26. I Have a Surprise
I HAVE A SURPRISE
A spen
The last few days, staying at Rowans, had been some of the most peaceful I’d ever experienced.
He’d gotten a small bag of clothes from Ivy that I could wear while I waited for new stuff that I’d ordered online to come in.
I don’t know why I hadn’t thought to ask—he just made it happen with her, and she handed it over, no big deal.
I wasn’t sure when I’d become surrounded by people I could depend on this much, but it was everything I needed. If I were alone…I didn’t even want to think about how I’d be handling the Sam situation.
Every single night since I’d arrived, Rowan gave me space to go to bed and spend some time alone, only for him to sneak in once the clock hit midnight and curl up with me, pulling my body tight against him.
I woke up every single morning with him.
He went off to work with his brother and then was back by the time I had to work.
He’d drive me in and was there to pick me up the moment I was finished.
When I’d asked if I was ruining his work schedule, he promised me that his brothers were helping him and Oliver get things finished until we got everything under control with my apartment.
Honestly, it was perfect, and if I was being completely real with myself…
I’d be fine if it never ended. Not that I had any intention of telling him that.
I had full intentions of continuing to force him to grovel at my feet.
But it was a truth that I’d keep close to my heart in case the other shoe dropped and ripped away this perfect scenario I’d built up in my head and before my eyes.
Shaking off the anxiety I could feel building in my brain as I started to overthink my entire life, I turned off the shower knobs and stepped out. Wrapping myself in a fluffy white towel and using another to twirl my hair atop my head, I walked out into Rowan’s room to get dressed.
He was seated on the side of his bed, a relaxed smile on his face. It was Tuesday, my day off this week, and he was heading off to work any moment now.
“I have a surprise for you before I go, little angel,” he said, pulling my hips so I was standing between his thighs.
“Oh yeah? I don’t think we have time for that sort of surprise, cowboy. You have to be at work soon.”
He chuckled. “That surprise is for later. This one is here, now. Something for you to keep busy with on your day off until I come back for you this afternoon.”
I arched a brow at him. “And this surprise is?” I questioned.
“Get dressed and meet me downstairs,” he said. He pressed a quick kiss to my lips and walked out of the room.
I smiled and quickly dressed. Black leggings and an off-the-shoulder olive-green t-shirt that I’d ordered from an online thrift store.
Thankfully, it was a local Colorado spot, so the shipping was quicker than I thought it would be.
Their band tee selection wasn’t the best, but it was fine.
Just something for me to work in, I guess.
I hung my wet towels back up in the bathroom and quickly ran a brush through my hair.
I snagged a hair band and braided my long hair into one simple braid over my shoulder and then headed downstairs to find out what my cowboy had been up to.
When I got downstairs, he was leaning against the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee in his hands. He handed it over to me once I reached him, and I took a small sip. It was perfect—just like it had been since the moment he watched me make it.
“Ready?” he asked, his tone filled with an excitement he was clearly trying to hide from me.
He looked like a big brother on Christmas morning, excited to see his siblings open their gifts because he helped wrap them all.
Not that I knew much about it, but it’s what I imagined I would’ve been like if I had siblings growing up.
I nodded. “Let’s see whatever it may be.”
He chuckled and took my other hand in his. I’m glad he knew I wasn’t parting with the coffee anytime soon. The sun wasn’t even up yet for fuck’s sake. I don’t know why anyone purposely ran a ranch if they had to get up this early.
He guided me down the hall toward another door. I think he said this was his gym before, but I’d never actually been inside it. Nothing about a gym interested me, so I hadn’t made any move to open this door before now.
“Ro, baby, if your surprise is that you got me a treadmill or something, I’m likely to kick you. Hard,” I grumpily mumbled.
He stopped before he could open the door and looked back at me, brows scrunched. “In case I hadn’t made it incredibly clear to you yet, I think you’re fucking perfect. No treadmill needed unless you just want one for your own enjoyment.”
He took a step closer to me and another, forcing me to back up until I was pressed against the hallway wall behind us.
He took my coffee, set it on the floor, and then wrapped his arms around me, picking me up and pressing me against the wall again.
I slowly slid down the wall, his hands cupping my ass, until I was pressed against his length, which I could clearly feel beneath his jeans.
“Is that clear enough, little angel? Or do you need a better visual?” he growled as he ran his nose along the crook of my exposed neck.
Before I could answer, his teeth sank into my shoulder just above my collarbone, and I gasped.
“I bet if I reached into those leggings, your panties would already be wet, wouldn’t they? ”
I nodded as he gently kissed and licked along my neck, and slowly rocked his hips against me, grinding into my now-soaked core.
“Little angel, I don’t have time to both show you your surprise and take care of you right now.
So, I’m going to put you down and show you your little bonus gift I set up as part of my groveling, but also just because you deserve it.
Then, when I’m done working, I’ll send you a text, and I want you to be naked and in our bed waiting for me so we can have some fun before our dinner plans tonight. Do you understand?”
I mumbled a quick yes, that was also a bit of a moan.
“Good. You are not allowed to touch yourself before I get home, do you understand? I want to be the one to make your little cunt weep and quiver tonight. Tell me you understand?” he growled as he looked down at me.
“I understand,” I whimpered.
I desperately did not want to wait for this man to come home, and he knew it.
He used that deep voice on me, and my brain went to mush.
I was soaked, and I wanted him now, but he clearly had a plan, so I wasn’t going to mess that up.
He slowly set me on the ground, making sure to grind against me one more time as my feet found the floor.
