'm glad we're off the same mood board.”

She turns around, pokes her head through a nearby doorway, and whistles appreciatively before vanishing around the corner.

She can whistle?

“C'mon Armnai. You're such a terrible tour guide.”

“Right behind you” I chuckle.

We continue exploring every nook and cranny of the house.

“And this is the dining room” I announce, stepping through a large archway.

“More like a banquet hall” she chortles. “There is so much space.”

I shrug.

“We do have large families.”

She shakes her head.

“Or... we could switch things up a little bit.”

I arch a brow.

“How?”

Aileen smiles and sets the folder aside.

“We could move the dining room to one side and we've got room on the other side for cozy armchairs, shelves with peek-through spots to show off the wall accents. It'd be the perfect little den.”

I chuckle at her excitement. For a while, I don't see the picture till it reminds me of the den in my grandmother's house.

She's right.

“Nice high ceiling too” I gesture. “We could fit a lot of books in this place. Even get one of those rolling ladders.”

“Ooo, yes. Like in ‘Beauty and the Beast!ʼ” she gasps and mimes swishing around the room on a ladder, and I can't help laughing at the sight.

Unbelievable.

“What?” she chuckles, a bit out of breath. “Six-year-olds can be very convincing.”

“Yes ma'am.”

I trail after Aileen as she dashes into the kitchen and gestures around with an adorable flourish.

“And this is going to be my happy place” she grins, going ahead to trail a hand across the marble countertops.

“It's all yours, as long as I get a clause that lets me taste test all your terrible, terrible cooking.”

She glances over her shoulder at me and playfully narrows her eyes.

“I am not a terrible cook.”

I smirk.

“We'll see.”

I stay put, watching her stop by each cabinet to inspect its inside. The way she putters around suggesting tweaks to the kitchen suddenly feels so domestic that there is a dull ache in my heart.

What's going on with me?

“This countertop is gorgeous, Armani. And there's going to be room for a second oven if we move that hutch in the corner...”

I smile. The way she found joy in the smallest of things made it hard for her not to stand out. By the time I don't hear her voice anymore, she's staring at me with a confused expression.

“Are you having a stroke, Armani?”

I laugh, finally looking away from her.

“No, I was just, uh... hoping you have a dishwasher in your grand remodeling plan if you're going to have two ovens worth of dishes.”

She gives me a soft grin.

“I'll add it to our shopping list.”

My heart skips a little at her words but before I can allow it to have any further effects on me, Aileen wanders off again. As we reach the end of the hallway, she finds a door that leads to a gorgeous, windowed porch.

“Okay, we've found Coziness Central. Can you imagine just sitting out here every night?” she gasps.

“Open sky?”

She turns to me and in her excitement, takes my hand in hers.

“Yes!”

Aileen brushes her thumb over my knuckles in a decidedly platonic way, yet my pulse leaps.

Her fingers...

She lets go with a smile and turns her back to me.

“We'd be able to watch the stars every night if we wanted to. We'd never miss shooting stars or thousand-year-old meteor showers” She closes her eyes and inhales deeply, a beautiful smile on her face.

I find myself drinking in the sight of her, so at home in this place, before she opens her eyes and walks off towards another door.

“Holy mother of—!” she gasps loudly. “You've gotta see this, Armani!”

I smile and follow her into the bathroom that looks like it got plucked out of a literal palace, complete with gilded mirrors and a built-in jacuzzi.

“This... is the bathroom of my dreams.”

I arch an amused brow.

“Since when?”

“Six seconds ago” she chuckles. “Glided mirrors and an in-built jacuzzi? Of course, it's the bathroom of my dreams.”

She walks around some more.

“I keep expecting a butler to walk through that door and offer me a selection of tiaras and oversized hats to wear” she laughs. “Can we get a butler, Armani?”

“A butler?” I question.

“Uh-huh. A personal butler would take this to a whole new level.”

How was it possible that this girl was making me smile so much?

“If we're not getting a butler then c'mon” she pouts and takes my hand, tugging you toward the door.

I don't pull away. If anything, I hope she keeps holding it.

But if wishes were horses...

She lets go the moment we step into the master bedroom.

“Ooo, a fireplace! Now this is the level of rustic comfort I like to see” she grins.

She gasps at the bed and looks at me.

“What size is this?”

“Texas King” I answer.

“Damn!” she laughs.

Then she stops short and looks up. I follow her gaze.

“Yeah about those... if you don't like them, I'll have them removed and covered up—”

In an instant she's in front of me, pressing the tips of her fingers to my lips. I blink.

“Why would you want to remove a skylight, Reid?”

She likes it?

Wait, she just called me by my name.

“Voo maik it?” it comes out as a muffle.

Her eyes light up and her radiant smile stretches from ear to ear.

“I love—”

She stops short again as her light amber eyes fall on her fingers on my lips. One by one, she retracts her fingers and ever so slowly brushes her thumb across my lower lip. Then after staring for almost a minute, she quickly steps back and looks towards the skylight.

“I like it.”

I bring a hand up to my now wet lips where I can still feel the ghost of her fingers. Clearing my throat, I nod.

“It stays then.”

She moves further away, occasionally glancing up at the skylights. Watching her explore the room, bouncing on the edge of the mattress, and pretending to dust the fireplace, I feel a sudden wistfulness.

And I can't help but begin to wonder what living with her here would really be like if this whole this was real and not a charade or ploy to get Anika to break up with that foolish old Aussie.

She moves to the sliding double-door walk-in closet and swings it open. I watch Aileen take a peek inside, and glance at me, before stepping in.

“Do these windows open?” I hear her ask.

There's silence till she calls out for me.

“Hey, Armani, could you please come give me a hand?”

I step inside the closet and effortlessly open all the windows.

“Show-off” she chuckles.

“You're just jealous I can make anything work in an Armani suit” I chuckle back, hoping it'll take my mind off the fuzzy feeling.

She glances around the closet.

“There one other spare bathroom and a great office space... if you'd like to see—”

“Hang on” she cuts me short, her eyes fixed on something behind me. “You already moved your things?”

I turn and see her referring to my clothes.

“When?”

“Last night... after our little chat.”

She folds her arms.

“Why didn't you tell me anything about it?”

“Don't worry” I chuckle. “I'll give you a hand with your things.”

“That's not going to work.”

I turn to her and flick my eyes back and forth.

“Why not?”

“Because unlike you, you don't have nosy family members who want to know everything you're up to,” she says. “And it's going to be suspicious that I'm now bringing clothes from my place, here, after we've been living together for six months and two weeks.”

She was right.

“Well then, what do we do?”

She nibbles her lower lip.

Goodness!

Then begins pacing around till she's out of the closet. I follow her and patiently wait for her to finish brainstorming.

“Lee—”

She suddenly gasps and turns around, startling me a bit.

“I know what we're going to do” she grins, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

I narrow my eyes suspiciously at her.

“What?” I ask.

She flashes me a confident look before grinning.

“We kill two birds with one stone.”

I purse my lips and look at her intently for a while as she keeps grinning at me. Then I shake my head a little.

“I'm not following.”

She pouts and rolls her eyes briefly before smiling softly at me.

“We're going to Costco.”

Thank you for reading!
Please don't forget to vote.
Ciao
~the_atticwriter