Jacob had helped me with so many other obstacles already. It felt like too much to expect his help with this too, but I hadn’t expected it. He’d offered, and refusing would make me a fool.
“If you’re sure about taking the day off and about Jamie carting the girls around, I would love if you could help me.”
He grinned, leaning down to nuzzle my cheek. “I’m sure about all of that. Let’s finish our coffee and get started.”
“We should shower first.”
“Nope.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “We’ll do that later to reward ourselves. No more being paralyzed. No more waiting. We’re doing this.”
I sighed and arched a brow as I stared into his eyes. “I wasn’t talking about the kind of shower that counts as a reward. I just thought we could get cleaned up after our nocturnal activities.”
“Who knows? Our nocturnal activities might just carry on later. We’ll get cleaned up after we get all sweaty again.”
When I shot him a pointed look, he chuckled and raised his free hand. “Get sweaty while unpacking. Jeez. Get your mind out of the gutter, woman.”
“Like my mind is the one in the gutter.” I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t stop the smile tugging at my lips. “Although my mind has been in the gutter a lot more often recently. Can’t imagine why.”
He flashed me a smug smile, his chest puffing out. “I think I know the reason, but if you’ve forgotten it, I’m happy to refresh your memory any time. Just not right now. We’ve got coffee to drink and boxes to unpack.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re doggedly determined once you set your mind on something?”
He smacked the side of my ass before standing up. “Yep. I take pride in that quality. Once I’m focused, I’m getting it done. It didn’t seem to bother you much last night. Or the day before that.”
I stuck the tip of my tongue out at him. “I wasn’t complaining. I just didn’t think you’d be this eager to get started. Where are you going by the way?”
His features turned serious before he took another look around. “Do you still have any furniture that needs to be moved into place before the boxes can start being unpacked properly?”
“How did you know that?” I just about gaped at him. “Is it that obvious?”
“To me, it is. There’s way too much empty space in here and in every other room. You don’t strike me as the minimalist type, judging by what you’ve already unpacked. Which means there’s got to be more.”
“There is more,” I admitted, silently in awe of his powers of observation. He never seemed to miss a thing. “It’s all piled into the guest rooms.”
“I thought you said it was in the garage?”
My head dropped to one side as I surveyed the almost naked, sex god of a man standing in front of me. “Do you secretly carry a recorder on you every time we talk? There’s no way you notice and remember as much as you do without that.”
He shrugged, bending over to plant a sweet kiss on my lips. “When it comes to you, I remember everything. Now, point me in the direction of these guest rooms. Let’s get this show on the road.”
After taking another big gulp of his coffee, he set it down on the table while I gave him a two-fingered salute. “Yes, sir.”
A wicked gleam came into his eyes. “You know, I’ve never been into that kind of thing, but now I think it might just work for me. Let’s do what needs to be done, and then we can experiment.”
“What? You want to tie me up and blindfold me?” I joked, but the smile slowly dropped from my face when that wicked gleam just intensified. “Are you serious?”
He shrugged. “Why not? Bondage and blindfolds might be fun after all.”
“You’re joking, right?” I asked when he laughed and took off down the hall in the direction of the bedrooms.
“Come help me and you might find out later.” More laughter followed.
Setting my own coffee down, I stood up and hurried after him. Even though he’d only left the room seconds before me, he was already moving stuff around to make more space so he could get a good look at everything.
“What did you have in mind for all this?” he asked, seemingly having completely forgotten that he’d been talking about bondage just before.
See? Just a joke. I breathed a little easier and tried to follow his example of supreme focus on the thing I’d set my mind to. Which means no thinking about sex for now. Kinky or otherwise.
“I haven’t even really gotten that far,” I said, forcing my mind to quiet all other thoughts. “I just didn’t want to get rid of any of my stuff or any of Katherine’s. What I have in mind for the house is kind of like a mash-up of both our styles.”
He moved his forefinger and thumb over his chin, narrowing his eyes in thought. “Do you think you would be able to live like that? Her stuff mixed in with yours, on display every day?”
“I really want to. It’ll be difficult at first, but that’s no reason not to do it. I think it will mean a lot to Katie and, once I get used to it, to me too.”
Turning to put one hand on my shoulder, he bent his knees to look into my eyes. Concern darkened his and formed the tiniest little furrow between his brows. “There’s no shame in packing it away for Katie to sort through herself one day. She can decide what she wants to keep when the time comes.”
“I know.” I sighed and stuck my hands into my hair with elbows sticking out to the side. It wasn’t the sexiest of poses when one wasn’t intentionally doing it to strike a pose, but I’d warned him that this wasn’t going to be pretty.
Jacob waited patiently in front of me, never moving his gaze away from me but not making me feel like he was staring either. He was just watching. Making sure I was okay.
A long minute later, I released the breath I’d been holding and nodded. “I want Katie to feel her mom here with us. Let’s see what we can fit in a way that works with the house. Whatever is left, I’ll put in storage for her.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” He gave me a proud grin before turning to motion to a new-agey A-frame bookshelf. “I think that would look good in the corner next to the fireplace. Should we try it there?”
“Yeah. Let’s do it.” Jacob was surprisingly good at making suggestions and a huge help in actually doing the heavy lifting I’d been putting off.
We took a break for some toast and peanut butter, but he only gave us a few minutes before we got back to unpacking. With his help, for the first time, I could really see where things would fit into the home I was trying to build for Katie.
It didn’t take me long to realize that, like with everything else, even unpacking Katherine’s things was just a little bit better with Jacob at my side.
Chapter 32
Jacob
Laurie and I spent all of Friday morning and most of the afternoon unpacking. I drained the glass of water in my hand, wiping my mouth before I set the empty glass back down on the kitchen counter.
We’d finally gotten around to showering a couple of hours ago before finishing up some of the lighter work around the house. The difference between when we’d woken up and the way the house looked now was palpable.