December Rain by A. L. Goulden Page B

the unfamiliar room. “I can’t believe you bought this place.” His face lights up and those little lines she loves crinkle beside his eyes. His smile really is stunning. Those white teeth and that sexy jaw line. He could so easily be a model.
    “Impulse buy,” he says.
    “You know if you follow every impulsive whim…” She pauses to choose her words carefully before ruining the mood.
    “Yes…” he coaxes.
    “If you try to make every dream come true… you’ll take the fun away.”
    He lets out a hearty laugh that she can feel through his diaphragm and shakes his head. “You’ll just have to dream up new things. I’ll make sure you never stop dreaming.”
    His words land with conviction, and she trusts this to be true. All he’s done since they met was kindle her dreams. She looks around the room again to take it in. “It really is beautiful.”
    “Just like you.” His eyes are heated again as he watches his fingers graze down the middle of her body. “I had to have this little piece of us to hope.” His fingers circle her pubic hair lightly, rippling shivers deep within. “But it hasn’t felt like home until right now.”
    Monica raises her hands to his face and pulls him to her lips. She pushes him to his back and mounts him with the first real laugh she’s released in months. Lowering on top, she plants another possessing kiss then notices his alarm clock is on the floor. “This place is pretty bare.”
    “I didn’t want to get too much furniture.”
    “You didn’t blow all your money did you?” She closes her eyes, immediately regretting the intrusive words. “I’m sorry. That is SO not my business… I just worry… no-“
    “Hey. It’s okay.” He wraps his arms around her. “And no. I didn’t spend all my money. I’m never careless with money. I know what it’s like not to have any… I don’t want to be there again.”
    Now I feel really stupid. She sinks with embarrassment.
    “Look at me.” Quinn lifts her chin. “I didn’t want to buy too much without you.” He shrugs a little. “I wanted this place to reflect us, not just me.” She runs her thumb along his face, tracing the creases of his smile trail. “You need a tour,” he says, lifting her bare body off. He wraps her in the down comforter that is snarled over the footboard and says, “Come with me.”
    He pulls her towards the parlor where their heated passion started. “I liked this little sitting room that someone created. You can tell this was a separate room at one point, although it had to have been tiny… but this archway had doors here.” He points to the stops that were never removed knowing she’d understand.
    She looks into the hallway and back before saying, “It was a fainting room.”
    “A what?”
    “A fainting room. Usually at the top flight of stairs there was either a bench or a small room for ladies to catch their breath. The corsets were so tight that it was common to pass out from physical exertion.” She nods, satisfied with her assessment, and waits to move on with the home tour.
    Quinn doesn’t move though. He stands there shaking his head a little stunned by her. “I love you.”
    “Why? Cause I know useless stuff about Victorian homes?”
    “No. But it’s pretty awesome that you do.”
    She feels his cool skin as he kisses her. “Baby get in here… you’re freezing!” Monica opens the blanket for him. He gladly dives into her sizzling tent, but only for a few seconds before moving on. “No... come back,” she says.
    “You already saw the bathroom,” he says, passing the tub she used this morning. “These are the closets.” He flings open a set of dark paneled doors in a passage between the master bedroom and bath to reveal closets every woman dreams of, organized and vast.
    “Oh my... this is huge, especially in this city. Wow.”
    “I know. Too much for just me,” he says, turning to the other side where an identical set of doors hides another nearly empty