CHAPTER57
TANNER
Iwoke up next to Larisa the next morning, smiling almost as soon as I opened my eyes. It wasn’t something I usually did, but waking up beside her would do the trick every damn time. It was even better now that I knew things were finally good between us.
I propped myself up on my elbow and gazed at her sleeping form. A swell of love rolled through me. The thought stopped me in my tracks for a minute. Love?
I couldn’t deny that was what it was, though. Hell, I’d even known it was coming. From the very first moment I’d seen her, I’d known it could happen if I let it. There was just something that connected me to her.
Soulmates were called that because a person just knew, on some level deep down inside their souls, that this was their mate, and I had found mine. I’d known that for a while now. It should’ve been obvious that love would follow.
I wouldn’t tell her yet, though. If I got too intense too soon, it could scare her away from me and I couldn’t have that happening now that I finally had her. While I didn’t know how long I had to wait before I said it, I would figure it out.
Now that I knew for sure, it probably wouldn’t be long before I told her. One way or another, it would come out. Besides, she’d insisted on me being open and communicating with her, so I wouldn’t hold it back for too long.
Just long enough that I wasn’t the idiot who said it the very first morning after we’d agreed to give our relationship a chance. I might not know how long to wait, but twelve hours seemed a bit extreme. I would rather err on the side of caution on this one and give it a few days before I risked turning everything on its head again.
A quiet sigh escaped me. I was so fucking happy that we’d finally reached this point, but I was also terrified of screwing up again, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I did. In the meantime, however, I had to up my game.
When I screwed up again, I needed her to know how much she meant to me. One way of doing that was ordering us breakfast and coffee to surprise her with when she woke up. Taking care of her in that sense came naturally to me, but the rest of it? Fucked if I know.
After sliding out of bed to place the order, I left the bedroom and went out to her living area. On the desk was the laptop I’d given her, along with an assortment of files and folders with color-coded tabs sticking out of them.
I smiled. I’d never had much use for color-coded shit myself, but it seemed so her. She’d told me a little about this latest client last night, and I knew she was excited to jump into this next project. I felt a little nostalgic about my house being done and that project being over, but I still wanted to support her in her passion.
When I got the notification to confirm the restaurant had received my order, I held my phone up and stared at it for another beat. Then I decided to do something I should’ve done a long time ago. Larisa was hesitant to go into business with me because she’d given her all to her own business and she was still in the process of growing it.
I could help with that. Grinning as I scrolled to Jeremiah’s number, I hit dial and waited for him to pick up. When he did, I knew he was going to give me shit before he even actually started.
“Well, well. If it isn’t the prodigal son. You didn’t come home last night. Where are you? Before you answer that, you should know that Steph said to tell you that if you’re not at Larisa’s, then you might as well stay away if you want to hold on to your balls.”
I let out a low whistle under my breath. “Is she ever going to stop threatening the crown jewels? I’m at Larisa’s, okay? She can chill out. We’re working on it, but it’s looking good.”
“Great news,” he said, sounding smug. “I knew you could do it. I’m just glad you pulled your head out of your ass and did it. Did you tell her about the house and that she did a really good job even though you made it seem like she didn’t?”
“I did. We’re still figuring things out, but I explained what happened the day she gave me the tour and I don’t think I can apologize much more for it all. She seems to believe me, though. At least that’s something.”
“It is something. Something big, especially since she really did do a great job and you got all mopey about it instead of thanking her appropriately.”
“I’ve thanked her appropriately now, and that’s all there is to it.” I blew out a breath. “This relationship thing is hard, huh?”
He laughed. “Yeah, but you won’t regret it. Besides, it’ll get easier. Then it’ll get harder and then it’ll get easier again. Life throws shit at you and it takes some getting used to if you suddenly have to deal with it with someone else. Then you have to deal with the shit life throws at them and at the two of you together.”
“So, basically, what you’re saying is that life’s a bitch and then you die.”
“Sure, but there’s a lot of living to be done before you die, and that living is better when you’ve got your person with you. The bitchiness of life comes and goes. Just focus on the good times and you should be alright. Did you call just to get philosophical with me about relationships? Because it’s way too early to start drinking but this kind of philosophizing requires alcohol.”
“I didn’t call about that,” I said. “We can get into it someday soon when it’s not too early to start drinking and we have copious amounts of alcohol on hand, but I called to talk to you about Larisa.”
“Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?” he asked. “We were talking about your relationship with her, right?”
“Right, but I didn’t want to talk about my relationship with her. I wanted to talk to you about her work.”
“Okay,” he said slowly. “What about it? Are you going to bitch about your house feeling like a bachelor pad again? Because let’s face it, as of when she designed it for you, you were a bachelor. You kind of still are. What she did was perfect. You should’ve communicated better if that wasn’t what you wanted.”
“I’ve been made aware of that, too. Thanks, Dad, but no. That’s not it, either. I want to get her name out there to all our associates. She’s one of the best interior designers in the city and it’s time she becomes better known.”
“She’s good,” he said. “I’ll give you that, but is this what she wants?”