“One goes up to the second floor, the other down to the basement. Which has a pretty impressive man cave. I foresee Kyle being over here a lot.”
I chuckled.
“Let’s start in the living room. I looked at the original blueprints of the house and this used to be called the keeping room.”
Smiling, my heart beat faster. I loved old houses so much.
“It leads into the formal dining room. Then here—” we walked toward what had to be the back of the original house, “—was were the original kitchen was.”
I gasped. “Look at that fireplace.”
Hunter gave me a wide grin. “I know. It’s the original fireplace. One of my favorite things about the house.”
We both turned and looked at the newer addition. The kitchen was stunning.
“My goodness, they remodeled the kitchen?”
“No, Kyle, Bishop, and I did. Adam helped a little when he wasn’t saving lives.”
I gaped. “You guys did all of this?”
He nodded and leaned against the large kitchen island.
“Hunter, this is beautiful.”
“Thanks. This is the breakfast area. The, um, the window seat was my idea.”
I snapped my head over to look at him. “I love window seats.”
“I know. That’s why I put it in.”
Warmth radiated in my chest, and my stomach fluttered again. “You did?” I whispered softly.
“Yeah. I guess somewhere deep down inside, I never truly gave up on us, Bella.”
I walked over to him. “Oh, Hunter.”
He smiled down at me and brushed a piece of hair that had come out of my ponytail behind my ear. “Come on, we’ve got more to see—plus, your surprise.”
Laughing in disbelief, I replied, “The house isn’t the surprise?”
“Nope.”
He kissed me softly on the lips, took my hand, and walked us through the kitchen. “Here’s the laundry room. You have to walk through it to get to the half bath. That’s the only thing I don’t like about this house. But the pantry makes up for it. Look at this.”
We walked back out of the laundry room and turned to the right. Another set of stairs went to the second floor, and on the other side of the staircase was a huge walk-in pantry.
“Holy cow, this pantry is huge!”
Built-in shelves covered one side of the pantry, with a small butler’s pantry at the very back. On the other side were more built-in shelves and drawers as well.
“This is like a dream pantry.”
“It was a giant closet in the back with a small pantry in the front. I just tore out the wall and made it into a larger pantry.”
I spun around in the room. It was almost as big as my little kitchen.
“There was a library down here at the front of the house, but I made it into a bedroom. I also created the full-size bathroom that’s down here and connected it to the bedroom.”
We walked back through the kitchen and second living room and into a large bedroom.
“There was a weird empty space behind this, so we knocked that wall down and enlarged the bathroom.”
It was the kind of bathroom you might find in a spa. Black-and-white tiles covered the floor. A large clawfoot tub sat to the left, and a long, beautiful cabinet that looked like an antique piece of furniture ran along the wall to my right. There were two sinks built into it with the toilet sitting at the end. And against the back wall was the largest walk-in shower I’d ever seen.
Making my way over to it, I marveled at the size. “This thing is huge!”
When I glanced back at him, his cheeks were red.
“What?” I asked.
Hunter rubbed at the back of his neck. “Nothing. I just wanted a big shower.”
“The tile is beautiful. I love the spin on the classic subway tile. This looks a bit more rustic.”
“Yeah, I liked it too. I wanted something to keep the historical feel of the house, but with a bit of a twist. That’s why I went with black grout. It ties it in with the floor.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Come on, I’ll show you the upstairs.”
We headed upstairs and found three more bedrooms and one full-size bathroom. In the newer addition to the back of the house was a large sitting room. A closet sat at the very back, as well as stairs that led down to the kitchen area.
“The house is beautiful, Hunter.”
A look of relief washed over his face. “You like it, then?”
I nodded. “I do, I love it!” He looked out one of the windows and frowned. I placed my hand on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Tell me what’s going through your mind right now.”
He let out a soft exhale. “I don’t want to push you or presume anything…but I guess my dream has always been for you to live here. With me. Someday.”
I felt a grin explode on my face. “You really thought about me when you were making changes to the house?”
He nodded and let out a small laugh. “I did. I kept telling myself I was crazy but…I just never gave up hope.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, lifted up onto my toes, and pressed my mouth to his. Hunter drew me against him and deepened the kiss.
I heard barking from outside and realized we had left Jack out there.
“Jack,” I said, stepping back from Hunter.
“He wants to show you the surprise.”
“Because a house isn’t a big enough surprise?”
“No, it’s not.”
Hunter and I walked down the steps and out the front door to find Jack sitting patiently with a giant stick in front of him.
“That’s one big stick, buddy,” I said as I picked it up and threw it. Jack looked at it, then back to Hunter. I frowned. “Is he really waiting for you to give him a command to fetch a stick?”
Hunter laughed. “No, he knows where we’re going. Come on, Jack, let’s show her.”
Before we started to walk around to the back of the house, Hunter stopped. “Do you need gloves? We’re eating outside, and I took measures to give us some warmth, but you might still get cold.”
Reaching into my coat pocket, I pulled out my gloves. “Got them right here.”
He smiled and kissed the tip of my nose. My dang stomach flipped over again, but this time a delicious pressure also built between my legs.
“Ready?” he asked.
With a giggle, I replied, “So ready!”
Being back with Hunter had been so amazing and emotional. When I was with him, I was almost able to forget everything. It was so nice to be happy again. To feel so alive. A part of me was scared to death the floor would fall out from under me at any moment. But knowing Hunter was by my side again, after so many years apart, helped to ease that fear. I knew now that we could face anything as long as we were together. It had been a long and hard lesson to learn, but I was so glad he had never given up hope and I had decided to try and live again.
As we walked around the side of the house, Hunter pointed out a few things. “Over there is a huge, fenced-in garden. I counted twenty raised flower beds.”
“Twenty!” I nearly shouted. “Can we go see it?”
He laughed. “After we eat. There’s an area back over behind the garden that’s pretty flat. You’ll have to take a look at it. I think it would make a great place for some beehives. We could easily make a pathway from the house, as well as a road, since I know you have to move hives sometimes.”