Happy reading!

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Adrian, I love it." She gushed as we took another walk through alone.

I laughed. "I can tell."

She took my hand and pulled me toward the back of the first floor. "This would be perfect for your studio, sweetheart. Don't you think?"

I looked around what was defined as the "formal sitting room" and nodded. "Yeah, I think you're right." I walked toward the large picture windows that faced the back yard. "We need to get UV blocking glass so I can work in here during the day."

She smiled expectantly.

"We'll put a bid in." I slipped my hand into hers. "The back yard is fenced in already. We could get a swing set."

"Not for a few more years." She reminded me.

"I know. But that's one less thing we need to worry about when we're ready." I twirled her engagement ring around her finger. "Are you sure?"

"It feels right."

"It does."

"You have everything else figured out, right?" She asked as we walked toward the front of the house once more.

"Yes. I've been looking into it while you were at work and I have no artistic thoughts. I know a lot about buying a house, honey. I think we're set."

"And you have plenty saved up for down payments and stuff?"

"I could buy this whole place and still pay for the wedding of your dreams."

"You have that much?" She seemed a little shocked.

"My dad gave me some when we were at Court." I looked down at my feet. Sometimes I hated that my dad just handed me money in replacement for his non-existent love. But in this case, I was grateful. It was a nice gift. "If we offer to pay it in a lump sum, we could get it at a lower price."

"So make the lowest offer acceptable. And I'll contribute however I can." I could tell she was uncomfortable. My large bank account often did that to her when it came to matters like this.

I placed my hands on the sides of her face. "You work your ass off. I mostly sit around on mine. Let me take care of you, Sydney. And don't worry about anything else."

She sighed and put her hands on top of mine. "I don't want to feel useless."

"You can pay me back by taking care of my car. And decorating this place."

"If we get it." She took my hand and we walked out to meet Dave.

"I sure hope we do." I looked to the real estate agent. "Can we discuss this over coffee?"

"That works." We drove to a local coffee shop and he explained the process.

"We'd like to buy the house outright." I said as he finished.

He nodded. "I can put that in the offer. And it will help a lot. The current owners have already purchased a new home." He made a few notes on a pad of paper.

I sketched Sydney on a napkin as we talked and he wrote. Her hand twitched on the table between us. I think she was aching to touch me. I knew I wanted to touch her, but she wasn't always too big on public affection, especially in the presence of someone she barely knew.

I slid the napkin toward her and leaned forward. "So how long until we know if the offer is accepted?"

"I'll have the papers for you to sign tomorrow and I'll present them. We could have an answer as early as tomorrow afternoon. But it could still take a few days."

I nodded and rested my hand on Sydney's knee and squeezed. "Awesome."

He smiled and started gathering his notes. He held out his hand to Sydney and then me. "It's been a pleasure meeting you. And I hope I can make this work for you."

"We do too." Sydney said.

He left a few seconds later and we were alone.

My fiancée picked up the napkin. "You're pretty good."

"Yeah, pretty good." I kissed her temple. "Are you sure about the house?"

"Are you? You're the one paying for it."

"You're name will be on the title."

"Sydney Sage will be on the title."

"Do you want to change your name?" I asked gently, rubbing circles into her thigh with my thumb.

"Don't you want me to?" She put her hand on top of mine to stop the movement.

"I would love it if you took my last name. I'm a bit old fashioned in that way. But if you want to keep the name you were born with, then do it."

She sat back and started playing with the necklace I gave her. "I don't know if I like who she was most of the time."

"I fell in love with who she was. Who she became. Who you are. Change your name. Don't. I don't care. You're always Sydney. My Sydney. And I'll always love you." I kissed her cheek. "Just as long as our kids have my last name."

She grinned. "That's your next goal, isn't it?"

"Maybe." I pressed her into the corner of the booth and kissed her hard on the mouth. I said slowly. "Sydney Ivashkov."

"Is that why you stopped calling me Sage? Because you don't want me to be a Sage anymore?"

"Yeah. A little bit of wishful thinking on my part."

She chuckled and pushed me away. "I think I like the sound of Sydney Ivashkov. What if I just change my last name now? We don't have to be married for me to do that."

"Only if you want to."

She sighed. "I don't know."

I brushed hair away from her face and cupped her cheek. "It's your name, Sydney. Take it if you want it."

She leaned against my hand. "I'll ask my mom what she thinks."

"Not Jill or Rose?" I teased.

"Jill would tell me to definitely do it. Rose would tell me definitely not to."

"You don't know. Jill might in the Sage Camp."

"She might be."

"Or I could change my last name."

She wrinkled her nose. "Adrian Sage? I don't like it."

"I could always just change the whole thing and become Jet Steele officially."

"That sounds like a porn star name."

"And what do you know about porn stars, Sydney?" I teased. "Is there something you're keeping from me?"

"Yes." She grinned. "I watch a lot of pornography. I watch so much that I have unrealistic views on a normal sex life."

I threw my head back and laughed so loud that we got nasty looks from a group of college kids at a nearby table.

She laughed along with me, pressing her eyes into my shoulder. "I like making you laugh."

"I like laughing with you." I kissed the top of her head. "Should we start the transition?"

"What transition?"

"Figuring out what stuff needs to go and what can stay?"

"Sure." She sat back and stared playing with her engagement ring. "This is frightening. But in a really good way."

"Yeah." I stole a kiss and then stood. "Let's go back to your place tonight and start there. Most of my stuff's still in boxes."

"Agreed."

The offer was snatched up quickly, but all the paperwork was going to take a while

I decided to slowly move all my things to Adrian's house as he helped me go through it. I didn't have too much. Moving around as much as I had in my former life, I didn't gather much. I had a lot of books, mostly from my childhood home. Those took the most to move.

