Two weeks later, Annie’s life still hadn’t settled down. Jasper hadn’t popped the question again, but she guessed he was waiting for the right moment. For him. She doubted there would ever be a right moment for her.
Despite their state of uncertainty, they’d fallen into a comfortable pattern. They both worked too many hours and spent their downtime snuggling together. And when he tried to talk about their future, she jumped on him. Literally. She used sex to avoid the conversation. It probably wasn’t the most mature or productive solution, but it worked and was pretty fun.
But right now she was all business, or was trying to be. The need to laugh made that difficult. So did the expression on Dave’s face as he sat across from her, holding his coffee mug without taking a sip.
He shook his head. “That may have been the worst place I’ve ever seen.”
Biting her lip helped hide the smile she fought back. She glanced around the small specialty cake shop in the Georgetown shopping area.
“Not a fan of metallic walls?” she asked, not trying to hide humor in her voice. “Then there was the one made of straw with the built-in furniture that looked like it came out of a futuristic cartoon.”
“Part of it looked like wrapping paper. The other part…wow.” He spoke with awe, but not the good kind.
He said he’d heard about this house from someone in his office and was told it would be perfect for a single man. She hadn’t been able to preview the place or find photos online since the place wasn’t officially listed yet, so they’d gone in blind.
“Now, I’m not the type to say ‘I told you so’…” She totally was.
He eyed her over the top of his mug. “Don’t.”
“Oh, no. I’m gonna say it.” She didn’t hold back her smile now.
“You could just think it.”
“Nope.”
He exhaled. “Fine. Go ahead.”
He sounded resigned, but she could tell he was playing along with her amusement. Despite the laughter in her voice and the way he shook his head as he drank his coffee now, they did have a serious issue. The way he insisted on conducting the house hunt ended up wasting both their time and he wasn’t one step closer to making an offer on any property.
They’d spent a lot of time together and consumed an almost unbearable amount of coffee, but he still was a client. That meant stepping into this conversation carefully. “Over the last two weeks you’ve picked out three places on your own or because a friend or a coworker had a place we should see and, well, they haven’t been great.”
“Understatement.”
“I was trying to be nice.”
“It had shag carpet in the bathroom.” He put the mug down with a thud. “Who does that?”
“Apparently that was trendy at one time.”
“In this century?”
“Unfortunately.”
“I’m guessing you’re a bit smug about this.”
“Again, understatement.”
Laughter sounded in his voice as he cradled his coffee mug in his palms.
“That brings me to a topic I wanted to discuss.”
He froze. “Uh-oh.”
He wasn’t a stupid man. He had to see this talk coming. She appreciated that, but she also wanted to sell a house.
She enjoyed spending time with him, listening to him, and joking with him. Maybe too much. But she did have a job to do and so far she was failing at it, which she hated.
“I’ve sent you listings but you only give me lukewarm responses, and then call me at random times about secret listings you’ve heard about with shag carpet, which was also in the kitchen, by the way.”
He nodded. “I don’t know anything about cooking but even I know that’s a bad idea.”
“Almost as bad as house hunting like this?” She leaned in, trying to ignore those sexy dark eyes. “Look, if you don’t really want a house—”
“I do.”
“Then am I the problem?”
He made a snorting sound. “You’re the best part of this process so far.”
Her stomach did a little flip. She sat back in her chair again, trying to put some extra distance between them. “So?”
“Maybe…I want to spend more time with you.” He sounded hesitant but his eyes lit with determination.
Okay, spinning wild thoughts about her mysterious client and flirting a bit was one thing. Going down this road was another. She loved Jasper and had no intention or desire to cheat on him. The idea of losing him actually made her queasy. So, this—whatever this was—had to end.
She cleared her throat. “Dave.”
“Don’t panic. I meant that in a friendly way.” He held up a hand as if in surrender. “Send me listings and I promise to pick three so we can go out again.”
She didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until it rushed out of her. Her insides shook and she struggled to make sense of her attraction. Rather than analyze every move and every sentence, she fell back on humor.
“Three whole houses?” She whistled. “Wow, at that rate we’ll get you into a property within the decade.”
He joined in her laughter. “Drink your coffee.”