Laces and Lace (Assassins #6) (41 page)

Her face warmed as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and chest. “I love you too. Thank you for being you.”

“I won’t be anyone else but the man who loves and supports you. I know that things have been shitty the last couple days, but I am the one person you can depend on.”

She nodded, her hand cupping his neck. “I know and the same goes for you.”

He smiled as he ran his nose along hers. He loved her more than anything, and he was ready to love her the way she deserved. He was ready for this amazing life that was at the tips of their fingers. It was going to be a good life.

Together.

Forever.

Even though forever was nowhere near enough time to love this girl. He needed lifetimes, but he only had this one, and he was going to make it the best there ever was. Holding her close to him, he smiled as his eyes locked with hers. He could see their whole future together, and it was a good one.

A house, maybe a dog or cat, and then kids.

It was time to get started.

“Good, now let’s go find us a house.”

“W
hatchy’all think?” Jamie, their Realtor, asked with a big bright smile. She was very Southern and very happy. While Karson thought she was cool, Lacey seemed a little annoyed with her. “Isn’t it awesome!”

Everything was awesome to Mrs. Jamie Jones.

But even Karson thought the five-bedroom, six-bathroom, two-million dollar home was awesome. It was very elegant but had the Southern charm that came with Nashville. The rooms were huge, and Lacey loved one that had French doors and a patio attached. She’d said it would be her office, and Karson knew that this house was a top contender. She hadn’t said that about any of the billion other houses they had looked at. The living room was massive; the open floor plan led to the kitchen in an effortless way, and it was stunning. He could see them raising their kids and growing old here.

“It is beautiful,” Lacey said with a tight-lipped smile, then in a lower voice she whispered to Karson, “But the price is a little scary. Two point three million. That payment is gonna be huge.”

“Not really. It’s in a great neighborhood, it’s only twenty minutes to the arena—that’s fantastic—and it’s big. We can have massive parties, and also my captain lives on the next road over and loves it here.”

“Still the price is kind of up there,” she said, making a face.

“How much was your apartment? That had to be a good million?”

“No, it would have been seven hundred thousand, but I didn’t buy it, I rented.”

“Okay, so you lived there for how long?” he said, wanting to prove that she’d thrown money away. This was going to be an investment in their future. They could give this house to their kids when they were ready to travel the world.

“My dad paid the rent for the first two years, and I paid for the last two,” she said, looking up at him. “I couldn’t afford it until I paid my dad off, and since he knew where I would be, he paid for it.”

Karson hadn’t known that.

“Okay,” he said slowly and really didn’t understand that. She seemed to be well-off. “You have money though, right?”

“Okay, I’m gonna let y’all talk for a good little second. I’ll be back,” Jamie said, and without waiting for them to answer, she left them alone in the living room.

Lacey looked at him with a questioning gaze. “I mean, I have some. Right around thirty thousand saved, but that’s my emergency fund for the business. I haven’t built back up my personal savings yet.”

“This was really something we should have talked about before we came,” Karson said softly.

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “It’s just the price makes me nervous. Like, how much would the payments be?”

“Around nine thousand a month,” Jamie said, popping her head around the corner. She was obviously listening to them, and when Karson glanced at Lacey, he was sure she was having a heart attack. “Being a successful business owner and then an awesome hockey player, y’all can do that.”

Lacey’s face scrunched up as she took in a deep breath.

“Also, it’s vacant, so as long as everything is sound with your paperwork for the loan, y’all can close early.”

“I would buy it outright,” he said and both women gaped at him.

“What?” Lacey asked.

“Outright? Oh, then y’all could move in as soon as the paperwork is signed!” Jamie said with a little more pep in her voice.

“Hold on. Excuse us, please,” she said to Jamie.

“Yes, ma’am,” she said, going back around the corner.

“She can still hear us,” Karson said with a grin.

“I don’t care,” she said, waving him off. “What do you mean, you want to buy it outright?”

“I don’t have debt. I don’t like it.”

Flabbergasted, she yelled, “Everyone has debt, Karson!”

“Not me, I am completely debt free.”

She could only blink as she shook her head. “That’s insane. So you have no debt? And two million dollars sitting around?”

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

“What about your car?”

“Bought it off the lot. Cash.”

“What? That is ridiculous to me. I am, like, sixty grand in debt!” she yelled, her chest falling and rising every second.

Karson reached out, taking her in his arms, hoping to calm some of her freak-out. They really should have discussed this before they came to buy a house. But like anything else, they acted first and thought later. Setting her with a grin, he said, “Not anymore. When we are done here, we’ll go to the bank and put you on my account, and then you pay your debt off. I don’t like debt.”

