Yours or Mine (2 page)

“That's my plan too.
I might want to rent to a guy I work with.” Blake continued, “It'd
be a good source of income to have monthly rent money.”

“Let’s go down to
the basement.” Karen turned to Blake. “I bet you’ll be
interested in seeing the exercise room. The parents are leaving their
equipment.”

Do I look like a
sedentary person? Sydney wondered while on the steps to the basement.

Karen pointed out a
bathroom in the basement before entering the exercise room.

Blake looked pleased as
he touched the dumbbells. “I might drop my gym membership if I buy
this place.”

She’d show Karen not
to overlook her fit body. She hopped on the treadmill and pushed the
start button. While running a little faster than she wanted, Sydney
said in a loud voice, “I jog daily, but having a treadmill would be
great to have on crappy days.”

“I try to jog while
Carter’s in school.”

Karen stared at her for
a moment. “Sydney, if you’ve had enough running, maybe we could
go back upstairs.”

She quickly switched
off the machine and before she could stop herself, her body smacked
against Blake’s chest. He put his arms around Sydney to stop her
from falling. Feeling a bit dizzy, she looked up at him. “Sorry, I
slipped when I stepped off.”

“That’s okay. But I
think I should tell you that something else slipped.” He gave her a
sexy grin while looking at her blouse. “You’re unbuttoned from
all that exertion you did on the treadmill.”

She glanced, seeing
what Blake saw…the button over her breasts had popped open. Her
face felt hot and probably now matched her pink shirt. It must have
shrunk in the dryer. She’d noticed the blouse was a bit snug when
she’d put it on in the morning.

While buttoning, she
mumbled, “Thanks.” She pulled slightly on the shirt, then looked
at Karen. “Could we see the master bedroom next? The picture online
looked great.”

Karen said, “It’s a
gorgeous room.”

As she followed Karen,
Sydney thought about Blake’s hard chest. He definitely had told the
truth about belonging to the gym. He must work out several times a
week to have such a solid body.

Once in the master
bedroom, Karen glanced upward. “Notice the tray ceiling and the
recessed lighting.” Opening a door, she said, “There are two
walk-in closets so neither of you will lack for space.”

Good, she could stop
looking at the bed and quit imagining a naked Blake in it. Feeling
Blake’s chest had aroused her. Being in this bedroom wasn’t
helping her condition. Her body needed cooling off so she was happy
to look inside the closets. They were huge. “Wow, this is awesome.
So much room for my stuff.”

“Sydney, you’re
going to appreciate the master bathroom. It has a garden tub,
separate shower,” Karen said. “And the other side is exactly the
same dimensions for the bedrooms.”

After following Karen,
Sydney stopped by a fancy chair in front of the mirror. “I can sit
here to put my makeup on. How nice.”

With his hands resting
on the counter between the double sinks, Blake said, “I can’t get
over how big the bedroom and bathroom are.”

Blake was absolutely
correct. If she had a husband, it’d be perfect, but she might as
well face it. This place might be too much house for her. What if
Anna didn't want to rent the other side? She glanced at him. “It’s
definitely bigger than where I live now.”

“Don’t forget the
price is $50,000 below market value.” Karen touched her necklace.
“Wait until you see the deck off the bedroom. I doubt you two will
be able to tear yourselves away.”

As they left the
bathroom and walked through the bedroom, Blake chuckled. “Hey,
Sydney, you won’t need to use the treadmill. You’ll get enough
exercise just walking through here a few times a day.”

The door opened to a
deck overlooking a wooded lot in the back of the property. A breeze
ruffled her hair. She took a deep breath, enjoying being outside.
“The view’s incredible. I can enjoy the fresh air and sit out
here while I write.”

“What do you write?”
Blake asked.

“A column.”

Blake stood so close
that his shoulder brushed hers. Her heart raced at his touch.

He arched his eyebrows.
“What’s the column about?”

While Sydney hesitated,
Karen blurted, “She gives dating advice. She’s good. My single
daughter loves her column.”

His blue eyes widened.
“That’s great. I’ll be sure to start reading it.”

