"Do you want it?" he asks softly. "Could you be happy here?"

I jump a little from excitement. "Talon! Of course I will be. This is like a dream. Is it too much money?"

He shakes his head. "No, actually it's the cheapest one on the list. And stop worrying about money. Let's go tell Sandra this is the one."

"Oh my God!" I squeal. "I can't believe this!" I hug him tightly, and he lifts me off my feet for a second. "Thank you so much," I say into his neck. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

We find Sandra waiting for us in the kitchen, where she's looking over her folder of papers and other listings.

"We'd like to make an offer."

She looks up at us in surprise. "We have more to see. Don't you want to see the others first? This one is the smallest and doesn't have a pool. The next two have more square footage, pools, and are closer to town."

"This is the one my girl wants, so no need to see the others." My heart skips a beat when he says my girl. Sometimes he really can say the most charming things.

Sandra closes up her folder with a big smile. "Okay, then. It's a beautiful home, I agree. The owners are not currently living here. They had it built as a vacation home but rarely had the time to stay, so they are open to you renting it until the close can be completed, which could happen very quickly. They are also including all window and floor treatments and will entertain offers for all of the furniture, except the bedroom sets. If you'd like, we can go back to my office now to draw up all the paperwork and contact their agent. If all goes well, you could be moved in pretty quickly."

"Perfect," Talon says. "We'll follow you to your office, then."

As we pull out of the driveway, I look back at the house wistfully, wishing we could stay here right now, sit on that porch and look at the view forever. My hand clutches Talon's tightly during the drive to the Realtor's office, afraid if I let him go, everything will disappear.

Everything that's happening is overwhelming, and I don't want to confuse these material things with actual feelings. Of course the house has made me incredibly happy, but I want us to have those same feelings of excitement for each other, because that's what matters to me the most. I don't want to get all caught up in the Cinderella syndrome.

Chapter 16

Asia

I go through the next week in a sort of surreal daze. I am now living in a beautiful home my new husband bought for us that cost three hundred thousand dollars. Then he spent another hundred thousand dollars on work-out equipment so he could turn part of the basement into a gym. Sitting in our driveway is his monster truck, and in the three-car garage is a BMW, a brand-new four-wheel-drive BMW SUV he bought for me, and his two motorcycles.

His brothers, cousins, their respective girlfriends, and his parents all helped us move and unpack, and they brought us food and housewarming gifts. Storm and his fiancée, Evie, came over with a U-Haul filled with various sizes of carpeted cat trees and condos, put one in each room of the house for Princess Pixie, then proceeded to check every window screen in the house and the entire basement to make sure there was no way Pixie could accidentally get out of the house. Their care for my little cat meant more to me than I could express to them in words, so I just kept hugging them randomly.

Two weeks ago, I was living in the ghetto, with no car and ten dollars in my bank account. I had no family and only one friend to talk to who actually cared about me.

And now, I'm living a life I used to only dream of.

"I don't like the way that fucktard looks at you," Talon says after his cousin and his friend left. They came by earlier to help move some of our new furniture around.

And then there's this. The man who's given me everything I've ever wanted. The man who I do believe, in his own way, really does care about me, even though he's got a very odd way of showing it. Slowly, we're still trying to figure out how we fit together.

"Next time I see him ogling your ass, I'm gonna throat-punch him," he continues, raiding the refrigerator.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Fucking Finn."

"Lukas's friend?" I pick a few grapes off the fruit basket someone left for us. "He came to help us move. He seems like a nice guy."

He closes the fridge door and moves to stand across from me at the kitchen island. "He's always looking at you like you're lunch, and he's about to have his last meal. He looks at my sister the same way."

I find his jealous and protective streak kind of endearing; at least it shows he cares. Evie warned me that all the guys are fiercely protective of their women like cavemen, and she wasn't wrong.

"Well, it's nice to know there's a guy out there who's attracted to me," I tease, which I probably shouldn't do, but my emotions are still bearing the footprints from where he trampled on them during our first few days together.

He sighs and I can almost see some steam coming out of his ears. "I've apologized for that. I've done everything I can to make it up to you."

Everything except show me you're attracted to me.

