Page 38 of Sheltered
“What’s that?”
He grinned at me. “Yesterday, when I asked you if you like pizza, you told me it was one of your guilty pleasures. I’m just curious what other guilty pleasures you have, since you like to claim you’re so boring.”
I swallowed another bite of my pizza and laughed. “I’m not sure my other guilty pleasure is going to make you think I’m some wild child.”
“I’m intrigued, Harlow. I’d love to hear all about it, whatever it is.”
For a few seconds, I kept my eyes pinned on Blaze. I wondered if he would laugh at me or think I was strange for what I did. When I could no longer stand the scrutiny of his gaze, I blurted, “I search for houses.”
He jerked his head back. “What?”
After sucking in a deep breath and blowing it out, I repeated, “I search for houses.”
“What does that mean?”
I shrugged. “Sometimes, I like to go online and search for homes.”
His brows shot up. “Here in Steel Ridge.”
“And other places.”
Surprise seemed to turn to concern. “Other places? Places significantly out of the area?”
“Places all over the country.”
Blaze dropped his pizza back onto his plate, and the look on his face nearly broke my heart. “Are you planning to move away from here? Are you considering going out of the state?”
Shaking my head, I answered, “Not necessarily. I just like to look at houses. And when I find one I like, I’ll try to envision how it would be for me to live there.”
Blaze studied me, his eyes roaming over my face in a way it felt like he was searching for answers to questions that were running through his mind. “What don’t you like about where you live now? Is there something wrong with this house?”
I tore my attention away from him and glanced around the room, taking it in. It was cute, cozy. When I look back at Blaze, I replied, “I wouldn’t necessarily say I don’t like where I live now. It’s great, but it’s not very big. And I guess I like to think that one day I’ll have a need for a larger home. So, I spend some of my time looking at homes and daydreaming about where I might wind up. But I don’t have a plan to leave Steel Ridge. My business and my family are both here. My best friend is here. I’ve built a life that, despite its lack of excitement in recent years, is here. And recently, I’ve met you here. I have no plans to leave any of that behind.”
Understanding dawned, and Blaze let out a massive sigh of relief. “That’s good to know.”
I hadn’t given it a second thought when I made mention of enjoying looking for houses; I merely wanted to share the truth with him. To know that he’d grown worried about it the way he had was heartwarming. I liked knowing that he seemed to enjoy having me around.
As we got back to eating our pizza, I asked, “Do you think it’s weird?”
“That you like to look at houses, so you know what you might want in a home down the road?” he countered.
I nodded.
Blaze shook his head. “Not at all. I think if it makes you happy, you should continue to search. And when the time is right and you find the one you want, there won’t be any doubts.”
Even though I was convinced Blaze was referring strictly to houses, my mind seemed to have no problem twisting his words to mean something else. With the way Blaze had treated me from the moment I met him, I’d thought less about houses that could be right for me and more about the kind of man that was right for me.
“I think you’re right,” I replied quietly.
The two of us finished eating our pizza, and after we both set our plates aside, our eyes locked.
“I’m so glad I came in yesterday to get a haircut,” Blaze said.
“And I’m overjoyed we were both on the same page about wanting to spend more time together so we could have this tonight,” I told him.
He smiled at me, something softening in his features. I committed that look to memory, at the same time I wondered what he was thinking.
In the next instant, I got my answer. Because Blaze moved.