Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
RUBY
For the first time in as long as I can remember, we didn’t have Sunday breakfast. Instead, we spent the morning and afternoon at the lake, opting to have Sunday dinner.
It’s been a nice switch-up, but I’ll be honest, after a day in the sun, all I want to do is shower, then snuggle up with a movie and Declan.
It’s been three weeks of us stealing kisses here or there in the house. The kids are always around. I’m impressed with the restraint we’ve had during the day, because at night, we don’t hold back.
I bite my lips to hide a smile. Just thinking about how, in a couple of hours, I’ll get to be in his arms makes me giddy.
I want to laugh at how worried I’d been over being with him. He’s been nothing but incredible, and even though it’s only been a couple of months since this whole thing started, I feel like I know him better than I know anyone else.
Declan was bound to be a part of my life, I just didn’t know how.
“Everything is coming along great and we’re still on schedule for you guys to move into the house in four weeks,” Luca says to Declan.
“Great. I do have a few changes I’d like to make, but I’ll stop by in the morning to go over those. Nothing major.”
“Good.” Luca chuckles. “It’s a little late to change most of it.”
“They’re just additions to what we have going and some new ideas for the landscaping in the backyard.”
I ignore the pit in my stomach at the mention of him moving out.
I knew this was part of the plan, but after our time together, I’m clearly feeling different about it.
At the same time, this thing with us has moved quickly, and it might be good for us to get space. I don’t want to stop what we are doing, but it has gone at a pace I don’t think is normal. Even if I do feel like everything about it is right.
Declan’s eyes meet mine, and he smiles.
I look away quickly before anyone can see how I feel about him. The girls know, of course. It was hard not to have them in the loop after I asked for advice, but I know for a fact that none of them have told my brothers.
How do I know this? None of them have yet to punch Declan in the face—or well, mention it to me.
I take the long route to the house, pausing to check on one of my flowerpots as I round the table so I can walk behind Declan’s chair and run my hand across his shoulders.
It’s reckless. I just can’t seem to keep my hands to myself anymore.
I take another step, but Declan’s voice stops me.
“Hey, babe, will you grab me another beer when you go in?” he asks from across the patio.
“Yep,” I say, as I’m already heading into the house.
I take one more step, then pause. I’m staring straight ahead at nothing, but silence fills the backyard, and I sense every set of eyes on me as I reach for the door handle.
Shit.
Shit.
Did he … and then I …
I should drop my hand from the handle and go back to what I was doing, but I’ve already responded, so no matter what choice I make from here, there will be an interrogation. I’m part of the Asher family, and all of them are watching me.
I clear my throat, hold my head high, and open the door without looking back at anyone. I move for the fridge, running through the questions they’ll ask.
Why did he call you babe?
Why did you respond?
No, why did you respond so naturally?
Why does it sound like he calls you that often?
Are you two dating?
Suddenly, the sliding door opens, startling me from my thoughts.
“What are you doing?” I ask as Declan rushes toward me.
“Checking on you.” He rubs the back of his neck. “That sort of just slipped out. I couldn’t handle the silence out there, and I didn’t want to say anything without talking to you first. However we handle this is entirely up to you.”
He’s so freaking adorable and sweet, and his sexiness only increases when he says things like that.
This is entirely up to you.
It’s my choice.
“I …I’m not sure.”
“And that’s perfectly fine. If you’re not ready to say anything, we won’t.”
He slides a hand around my waist and tugs me toward him, placing the sweetest kiss on my lips.
“And you’re okay with that?” It’s almost a whisper.
“Baby, all I need is you. So, if you don’t want to tell them, I’ll be fine.” He kisses me again.
“But you want them to know?”
“The day you give me the go-ahead, I’m going to make sure everyone knows that I’m yours.”
It’s been so nice living in this bubble where no one knows about us. We get to just be us with no outside opinions, but eventually people will find out.
I’ve fallen so hard for this guy, I don’t know why I should keep it in anymore. I can handle the comments. I know I can.
Falling in love is wild.
One minute you know you really like this guy and you want to hang out with him and kiss him and more, then all of a sudden, something clicks and you know without a doubt that this right here, the way he’s holding you, is the way you want to be held for the rest of your life.
“I want to tell them,” I say. That’s all I manage to get out before he jerks back, eyes wide and his smile even wider.
