37. Epilogue
One Year Later
I stared up at my cabin—now nearly twice its original size—and squealed with delight. “Can I go inside?”
“Sure. We didn’t change the locks, so your key still works,” Adam said.
It had been one month since I had arrived home after a weekend camping trip with Adam and Ben to find my darling cabin flooded. A pipe had burst while we were gone, leaving several inches of water soaking the wood-beamed floors. Ted had taken the opportunity to update the cabin with an additional bedroom and modernize the kitchen and bathroom a bit. Over the past month, Adam, Ted, and Brax built the addition—with occasional help from Zack—and I moved temporarily into the big house.
Finally, it was done. I could move back home.
Thank god. As much as I loved curling into Adam’s warm body every night, I was one hundred percent done with living out of a suitcase.
I gasped as I stepped through the doorway. The cabin still had that rustic vibe I loved so much, but with modern finishes and conveniences. I squealed again and threw my arms around his neck, peppering his cheek with kisses.
“You haven’t seen the rest of it yet,” he said gruffly. “You might hate it.”
I laughed. “I’ll love it,” I promised.
For some reason, that seemed to irritate him. “Yeah. Probably.”
“You made me pick out paint colors, cabinets, and the tile in the bathroom. Everything is exactly my taste. You made sure of that. How could I not love it?”
I peeked into the bathroom and shrieked with joy. “A bathtub! You didn’t tell me you were putting in a tub. I can’t believe you did that.”
“You wanted a tub.” He shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans, his lips twitching in a quick smile. “You can still use mine whenever you want, though.”
I smirked over my shoulder. Sharing a tub soak after Ben went to sleep, talking over our day as we soaped each other’s bodies, had become a nightly ritual for us this past month. I was going to miss it when I returned to my cabin. A lot.
Among other things.
And it wasn’t just Adam I would miss. I loved eating breakfast with Ben and then driving him to school every morning. With summer vacation over, I didn’t get to see as much of him. The three of us had settled into a routine that felt easy and right.
But I did hate digging through my suitcase every time I needed to find a clean pair of underwear or a hairband.
I sighed and took a look at the second bedroom. It had been furnished simply with a bed and a small dresser. If my parents ever visited when another cabin wasn’t available, they could stay here with me. A blessing and a curse.
“I’ll take a couple hours this afternoon to pack my stuff and move back in,” I said.
“It won’t take you more than ten minutes, considering you never unpacked to begin with.”
I turned around to find him scowling at me. “How would I have unpacked?” I asked. “You didn’t have space for me.”
His glower deepened.
I laughed. My cowboy was grumpy today. “Someone needs a cookie. Come on, let’s go home.”
“Home.” He pulled me against him and kissed me hard on the mouth. “I like the sound of that.”
After satisfying Adam’s sweet tooth—and hopefully improving his mood—I headed upstairs to his room to pack.
Then I halted there in the doorway, staring inside. What the heck? His furniture was missing. Everything except the bed was gone. The lonely nightstand, the small pine dresser? Gone.
“Adam—” I called. I took a step back and found him right behind me. “What’s going on?”
“Dad and Brax should be here with the new stuff in an hour.”
He scraped a hand over his jaw, the way he did when he was anxious. I stared at him. Was Adam nervous?
“You bought new furniture?”
“Just two nightstands and a dresser big enough to share.”
Just. I swallowed past the sudden lump in my throat as my stomach tumbled. There was nothing just about it. He was making space for me. That was everything.
“You have a choice.” He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at me. My heart flipped over in my chest. A year into our relationship, his scowl was still the sexiest thing I had ever seen. “You can either move back into the cabin built exactly to your specifications, or you can stay here. With me. Either way, this is your home now, as much as it is mine. It’s our bedroom. You can—”
I jumped into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist, and smashed my mouth against his. “You. I choose you.”
His smile bloomed beneath my lips, and he laughed. “I was hoping you’d say that. Dad already called dibs on your cabin, if you agreed.”
“There is nowhere else I would rather be.”
He was right—this was my home. Here, at Lodestar Ranch, with the love of my life. He tumbled me backward onto the bed, laughing again as I squealed in surprise. Adam was still my grumpy cowboy, but these days he gave me as many smiles and laughs as scowls.
He gave me everything.