Carter had gotten updates from his crew and his new sister-in-law, Leah, the whole time he and Hannah were gone on their honeymoon to Italy. He kept Hannah out of the country—and completely distracted from what was happening in the rest of the world, until he knew the house was ready.
Back home in his condo, Hannah had gone in to Addi’s bedroom with her to look over all the projects she’d made with Miss Trudi while they were gone, so Carter walked out onto the balcony and saw for the first time that the house was indeed a hundred yards further to the east. A rectangle of bare earth against the sand showed where it had once stood. It was unreal.
Soft footsteps behind him caught his attention. He turned and saw Hannah walk past. “Hey, sea witch, come here and let me show you something.”
Hannah smiled at him. “Just a minute, pookie boo. I wanted to go put my stuff in our room.”
Carter grinned. At least she was keeping the nicknames g-rated now that they were around Addi again. “That can wait, I promise. There’s something on the beach I want you to see.”
But she was already in their room. He followed, determined to get her over to the balcony. When he got inside, Hannah had dropped her bag on a side chair and slipped her sandals off. “Come on, sweetie. I’ve been dying to show this to you.”
“Yeah?” Hannah asked. “Well, there’s something I’ve been dying to do to.”
Without another word, she stood up on his bed and started jumping. Her hair flew in the air, her chest bounced around in a distracting way, and a smile of pure glee lit her face.
“You crazy woman.” There was only one thing to do. Carter kicked his shoes off and jumped on the bed with her, tackling her onto the silky coverlet. “Are you ready to stop acting like a three-year-old and come see what I’ve done for you.”
“What? You want me to act like the very grown up, loving wife I am?” She pulled his head down and kissed him, and having perfected her seductive techniques, thoroughly lured him off-track.
Only the knowledge that Addi was home and their door was open kept him from getting lost in her arms. Pulling away, he got up, smiling at her disappointed expression. “I’m going to show this to you if it’s the last thing I do.”
He grabbed her feet and pulled her to the end of the bed, pulling the coverlet into a puddle on the floor. Hoisting her over his shoulder, he carried her out to the balcony. Only then did he set her down again.
“What in the world is going on?” she asked, looking around in a confused way.
Carter didn’t say a word though—just waited for her to figure it out.
“Oh my gosh, Carter, where is my house?”
He laughed at the menace in her voice. “May I remind you that it is my house? I bought it, remember?”
“And then I married you, so now it’s mine too. What did you do to it?”
“I moved it. Look.” He pointed down the beach.
Hannah leaned over the rail. “You moved the house? Holy smokes! I didn’t even know you could do that!
“Yeah. It wasn’t easy since I wanted to keep it a surprise. Leah had to pack all your stuff and I had to buy Brant out of his lease. Turns out the guy knows how to negotiate with a love-sick fool like me.”
Hannah snorted. “I’ll bet. You got it moved while we were gone?”
“The actual moving process only took an afternoon once the new foundation was ready. The house is just like you left it, just with a new address. I wanted to paint it and remodel it a bit, but Leah warned me to wait till I knew what you thought. I figured you could use it as an art studio…”
He didn’t get another word out though because Hannah jumped on him, squeezing his neck so tightly he couldn’t breathe.
“Carter Ellis, this is the best gift ever, ever, ever.”
He kissed her, smiling against her lips. “Give me time, sea witch. We’ve got a whole lifetime to go still.”
“You never did tell me why you call me sea witch.”
He laughed. “Because you bewitched me from the first time I set eyes on you and that was the only explanation I could come up with. And after the last week, I’m pretty sure it’s true.”
She smiled and ran her fingernails up his side in a way she knew drove him crazy. “Okay, sugar lips, I guess you can keep calling me that. Now, let’s go get Addi and look at the house.”
She ran inside to get Addi and he followed behind her, a blissful smile stretching his lips. For a man who’d never had a real home before, he was pretty sure he now had two. It was going to take that many to contain all his love for her anyway.
As they walked down to the beach toward the house, Hannah and Addi ran ahead, splashing through the waves and scattering seagulls. He’d come here for the view, and in his opinion, this was the best one he’d ever seen.