Page 62 of Defend Her Heart

I turn in my chair and push myself over to her. I open my legs so hers are nestled right in between mine, and place my hands on top of her thighs.

“You, my love, are my muse.”

Avery tilts her head but smiles. “That makes no sense. Aren’t you designing a home or something?”

With her head tilted, some of her hair falls in her face. I reach out and push it behind her ear, stroking her cheek with my thumb as I do.

“Yes. But since I don’t care what it looks like, I want to know about your dream home. That’s the house I want to design for this project.”

Avery reaches out and grabs my face with both her hands. She leans forward and plants a loud, smacking kiss on my lips. When she pulls back, she’s wearing the biggest smile on her face.

“Well, why didn’t you say so! I knowexactlywhat I want in my dream house. Grab your pencil, Superstar. You’re going to need to take notes.”

We’ve been at this for almost two hours now, and I’m starting to realize my girlfriend is very particular when it comes to home decor.

“No, no, no. That couch is way too small. It needs to seat at least seven for all the friends we’re going to have over.”

That right there is why I don’t care how often she’s changed her mind. Every time she describes something she wants, it’swe. She’s including me in her thought process. So I’ll sit here for five hours if I have to if it means I get to design the dream home she envisions for our future.

“And the kitchen island needs to be bigger. Think family dinners and baking Christmas cookies together with all of our teammates. Oh! With a KitchenAid mixer and double oven!”

I laugh as I erase the small kitchen island I had drawn and make the changes to appease her. Even though decor wasn’t necessary for this project, I can’t help but add in the little details she seems to be so excited about.

Drawing a mixer on the counter, I also include a cookie jar and coffee maker, even though neither of us drink coffee. I draw the giant palm plant she wants potted near the huge window and floor to ceiling bookshelves.

She’s moved from the bed to my lap now. And although drawing is ten times harder with her here, there’s no way in hell I’m asking her to move.

“Yes, oh my gosh! That looks so good. We should have an old-school record player in that room, too. Music sounds so much better on vinyl.”

This comment causes me to drop my pencil and lean back in my chair. “How the hell do you know music sounds better on vinyl? I’ve never seen a record in your room.”

She loops her arm around her neck and shakes her head at me. “Oh, Connor. You think I’d bring my records to school? They are far too valuable to risk someone mishandling them. They’re safe at home with my parents.”

I’ve never seen her this giddy outside of the hockey rink before. Her happiness and excitement keeps me focused for the next hour as I finish the design. At some point over the last sixty minutes, Avery moves to the floor to work on her ownhomework. When I finish adding the small details she wanted that were totally unnecessary, I turn dramatically in my chair.

“Ta-da! What do we think? Is it everything you ever imagined?”

She sits up from where she’s sitting and reaches for the paper. “Gimme, gimme!”

Laughing, I hand it over and join her on the floor. Leaning over, I rest my hand behind her and watch as she takes in the drawing. She’s pointing, smiling, and gasping at things, and I’m fighting every instinct to grab her and pin her onto the floor. The way I want to make love to this girl is maddening.

She squeals one more time then turns to look at me over her shoulder.

“It’s perfect, Connor!” Avery leans forward and kisses me. Before she can pull away, I grab the back of her head to deepen the kiss. After a couple minutes, we finally break apart and she is still wearing that breathtaking smile.

“Do you really think we could have this one day?” She turns her attention back to the drawing in her hand, and I rest my chin on her shoulder.

“If you want it, it’s yours, Aves.”

I’m fully aware that Avery has gone as still as a statue next to me. I’m not sure why I thought she wouldn’t notice, but apparently her memory is as good as mine. It was my senior year of high school when I designed her dream home for one of my architecture classes. My teammates never really understood why I took difficult classes like that when it was all of our dreams to be drafted.

But most of them didn’t grow up like me. They didn’t grow up in an empty house, both physically and emotionally. When my sister and I moved in with our grandparents after our mom left, they did everything possible to make their house feel like a home. I’ll never be able to thank them enough for all that they did for us.

At some point when I was younger and dealing with the anger and resentment of my parents, I discovered drawing. Back then the drawings weren’t pretty or hopeful. You could tell that the emotions I was holding onto weren’t good ones. But over time, that emotional outlet turned into something productive. I found creating things gave me purpose and somewhere along the way I realized that designing homes is what I wanted to do one day. If hockey didn’t work out, ofcourse. Life didn’t always go as planned. If anyone knew that, it was me. So, while my teammates were 100 percent focused on hockey and that being their one and only goal, I wanted to have a back-up plan. For me, that was architecture and home design.

How wonderful would it be to create a home that a family could love? ThatAverycould love.

She finally takes a few steps into my apartment but I stay where I am, giving her the space I know she’s going to need to take all of this in.