Yeah, his sexy, sarcastic, flirty comments are there, and they make me laugh. But other than a few quick and steamy kisses, there's been nothing physical between us.

That's a lie. Every night, there's the foot snuggles. Which I love, and I would completely cry and throw an all-out tantrum over if he stopped, but I'd like a little more of a hint that he actually wants me. I'm not exactly ready to have sex with him yet since we're still in that new phase, but something would be nice.

"So, Friday night, we're playing at the grand opening of the Rusty Knife in Boston. It's a short set, like three songs since there are a few other bands playing that night too."

"Oh." I don't remember him mentioning this before.

"There's a VIP party afterward."

"Okay. I take it you're going?"

"We're going, Asia. You and me."

My stomach lurches at the thought of a new club in the city and a VIP party and the noise and social expectations mixed with my shyness. "That's kinda short notice, isn't it?" I ask, knowing nothing about how these things work.

"I've known about it for months."

"Oh." That awkward moment when you've known your husband for less than a month.

He pulls out his wallet and hands me his credit card. "I want you to enjoy it. Get yourself some sexy clothes, or whatever you need to make yourself something if you'd rather do that, and get your hair and nails done. Pamper yourself a little, okay?"

"I don't usually do that sort of thing…"

His hand touches my hair softly. "Ya know what would look hot on you? Have your hair dyed just a little bit darker, almost black, with a dark purple tint in it. It will make your eyes look fucking amazing."

"You think? I've never dyed my hair."

"It will look killer." His eyes stay on me a little longer usual, like he's envisioning what I'm going to look like with darkish purple hair. Having a guy interested in my hair color is definitely a new experience for me.

I shove the credit card into my purse. "I don't really need all that, Talon. No one's going to be looking at me, so it's stupid to waste all that money on hair and nails. Especially when you just bought all this for us."

"I'm going to be looking at you. It's a special night. And it'll be our first time going out someplace together. The other girls will probably be there."

"Should I call Evie and ask her what I should wear?"

"Sure. Evie's cool."

I make a note on my calendar app on my phone to call Evie tomorrow to find out what goes on at these types of functions, what I should wear, and ask her where around here I can get my hair done.

"I'm gonna go take a shower before we head to bed. I feel like I have dust all over me from unpacking." He kisses my cheek and disappears upstairs. I stare across the big kitchen and slowly chew a grape, still a little awed that I actually live here. During my last chat with Dr. Hollister, she mentioned now that we have our own home, Talon and I will settle into a routine and I will start to feel like this is home. I really hope she's right, because the six-month deadline feels like it's going to creep up on us fast, and our relationship doesn't seem to be progressing into the Yes, I want to be with this person forever stage. At least, not yet.

I check to make sure the doors are locked, turn off the lights, and head up the wide foyer stairway to get ready for bed. Our master suite is huge, with a new king-size bed, a small sitting area off to the right with an electric fireplace built into the wall with stone around it, a dark chocolate leather love seat, and French doors leading out to the balcony. It's the kind of bedroom I've only seen in magazines and I absolutely love it, even though it’s still a little uncomfortable to be sharing a bedroom with a stranger.

From the adjoining bathroom, the shower is still running, the door cracked a few inches with steam drifting out. I poke my head in, thinking I can grab my toothbrush and brush my teeth in the bathroom down the hall since we're not at the point where we share the bathroom at the same time, and I freeze, my eyes locked on the reflection of the glass doors of the shower in the mirror.

I should turn around and get out of the doorway, but I can't. I can't even tear my eyes away, let alone remember how to move my feet. The glass doors are slightly frosted, but I can see his blurred form, the water spraying on him, his head bowed down toward the massive erection jutting out so far from his body that it almost seems impossible to be real, his hand fisting it slowly.

I gulp, completely mesmerized as I watch him stroke his magnificent cock. His hand pumps faster and he leans back against the tile wall, tilting his head back, his mouth slightly open, as a stream of come spurts into the water spray. His hand slows, gliding up and down the long length of his shaft, reveling in his own ecstasy as he moans and then lets out a deep sigh. Gathering my wits, I quickly bolt before he catches me.