“Really?”
I nod. “Really.”
He rubs the back of his neck and then looks to the back door. Still ginning like a kid on his birthday. “Okay. Yay.”
In an instant, he’s wrapping both arms around me and spinning me in the kitchen. My laughter is unstoppable.
“Did you just say yay?” I ask, grinning as he sets me on my feet.
“I did.”
I giggle more.
“It’s a yay moment. I’m one decision away from thrusting my arm into the air and dancing.”
“All because I want to tell people?”
“Yes. I would have kept us a secret for my whole life if it meant I got to have you in it, Ruby, but now that I know I get to live openly with you, fuck, it feels good.”
He kisses me again and then steps back.
“Okay, how do we do this? Just walk out there? What if Miles hits me? I feel like he might. Luca will feel my yay vibes, and Hudson will be fine with it and your—”
“You’ve really thought about this, haven't you?”
“Baby, you come with a big family. A family who loves you very much, and I care what they think, yes.”
He blows out a breath.
“Let’s do this.”
I lace my fingers with his.
A sliver of guilt washes over me at what he’s clearly been battling, but then my heart swoons. He had said he would respect and support every choice I make.
He kept his word.
He slides the back door open, and we step out hand in hand.
No one is looking at us, so Declan clears his throat and places his arm over my shoulders.
Luca looks up, grins, and then goes back to eating.
“That’s it?” I ask, almost disappointed that none of them are acting the way I assumed they would.
“We would have had more of a reaction if the kitchen window hadn’t been open that entire time,” Hudson says with a smirk. Then he winks at me while pointing his fork at Declan. “Hurt her and I’m not afraid to punch you in the face.”
“I’ll be right after him,” Miles says, glancing between us and letting out a sigh. “Or first, as you mentioned.”
“I’d hear you out, then probably punch you on account of the fact she is my sister” is Luca’s answer. “Also, you’re welcome.”
“You’re welcome?” I repeat. “For what?”
“For so many things. Not being able to move up the date on his house, putting the idea of living with you in his head at basketball, and mostly for putting you in the same room in Vegas.”
“You planned that?” I ask, shocked.
“Well, not really,”—he grins—“but I’m not mad they happened. Fate and all that.”
“Fate and all that.” Declan chuckles. “What if she still hated me? Then what would you say?”
Luca shrugs. “I tried.”
The table erupts into laughter.
“For the record, I was into Ruby the moment she walked out that door last summer after Susie put a hole in the fence.”
“What?” I lean back to look at him. “Really?”
“Yeah, you walked out, and like a lovesick fool, I swear my heart skipped a beat. But then you found out who I was and basically declared war, so I never did anything about it. I had no idea our kids would become best friends and that I’d spend the next year getting to know you.”
“But I was mean to you.”
“And I was oddly into it.”
I gape at him. He’s never told me this.
“I can see your wheels turning. I thought you were hot and you were fun to be around, even if you were snappy.”
I shake my head, but can’t stop the smile from forming on my lips.
“You sure are something.”
He shrugs.
“I’m whatever you need me to be, baby.”
“Oh no. I’ll stop you right there. None of that.” Miles groans.
I point a finger at my brothers. “I sat here and watched all of you love your ladies this last year. Deal with it.”
“Here, here,” my dad says and holds up his water.
“Dad, what?” Hudson says with a laugh, and the others join in.
When their conversation falls back to Hudson’s upcoming hockey season, I glance up to Declan.
“That wasn’t so bad.”
“No, it wasn’t, but I’m sure glad it’s over.”
“Why? Scared?”
“No, because now I can do this anytime I want.”
He hooks an arm around me and kisses me right there in front of everyone.
“Told ya!” Max says, and Declan and I pull apart to look at him and Susie.
Susie is grinning like a kid at Christmas, while Max rolls his eyes.
They quickly go back to playing, and we all continue as if I didn’t just make an announcement that changed my life in a huge way.
I move to lean into Declan again, but his phone rings. He pulls it out, and a scowl forms on his face.
“I need to take this,” he says, placing a quick kiss on the top of my head and then walks back into the house.
I watch him as he leaves, completely unaware that I won’t see him again for almost three hours.
Or that for the next couple of weeks, he’ll work more than he has all summer.