Chapter 42 Eve #2
He shakes his head. “No fighting. I promise. It’s all up to you.” He hesitantly lets go of one of my hands, and nods in the direction I just came from. “Come on. Let me show you my idea.”
“Show me?”
He nods, tugging me along with him as he rounds the cabin to the grassy area that looks out over the sunflower fields. He stops when he gets to a large log.
“Stand up on here,” he says, holding one hand firmly so I can use him for leverage.
“A big log is your idea?”
He shakes his head, climbing up next to me. “No,” he says, giving me a quick grin before turning his gaze out over the sunflowers. “This is our view from the family room.”
I cock my head to the side. “I’m sorry?”
“This log marks the best view of the sunflower farm. So, I figure it’d be best for the family room to go right here. If you want an office here or something though, that’s fine too. I just figured we’d put the room we’re likely to hang out in most here.”
I turn to him, barely keeping my balance on the log. “This sounds like your house is going here.”
“Our house. I’ll put you in contact with the architect and he’ll design something that’s everything you want. Both our names will be on it, but you’ll live in your bungalow and I’ll live in the city until you’re frothing at the mouth to move in with me.”
I watch his expression when I speak. “What happens if we don’t work out?”
He doesn’t hesitate. “I’ll be absolutely devastated.”
I give him a look. “Ryder.”
He shrugs. “You get everything.”
I purse my lips. “So it’s actually in my best interest for us to not work out.”
He’s quiet for a moment. “If that’s what you think your best interest is, then I suppose so.”
“It’s not,” I say, turning toward him. He reaches out to push my hair behind my shoulders, and the brush of his thumb against my skin sends a shiver down my spine.
“I want this. Really bad. But I just feel like I’m going to get comfortable.
Forget about what matters most. And one day when you decide you miss New York, I’m going to be left holding the bag and it’s all going to feel so much worse on the way back down to the bungalow.
” I shake my head. “I mean, I see the dream that you’re making into a reality and all I can think about is that once you get sick of living here—of me—you’re going to go back to the city and I’m going to be left staring up at everything I had and lost. Or maybe I’ll go with you and abandon this place and it’ll all turn to dust and deteriorate. And I’m not sure which is worse.”
“Evie,” he says, taking a step toward me. “I wouldn’t ask you to abandon the sunflower farm. It’s your passion. New York isn’t that far away, and we both know how much you like an occasional fancy dress and a few glasses of champagne. We’ll do both. We’ll do it all. We’ll have it all.”
“Yeah?”
He gathers my hands in his, kissing each one before holding them against his chest. “The world is yours, Evie Harper. Tell me what you want and I’ll make it happen.”
I pause, thinking for a moment. “I want to incorporate the original facade of the cabin.”
He nods. “I like it. I want one of those corny signs you sell in the shop that says ‘HOME’ with all the sunflowers winding through it.”
I huff. “They’re not corny, they’re cute!”
“They’re so fucking corny and I love them. What else?”
“I want a clawfoot bathtub like the one in the barn that looks out over the sunflower farm.”
He wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me in close. “Well, of course. That’s a necessity. And I want a clear glass shower door so I can sneak a peek at you showering while I brush my teeth in the morning.”
“Please tell me this house will have more than one bathroom.”
He pauses, then shakes his head. “Nope. Just the one.”
“No deal.”
He groans. “You drive a hard bargain, Evie. How about three?”
“Okay, yes. Three bathrooms works.”
He leans down to kiss me softly, his fingers running ever so lightly through my hair.
And I take the opportunity to ask about the one loose end he hasn’t tied up.
“So what about the development?”
He sways slightly, letting out a long breath as he glances over my shoulder toward it.
“I’m thinking we take inspiration from the village.
Maybe four or five bungalows, set up as condos, that mimic your bungalow down the hill as well as the style of the other houses you’ll have to drive by in the village to get here. ”
I nod. “And the driveway?”
“Single lane that winds behind the second cabin?” He pauses.
“It would require an easement onto that property, but I think we can renovate cabin number two into either a storage shed or a guest house, if that’s what you want, and that’ll block the view of the driveway from the house.
” He bites his lip. “But I won’t be offended if you say no to that. ”
I purse my lips. “No, I think maybe that might be okay.”
“Yeah?”
I nod. “That actually sounds really charming. Maybe we can have Izzy paint sunflowers on the bungalows like she did for mine.”
“I love that idea,” he says, letting out a long breath as he tugs me close. He rests one hand on the back of my neck, keeping my face pressed into his shoulder.
When he pulls away from me, he runs his thumb along the side of my jaw. “I love you, Evie. And I can’t wait to spend every midnight right here with you.”
I didn’t know I needed to hear it, but something about his words has the breath leaving my body and the tension leaving my shoulders.
These words are too big to say without being sure of their meaning. Too diabolical to slip from Ryder’s tongue in an effort to get anything from me. I don’t always know what he’s thinking, but I know he’s not lying to me.
He’s just telling me how he feels.
I crash into his chest in a way that I haven’t before—full-bodied and breathing him in like he’s my only source of oxygen.
Since I’ve met him, I’ve craved this feeling. Like maybe my body knew it was coming but my brain didn’t want to trust it.
And it feels like everything I’ve ever wanted. Cold water in the heat of summer. The first breath of spring. The smell in the air when snow is coming.
“I love you too,” I murmur into his chest.
His arms weave tighter around me, his lips pressing little kisses on my head before he rests his cheek there, holding me close.
After a few moments, he lets out a long breath. “Come on, Evie. I want to show you the rest of the house.”
“The rest?” I ask, pulling away from him only enough to look him in the eye.
He nods, taking a careful step down from the log and heading for a nondescript box along one side of the cabin.
It takes me a second to realize, as it whirs to life, that it’s a generator.
And then all the lights come on.