“Karson, no, that’s crazy,” she said with a shake of her head. “It’s okay to have debt.”

“No, it’s not. You are my wife, and we will be debt free. I don’t want anything left behind if something happens to us. We don’t want to be like other people who fight to stay afloat. We are both successful. I want to be smart about this.”

Her eyes searched his, and he loved how perplexed she looked. With a grin, he asked, “What?”

“How much do you have?”

“A lot,” he answered. “I’ve been saving for the last nine years.”

“Why are you saving? Why aren’t you blowing money like a bachelor would? You should be broke. Just saying.”

He laughed and then skimmed his nose along hers. “Someone told me a long time ago that I wouldn’t be able to financially support the woman I love. I made sure that when that time came, I could.”

When the realization of what he was saying to her set in, her eyes clouded with tears as her lip wobbled before she tightened her arms around him. “My dad said that?”

“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “I wanted to make sure that when I got you back, no matter what, I could give you everything you wanted. And then if, God forbid, your cancer came back, I could pay for it all.”

Her eyes watered as her little lip continued to tremble. “I love you.”

His heart blew to smithereens in his chest as he held on to her. “I love you more, Lacey. Now tell me, do you want this house?”

She looked around the house and then met his gaze. “Does it feel like home to you?”

“Home is wherever you are, Lacey.”

Her mouth pulled up as she leaned into him. “Are you sure you want to spend that kind of money on this? Maybe we can find a smaller house.”

“No. Do you want this house?”

She bit into her lip as she searched his eyes. “I do love the office.”

“It’s big too,” he added. “I can have a man cave in the basement.”

“Yeah, and I love the kitchen.”

“Me too. You better believe you’ll be cooking for me in there.”

She laughed. “Or the other way around.”

“Sure,” he said with a nod. “The bedroom is nice. I could carpool with Shea if I needed to.”

“Yeah, and when your family or mine comes, they can stay here. It’s huge.”

“I know,” he said with a nod. “Say the words, Lacey, and it’s ours.”

He could feel her heart pounding against his chest. Her breathing was labored and he swore she’d never looked so beautiful. She looked good in this house, and Karson was convinced that this was it. He loved watching her walk around and ooh and aah over everything. He knew as soon as they pulled up that she loved it. She was just worried about the price, and he never wanted that to happen again. He would give her the world.

As long as he could buy it outright.

He wasn’t playing with the whole debt thing. He not only saved money like crazy for the reason he told her. But the reason he never had anything on credit was because when he was younger, his parents’ house had almost been foreclosed on. If it wasn’t for his grandma coming and paying off their debt, they would have lost the house. It was a really bad time for them, and Karson was scared that they wouldn’t come back from it. But in true King form, the family not only came back from that, they came back stronger, and Karl King never bought anything on credit ever again.

“I want it,” she said slowly, her shoulders coming up as she smiled innocently. “But if it is too—”

“Then it’s ours,” he said, interrupting her. “If you want it, then it’s ours. No matter the price. I’d give you the world, Lacey.”

Tears slowly rolled down her cheeks as her eyes shone with love. “So we are doing this? You are buying me this home?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “
We
are buying this home. It’s yours as much as it is mine.”

“This all seems so unreal,” she whispered against his lips. “How did I get so lucky?”

Running his lips along hers, he whispered, “I’ve asked myself that ever since I woke up beside you, and I have a feeling I’ll be asking that for the rest of my life. You are a dream come true, Mrs. King.”

Her face reddened and her lips touched his, and his eyes filled with tears as he held her close. He had been waiting for this moment his whole life. The moment he would buy a home with her. He had thought he would never see her again. Hold her again, kiss her, and show he how much he loved her. Like she said, this was all so unreal, but each step they took to solidify their love made it even realer. They were married, they were now buying a house, soon it would be time for a baby, and that alone had a tear leaking out the side of his eyes.

His dreams really were coming true.

All because of the beautiful blonde he held in his arms.

His forever.

Still on the high of his offering to buy her dream home, Lacey couldn’t stop grinning. She had always imagined her first home with her Karson and the beautiful Greek revival-style home was it. Her family’s house was big and ostentatious, and when she’d lost her mom, it wasn’t a home; it was a cold place that was her personal prison. When she moved out after college to her small little apartment, it sort of felt like home, but mostly because she was the one paying all the bills. When she got engaged to Ethan, he had a massive mansion that he was convinced she would love, but she did not like that house. She was hoping that she could convince him to sell it once they were married because she’d never wanted a big house. She had been there, done that and didn’t want to get lost in her own house. She wanted a home, somewhere that held all the love in the world, and also something she wouldn’t get lost in. Karson was giving her that.

He was giving her everything she could ever ask for.