Sydney was pleased with
Blake’s reaction. Mark had laughed when he learned what she wrote
and asked, “You get paid for that?”

She’d glared at him
and said, “Hey, I work hard on my column. And I write about
relationships which obviously are important. They are the foundation
of future, deep love between couples.”

After leaving the deck,
Karen showed them the other smaller but still roomy bedroom, which
was now used as a study.

Sydney said, “I'd
like to keep it as a study, but then I won't have a bedroom for my
niece and nephew. It'd be great to have them spend weekends here.”

Blake cocked his
eyebrows. “How old are they?”

“Jessica’s five and
Aaron‘s seven.”

Karen clenched her jaw
slightly. “Maybe you could have your study in the basement. Or live
on the other side. The daughter has her two girls in the second
bedroom.”

“I'm glad the two
bedrooms are close together. I want Carter in a room close to mine.
My wife died from cancer when Carter was only four years old. He's
all I have.”

“I’m so sorry about
your wife.” Sydney wondered if that was why he wanted to move.
Maybe there were too many memories of his wife where he lived now
with Carter.

Karen gave Blake a
sympathetic look. “I’m sorry about your loss. This floor plan
would be nice for you and your little boy. Do you have a house you
need to sell first?”

“After my wife died,
I sold our house. I’ve been renting a townhouse, but I’d like to
have my own place again,” Blake said.

After they walked out
of the house, Karen stopped by a hot tub. “They're leaving the hot
tub.”

“That’s great,”
Blake said. “I can relax after working out.”

Her parents had a hot
tub but it’d be nice to have her own. “I’d love to soak in it
after playing sports.”

Blake gave her a
thoughtful look. “What sports do you play?”

“Right now, I’m on
a church softball team and, during the winter, I play on a co-ed
basketball team. What about you?”

“Racquetball—whenever
I can fit it in.”

Karen motioned to them
to join her on the huge deck. “The sellers told me they enjoyed
throwing summer parties here.”

Sydney thought how cute
the deck would look with big clay pots of flowers. “With this view
and deck, I’d love to give a party. And I’d enjoy sunbathing
here.”

Karen ignored her
comment. “Blake, I bet your son would love to play in this big
yard.”

He nodded. “I was
just picturing tents pitched back here for a campout for Carter’s
Cub Scout troop.”

“Excuse me,” Karen
said as her cell phone rang. “I better take this call. It’s a
client I’m showing a house to next.”

When Karen was out of
earshot, Sydney turned to Blake, “You’re using the kid a lot to
discourage me from buying the house.”

Blake grinned. “Is it
working?”

She grinned back. “No,
but it is for Karen. She definitely favors you. I think she’s
expecting you to have a better cash flow to buy the house or better
credit to get a loan faster.”

“I liked your party
idea. Sounds like fun. If you buy the house, am I invited?”

“Clever man, changing
the subject. I guess that means you won’t have any hard feelings if
I get it.” She was elated he wanted to see her again. But she
wanted to play it cool, even though she definitely wanted to feel his
arms around her again. She’d never mentioned in her column about
meeting guys while house shopping, but maybe going to open houses
could be productive for other singles. Young professionals needed
houses after all and didn’t want to rent forever.

“To be honest, I like
this house a lot.” His blue eyes met her brown eyes. “We seem to
have a lot in common—exercise, this house, we both like kids. You
do like kids, don’t you? You talked about having your niece and
nephew over to visit.”

“I love kids.” She
frowned. Where was Blake going with this?

Karen returned. “Sorry
for the interruption. I don’t think I told you the owners built
this duplex four years ago. They put the highest quality of materials
into this house because they planned to stay here. But their daughter
is getting remarried and moving out of town. They found a house they
want to buy closer to where she's going to live.”

“My parents couldn’t
come with me today. I wanted them to see it before I make an offer.”
Sydney turned from Karen to see Blake’s reaction. She felt mean but
Blake also wanted this duplex, and she had a feeling that he planned
to make an offer soon. She needed to get the jump on him. “But I
hate to wait so I want to set a time to write up a contract on this
house.”

