BIRDIE | NH |

SEVENTEEN

Niall

Work has never been more boring.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade the way my life has turned out.

But still.

Sitting in my office while perfect clouds dot the sky out of the floor to ceiling windows and the perfectly manicured lawns call to me feels like being teased all day.

Papers sit scattered across my desk in messy piles, the only part of my life that is allowed to be messy, waiting for me to complete tasks and sign my life away just like someone who willingly bought a golf course would do.

I'll admit that when I finally decided not to continue playing golf due to the injuries in my knee, it was so fucking hard. When you spend so much of your life dedicated to a craft it very easily feels like your entire world is turned upside down when that isn't a possibility anymore.

After throwing myself a pity party and deciding not to let something like that control my life, Willow Lake fell into my lap.

There isn't anything that's exactly easy about still having to travel so often and make sure that it stays one of the best courses, but it's the life that suits me.

The life that I want.

A whine pulls my attention from my thoughts to the oversized dog that lays in front of my office door, those big, sad brown eyes looking longingly down the hallway in the direction Wren walked when she left a little over half an hour ago.

The life I want.

God— Her.

As long as my life includes a place at the table next to Wren Jacobs, a seat in her life, my life would be every single bit of what I wanted.

Every single day that I see her walking along this property I have to restrain myself from pulling her into me and kissing her in front of every single person.

Now that is the real tease.

We crossed the barrier that we said we wouldn't, our bodies fitting so well together that it's hard to believe that we haven't always been with each other. In my mind Wren fits every into every dip and curve of who I am like the last piece of a puzzle.

Being with her feels like the relaxed sigh that falls from your lips when that last piece slides into place.

I smile thinking about the way she rolled her eyes at me right before I kissed her before she left.

She came in with the sweetest smile on her face, those dark chocolate eyes bright and happy and thought she would be able to leave without my lips finding hers.

Fat chance.

My arm wrapped around her waist, the silky fabric of her skirt soft against my palm while my finger hooked through the loop of her jeans and pulled her into me.

She laughed but I just did what I always want to do— I just kissed her.

I always just want to fucking kiss her, hold her.

Walking into that storage closet and seeing someone crying and falling in love with them was never even an idea to me, but it's so clear to me that it's the best thing that ever happened.

A wet nose brushes against my hand, drawing me out of my daydreams, reminding me that there's more work to be done before I can go home to her.

"I know, bud." Scratching behind his ears, I shake my head when that pink tongue pops out of his mouth. "I miss mommy, too. We've only got a little bit more work today before we can go see her, okay?"