I decided to give the name change decision a little more thought. It wasn't something I wanted to jump into. I was already stressed with the thought of the official move. I was moving in with my fiancé. I was freaking out inside. I put on a good face for Adrian.

One night after pleasuring each other to exhaustion, Adrian fell asleep. But I couldn't. We were set to sign the closing papers soon. I combed my fingers through his hair as he dozed on my chest and I imagined our life together. I couldn't wait to be his wife. I was anxious to see where our lives would go together.

In the end, I knew that there was no other thing I wanted more than to add his name to mine. I kissed his forehead and whispered, "Sydney Sage Ivashkov."

He shifted and raised sleepy eyes to mine a moment. He smiled and gave me a clumsy kiss. Then he rolled away.

I didn't think he heard. I moved closer to him and wrapped my arms around him. I kissed his shoulder.

He took my hands and held them tight to his chest. He whispered, "I like it."

"I thought you were asleep."

"Only dozing a little. I still feel the need to be awake at night sometimes."

I kissed his shoulder again. "I think I'll do it."

He rolled onto his back and watched me for a while. "Don't do it just because I want it."

"I'm not. I realized I want it, too." I gently scratched my nails up and down his chest. "It's the complete opposite of feminism, isn't it?"

He smirked. "I didn't realize you were a feminist."

I snorted. "I don't guess I am. But I'm keeping Sage."

"I heard." He pulled me to him and brushed his lips against mine. "I need to go see Jill soon."

"I wish I could go with you."

"Me too. But you don't have any time to take off."

"Nope." I put my head on his shoulder and snuggled close.

He started moving his fingertips over my back. "I love that you're naked right now." He growled.

"I bet you do." I continued scraping my nails down his chest. "I love you."

He kissed my forehead. "You should get some sleep."

"I should." I yawned and pulled the blanket tighter around us. "Good night."

"Good night." He kissed my forehead and said, "I love you, Sydney."

We closed on the house a few days later. It was ours. Completely. Adrian had written a check for the full amount. I had never seen so many numbers on a check in real life.

He grabbed my hand and dragged me inside. "Okay, where do you want to start?"

I laughed. "With what?"

He lifted me onto the kitchen counter. "Christening the house." He pressed a kiss to my mouth.

I pushed him away. "Let's make sure everyone's gone for good. And maybe start moving. I'd like to sleep here tonight."

He sighed and kissed me again. "Okay. But I'm going to need frequent breaks. Mostly because of the sun, but also to touch you and kiss you and know that I'm the luckiest man alive."

"Also the one full of the most clichés." I hopped off the counter. "Let's get started. Mom has a truck we can borrow."

I ignored his defeated groan as we walked outside.

The move was relatively easy, especially once my mother enlisted the help of one of our mechanics and his wife. With a second truck and two other pairs of hands, we had all our boxes in the house and the beds put together and in place in no time. The furniture was all in the correct room, but not placed where it would ultimately be.

When they were finally gone, I collapsed on the couch.

Adrian landed on top of me. "Ready to do that thing I tried to get you to do earlier?"

"I'm ready for a shower in our bathroom and then bed." A giant yawn escaped me. "Aren't you?"

"I am. But I'm also a young man. I live in an almost constant state of arousal."

"Well, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to deal with it on your own tonight." I moved out from underneath him and stretched. "I'm going to sleep all day tomorrow."

"I suddenly feel the urge to paint."

"Paint all you want, sweetheart. I'm cleaning up. Come join me if you want, but no funny business." I walked up the stairs and into the master suite. I stood there a moment, looking around. There it was again, the contented feeling. I sighed.

Adrian's arms came around me. "Yeah." He kissed my neck. "I agree completely."

Adrian groaned and sat down beside me on the couch. He put his head on my lap and looked up at me under my book.

"My dad is insisting on a prenuptial agreement."

I closed my book and set it aside. "Okay."

"He thinks I'm stupid for spending all my money on you and not doing anything to guard myself. He's also under the impression that the only reason you're with me is because of the size of my wallet."

I combed my fingers through his hair.

He smirked. "You're not, are you?"

I leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Obviously not. You know it doesn't make me comfortable when you throw money at me."

"You make it sound like I'm your sugar daddy." He tangled his fingers through mine. "I do want a prenup, but on our terms. In the event that this all falls apart, I want you to have plenty to keep you going. You can have the house. You can have everything in it."

"I don't know about you, but I plan on hanging on to this." I kissed his hand.

"I do too. But my dad—"

"Isn't marrying me. If it would make you feel more comfortable, though, then let's do it. But don't do it just because your dad is pushing it."

"I really do want you to be secure. Just in case. I don't ever want to fall out of love with you. I don't want to hate you. But things happen."

"I don't want to give up before we even start."

"I know. And I plan on sticking with it and working my ass off to keep this."

"Me too." I kissed his hand again. "Okay, draw up the papers. But put a condition in there that it's ineffective after ten years of marriage. After that, whatever happens happens."

"You'll get everything. You can have my heart too."

"I thought I already had that." I said with a teasing grin.

"You do." He pulled me down for a kiss. "Go back to your reading. I'm going to take a nap here. Wake me in an hour and I'll get back to setting up my studio."

Author's note: This is the house I've envisioned in all my future one shots. The first floor has a living room off to one side. The kitchen/dining room is opposite it at the front. Farther back is a room that became Adrian's studio. There' s another room that is used as an extra guest room. There is also a half bath down here. On the second floor, there are four bedrooms. The master bedroom has its own full bathroom and there is another full bath for the other three rooms to share.

I just wanted to make that a little clearer from the other clues I've given in this and the previous chapter as well as the one shots. Envision the specifics however you would like, those are just the basics.

Thank you for reading and feel free to review.