“We have a problem
because I also want to buy this duplex.” Blake smiled at Karen.
“You don’t have a duplicate house so we can both be happy, do
you?”

“I wish I did.”
Karen sighed before turning to Sydney. “You can go ahead and have
your parents look at the duplex tomorrow. And you need to see the
other side yet too. Although it's pretty much identical to what you
saw today.”

Blake nodded. “I’d
like Carter to look at the house too.”

“We can talk
privately soon about how much each of you can give for a down payment
and find out if there’s any problem with credit.” Karen played
with her silver watchband. “Does that sound fair?”

“It sounds fair to
me,” Sydney agreed. “Thank you, Karen.”

“Yes, thank you. I
know we’ve made things difficult for you,” Blake said.

“Do you have any
papers with the room measurements?” Sydney remembered when she’d
gone house shopping with her brother and his wife; the realtor gave
them a folder with the lot and house information.

“I do,” Karen
answered. “I’ll get the folders for you when we leave. I left
them in the car. I have my iPhone there and we can go ahead and
schedule the time for your family members to see the house.”

After following Karen
to the driveway, Blake stood close to her. “Sydney, we need to
talk.”

His manly smell was
doing something to her brain. Why did he have to excite her just by
standing near? “I’m sorry if it seems that I’m being selfish.
You need a house for you and Carter, but I just can’t help myself.
I love this place. It just seems like my house.”

“I have a proposition
that might work for both of us, but not sure until I talk to you.”
His blue eyes widened. “I’d like to take you out to dinner.
Outback Steakhouse and Red Lobster aren’t too far. You can decide
which one. We can both drive to the restaurant.”

She rolled her eyes. “I
don’t know. Are you sure that you aren’t going to try and talk me
out of making an offer?”

He laughed. “No, it’s
something that I think might be a win-win situation for both of us.”

What the heck…she had
to eat. “I am hungry. And I’m intrigued to learn what your plan
is so we can both be happy.”

* * *

After ordering their
steak dinners, Sydney said, “Don’t keep me in suspense any
longer. I’m guessing your proposition has something to do with you
saying we have a lot in common.”

He exhaled a deep
breath. “Promise you won’t leave after I tell you what I thought
we could do about the house.”

“I’ll stay. I don’t
want you to eat my steak.”

He grinned. “That’s
a good reason. When I got my first real job─”

“What was your job?”

“I did an internship
in civil engineering so had a job right after college.” He took a
drink of his beer. “Three friends and I decided to buy a house
together. I was thinking that’s what we could do. We can buy the
duplex together. Of course, we need to learn more about each other
before we even decide if buying the house will work for us.”

Whoa. Buy a house with
Mr. Hottie Engineer. Could she sleep under the same roof even though
he'd be on the other side? She pulled the paper holder off her
silverware and napkin. “You don’t waste time. We just met. I
don’t─”

“I should’ve
mentioned we’ll keep our relationship platonic which should be easy
enough to do with the house built for two families.”

Staring at his lips,
she wondered how Blake could look sexy while saying the word
platonic. And why had he even mentioned anything about their
relationship? Did he want one with her? “Hey, what's this all
about? Platonic relationship. Where did that come from? You can't
assume I'd want to sleep with you just because we bought the duplex
together.”

He frowned. “I'm
sorry. It came out wrong. I was afraid you'd think my preposition
included that. I'm stupid, okay.”

“So you’re serious
about this business arrangement. You really think we should buy the
dream house together?”

He nodded. “We both
like it and want it so thought this might be a possibility. I figured
you don’t have a significant other right now since you didn’t
bring anyone with you to look at the house.”

She ran her finger
around the rim of her glass. “You're right. I don't have any
special guy in my life. My boyfriend dumped me by a text. We'd dated
less than two months but still I don't like that he couldn't tell me
in person, or call me to tell me that it was over. But that’s okay.
I’m going to get a column out of it and tell how rude it is to
break up with someone by texting them.”

“I agree. You’re
better off without him. I want to read your column. What’s the name
of it?”