He grabbed my coffee and handed it back to me, only to kiss my forehead and turn back towards the gym door.
This time, he didn’t wait, though; he immediately opened the door. Probably because he was also teetering on the edge of control and didn’t want to push his luck. I knew that’s where I was, at least.
I walked closer to the gym door, only to stop in the doorway, because this wasn’t a gym at all. Not anymore. There were no mirrors, workout equipment, or weights. No matted floor or towels, or a mini fridge, I imagined he used for bottles of water. None of that.
The far wall was nothing but large windows like the living room had.
Around the edges of the room were draped fairy lights like Ember had in her bakery, and the floor was solid wood like the rest of the house.
But the main star of the show? The easel in the middle of the room, along with the blank canvases along the far-left wall—at least twenty, in various sizes.
Along the other wall were floor-to-ceiling black shelving units, each of them filled with different colored cans of paint.
The main colors were on the bottom shelves in big cans—black, white, yellow, red, and blue.
Then there were a few smaller cans of specific colors and packs of brushes.
There may have been more, but at that point, my eyes were tearing up, and I couldn’t see anything else as the salty tears cascaded down my cheeks.
“I had Ivy help me, obviously, I wasn’t sure exactly what colors you used the most, and you said she’s there with you all the time when you paint.
Hence, the couch on the wall beside you.
I figured she’d want somewhere to lounge.
There are also surround sound speakers linked in the two far corners.
Your phone is already hooked up to it, so it’ll play when you hit the second light switch on the wall,” Rowan said, his voice trailing off for a moment as he fiddled with his backwards baseball cap.
“Say something, little angel. Is it okay?”
I stared at him for another heartbeat before I launched myself into his arms. He caught me easily as I wrapped my legs around his waist and buried my face in his neck. “I love you so much, Rowan Carragan,” I whispered into his neck, but I knew he heard me because his arms tightened around my waist.
“I love you, too, Aspen,” he replied softly.
We stayed like that for a moment before I finally released my grip around him and stood on my own two feet. Wiping the tears from my face, I let out a deep breath.
“Rowan, this is…more than I can ever even explain to you. It’s perfect. It’s everything I could want and more than I could ever dream of. N o one has ever done anything like this for me.”
He stepped closer again, cupped my face in his hands, he ran his thumbs over my tear-stricken cheeks.
“It’s not even close to enough yet, angel.
Not even close to what you deserve, but I’ve got my entire life to show you that.
” He pressed his lips to mine in a slow, passionate kiss.
Our tongues danced with each other, and our lips melded together.
I could stay here with him like this forever, but he pulled away after another moment.
“I have to get to work, but I did tell Ivy I was showing you today. You can invite her over, or not, if you want some alone time. Your choice but do call her and show her if you can. She was very excited to see the finished product, but I wanted to show you first,” he said with a smile.
I bit my lower lip and giggled. “You got it, cowboy.”
He kissed me again and then walked out to go to work, leaving me alone in my brand new studio. I looked around, a smile on my face that just about nothing could fuck up.
After changing out of my new clothes and into something more appropriate for painting—insert Rowan’s old work shirt and a pair of spandex shorts, and then texting Ivy with photos that I was obsessed, in love, and couldn’t be reached right now, I dove full force in.
I grabbed a 16x20 and set it on the easel, turned on some music, and then I was lost to the art. Blacks, reds, and oranges all ended up smeared and painted with long, messy strokes.
I’d found that over the years, many times it took making some sort of art for me to fully experience and feel the emotions that came with big life changes.
Drastic shifts that I was forced to face.
That’s where I was right now, and as I backed away from the canvas and stared at the piece in front of me, I was overcome with many feelings.
Part of me wanted to light it on fire. Another part of me wanted to hang it on the wall and stare at it. A separate part wanted to see it hung in a gallery somewhere, to be able to see how it affected others, if they felt anything when they looked at it.
Familiar footsteps sounded from behind me as strong tan arms wrapped around my waist. His nose buried in my hair for a moment, and I leaned against him as he slowly inhaled my scent and pressed a kiss to my shoulder.
I felt his chin sit on my shoulder, then as he looked over my shoulder at the canvas.
“I think you should teach,” he whispered.
I didn’t reply at first as I thought over what he said. “Teach what exactly?”
“This,” he said while gesturing toward the canvas. “Healing art—which I’m sure has a better, more sophisticated name somewhere.”
“What makes you say it’s healing?” I questioned with a light giggle at his goofiness.
“You’re proof of it, little angel,” he whispered against my skin, but his words rattled around in my head. “Are you all finished for the night?”
I nodded. “For now, I mean I need to clean up, obviously.” I looked around at the dirty brushes and the leftover paint I had sitting on the ground. Thankfully, I had thrown a drop cloth down before I ruined the beautiful wood floor on day one.
“Oh okay,” he replied, but then he scooped me up and started carrying me out of the room and toward the stairs.
“Ro! I need to clean up. The brushes will dry like that, and they’ll be useless,” I whined.
“We won’t be long,” he said with a smirk.
I giggled as he sat me down in the master bathroom and turned on the shower.
“I don’t believe you one bit.”
“Good, I was lying. I’ll buy you some more, angel, but you’ll have to work off the price,” he jokingly growled.
“What did you have in mind?” I asked as my teeth sank into my bottom lip.
His eyes darkened at the sight. “I have a few ideas.”
No part of me doubted I wouldn’t love those ideas, so I started undressing for my cowboy.