Her jaw hanging open, Erin admired the Halsted cabin from the entryway. "I thought you said this place was built in the '20's?" The outside looked to be a regular log cabin but the inside was stunning. The living area had a tall real stone fireplace. It was an open floor plan connecting the living room, dining room, and kitchen. The kitchen was complete with stainless steel appliances and gorgeous marble countertops. It was modern and stunning, yet still managed to have an old, backwoods, log cabin atmosphere.
"Well, it might have had a little work done in the last few years, but the bones are still the original." He gave a good knock to the wood paneled wall for emphasis.
"This is not what I was expecting. It's gorgeous, Jay."
"Did you think I was taking you to some overgrown, dusty shack for vacation? If I'm trying to convince you to move here someday, of course it's gonna be nice."
"Well, when most people think log cabin this is not what comes to mind. Besides, your parents are not going to give this place away that easily. It's way to nice."
"They'd sell it to me for nothing. I'm the only one that ever liked it out here besides my grandpa. My family can't appreciate the beauty of this place like I can. I'm hoping you can too."
He had been so excited about taking her to the cabin, talking nonstop about it for the last week. She knew he was dying to give her a tour of the place.
"Alright, show me around, wilderness Jay. Convince me that I can learn to ignore the mosquitos when the time comes."
He grabbed her hand, eager to show her every inch of the place. "Don't worry, we've got what? A good 30 or so years to save up for bottles of 'Off!' before the move." He teased her with a wink.
He brought her to the first door off the living room. It was furnished with a set of bunk beds with fishing themed bed spreads. In the corner of the room, numerous fishing polls leaned against wall. A top of the dresser beside the door, sat a child sized fishing hat. Embroidered into the navy blue hat was Jay's name.
"Oh my god this was yours?" She couldn't help but coo over the adorably dorky hat. She leaned her back against the doorway to face him and placed the much to small hat on his head. It gave her a good chuckle to see him in it. She could imagine a little Jay Halstead running around in it with a fishing pole in hand.
"This was the room my brother and I always shared when we'd come up here. He was completely terrified of being in the woods, but would never admit it because he wanted to be tough. Being the great big brother that I am, I'd tell him ghost stories late at night just to scare the hell out of him." He pulled the hat from his head. "Maybe our kids will do the same in this room. You know, when we take them up here in the summer for vacation."
Her brow rose. "Our kids?"
With ears going pink, he bashfully looked down at his feet for an instant. He'd meant it though. He wanted that. He could envision their summer family vacations to the cabin, and he loved the idea of it. Biting his bottom lip he recaptured her gaze. "Yeah, our kids. I can see them running around this place bare foot, sun tanned, wild like their mom." He threw in a joke to lighten to conversation a little. He was afraid of scaring her, but she was oddly calm. The prospect of a family with Jay didn't terrify her like she thought it would.
"You mean wild like their dad." She corrected him with a smirk. "And I like that idea."
"You mean it's a nice thought?" He quoted their original conversation about Wisconsin, and she picked up on it right away.
Placing a hand on his chest, she agreed, "Yeah, it is a nice thought."
Jay's hand relocated to cup her face, and his body pressed her against the doorway as his lips collided with hers for a long heated kiss.
"Next room?" His breathed out pulling away a minute later.
She nodded with a breathy laugh. He was so excited about showing her this house that not even kissing would distract him for long. She found his childlike enthusiasm charming.
The next door led to a room with a queen-sized bed, which Erin flopped down onto immediately. "Master bedroom?"
Jay's outburst of a single laugh told her otherwise. "You think my grandfather would put that much work into remodeling the kitchen and living room only to have this be the master?" He reached out his hand and pulled her up from the bed. "Come on, I'll show you."
Hand in hand he led her across the living room to the last unopened door. Erin's breath hitched in her throat when door swung open revealing to room. "Are you shitting me?" She asked.
"I take it you like it?" He chuckled while following her inside.
The master suit housed a single king-sized bed covered in a crisp, clean, white down comforter. She hadn't noticed earlier, but the living room fireplace was in fact double sided leading into the bedroom. The door to the bathroom was open, and she hurried to it upon seeing the huge glass door shower. It was also complete with a Jacuzzi tub and his and her sinks.
As she looked around amazed, Jay decided to explain more. "The bathroom was all added on recently. When I was kid this place still had an outhouse. It's a good thing he added this though, because I think an outhouse would have made this place a hard sell for me today."
"Screw the mosquitos, lets just move here right now." She laughed opening the shower door to step inside for a closer look. "I mean look at this shower, Jay. The one at your apartment is so small we can't even fool around in it. I don't think that would ever be an issue here."
He moved to the doorway of the shower, with one brow raised. "Maybe we should try that out later."
She strode over to him and rested her hands on his hips. "Or if you're not busy, detective, we could try in out right now." She stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him, but before their lips met he spoke.
"Let me show you out back first."
She ignored his request answering with a simple "later," before she placed her lips on his. He kissed back, but it didn't take her long to notice his heart wasn't fully in it. He wanted to finish showing her his damn prized cabin. With a mixture of a groan and a sigh, she pulled away. "Fine, show me the back yard. You're making it up to me later though."
"Oh definitely." He winked and took her hand leading her outside.
The sun was just starting to set over the river, painting the sky an array of pinks, yellows, and oranges. A worn down swing set sat at the edge of the yard, and she could imagine a young Jay playing for hours, maybe even the kids that they'd talked about earlier would play their someday. A small dock led into the river, with a rusty old fishing boat tied up to it. The entire scene was beautiful. It was like something you'd find it one of those landscape calendars you can buy at every grocery store in America. She now understood why Jay loved it so much here in northern Wisconsin. When she looked over at him his eyes were completely lit up, drinking in the sunset. Chicago would always be her home, and she had no intentions of ever leaving there for good, but she could definitely do summer getaways here with
Jay someday.
When the river had finally swallowed the sun completely, he turned to face her, placing his hands above her hips to pull her in close. "Thank you for agreeing to come up here."
She moved her hand to cup his cheek, running her thumb along his stubble. "It's beautiful. I get why you love it here so much now."
"Should I take you back inside now?" He nuzzled his nose to hers as he asked.
"Do you even have to ask?" She'd barely finished the sentence when Jay hands gripped her upper thighs and lifted her up.
Clumsily they made their way back into the cabin. Erin's hands roaming, their tongues dancing together, moans being caught in one another's throats. Between kisses, Erin managed to get out a complete sentence. "You better make sure your brother doesn't try to get his hands on this place before we do."
Jay laughed. "I'll make sure to tell my dad that we call dibs." He dropped her onto the bed with a "humph."
"We?" She asked as he crawled overtop of her.
"Yes, we." He replied as he placed one gentle kiss to her cheek, moving to whisper in her ear. "Now that's a nice thought."