Chapter 16 Ours
OURS
Rowan was pacing inside his house waiting for Saylor’s SUV to pull into his driveway.
Should be soon.
She’d been keeping in touch with him the entire two-day trip and she got on the road at four a.m. for her last ten-hour drive.
Traffic hadn’t been horrible until the last two hours of the drive. He expected that on a Friday afternoon with commuter traffic.
It was almost six and she had to be exhausted and was probably starving.
He looked at his watch again, then picked up his phone to see her location.
He thought for sure she’d balk over him wanting them to share their locations, but it had more to do with knowing she was safe on the road.
He would have preferred she’d flown here and had her car towed, but he wasn’t someone to give directions. He made his own decisions in life and wasn’t about to be an overbearing boyfriend.
She was two miles away and he was jumping in place, his knees bending, almost hitting his chest, then landing on the floor a few times over this.
Good lord. When was the last time he was this excited to see someone?
He walked around in circles, his eyes on his phone, tracking her movements for the next ten minutes. Stupid traffic!
She turned onto his street. The little blue dot was ticking closer to his house and he went to the front door, opened it, and stood there as she pulled into his driveway.
He didn’t give a shit if he looked like a fool. He was off the porch and briskly walking toward her.
Her car door opened, she stepped out and he yanked her into his arms and hugged her tight.
She laughed. “You’re going to make me pee right here. I need the bathroom.”
“Shit, I’m sorry. Come in.”
She went running up the stairs. “Where is it?”
“To the right. It’s a half bath.”
She turned down the hall and into the room. He went back outside to collect her things. She’d be tired and no way he wanted her lugging it all up now.
He popped the hatch and pulled out two enormous suitcases. The rest were a few boxes.
“Phew,” she said. “I feel so much better. I should have stopped to go again, but thought I only had an hour left and not that it’d turn into three.”
“I should have warned you.”
He was pulling the suitcases toward the porch stairs and up them. He wanted to tell her to leave the rest, but she was crawling into the passenger seat and getting her purse and a bag that looked to have electronics in it.
“Where do you want me to put things?”
“For now, just leave them right here in the entryway, then I’ll show you around. I can get everything. You’ve got to be hungry and tired.”
“Both those things. But the sooner it’s all in the house, the quicker I can relax.”
The two of them brought the rest of her belongings in.
“You don’t have a lot.”
“Nope. I move too much. All my places are normally furnished. This is just clothes, shoes, and some belongings.”
“A box of supplies,” he said. There was one big box.
“Yep. I load up because I never know what is going to happen or when I can change shipping addresses or pharmacies.”
He’d help her with that.
He’d ease her transition as much as possible.
“It’s all in,” he said. “Let’s eat. I ordered pizza. It came twenty minutes ago. I turned the oven on to warm it up.”
“You’re my hero,” she said, going in for a big kiss.
He wrapped his arms around her and held on tight.
She was here!
Rowan didn’t want to let her know the anxiety he had she’d change her mind.
Considering she had two interviews set up on Monday, he shouldn’t have been worried.
“Hey, this was nothing compared to talking airport staff back on a plane.”
She let out a soft giggle. “Guess you’ve been my hero from day one.”
He gave her a side hug and pulled the pizza out.
She flipped the lid and snagged a slice, then took a huge bite.
“Good?” he asked. The way her eyes closed and she hummed in her throat had more thoughts in his brain than he wanted to admit.
He’d already all but attacked her before she got a foot away from her car.
“Great. Can you give me a tour while we eat? Or don’t you want food to leave the kitchen? I should know the rules of your house. A beautiful house, but I’m not surprised either.”
She walked to the glass doors to view the ocean.
“It’s your house too. Do what you want.”
“I’m not a messy person.”
“I know you’re not. You’re cleaner than me.”
She was always picking up at the cabin. More than he normally did.
“This sight is stunning. I’d be happy if all this place had was this kitchen and living room.”
“There is more to it,” he said. “I’ve got an office in the front.”
“With no view? That’s a crime.”
“I thought so too but not enough to not buy the place. The truth is, if I’m looking at the ocean while I’m working, then I won’t get work done. So it’s better in the long run. There’s also another sitting area up there that doesn’t get used.”
His living room and kitchen were open in the back with a dining table in the middle.
“You’ve got nice taste in furnishings.”
“I’m pretty simple.”
Most of his stuff was wood, black or grays. The floors were gray, the kitchen white, his furniture another shade of gray. Basic in his eyes.
“The bedrooms are upstairs?”
“There are two upstairs and then one in the lower level.”
“Let’s go up first. I’m assuming that is your room.”
He moved and put his arm around her. “Ours.”
She smiled. “Ours. I like the sound of that.”
They went up the stairs and to the right and his primary. “Holy shit. I thought the view from your bed in the mountains was sweet, but that’s nothing compared to this.”
“I know, right?”
His bed was facing the glass doors and the balcony outside, the ocean in the distance.
“I’m going to struggle to get out of bed,” she said.
“I always struggle with you next to me.”
She turned her head to the side, it landing against his chest. “Aww. I feel the same. Can’t wait to try that out later.”
He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Me neither. Bath through there.”
She popped her head in. “Double sinks. Nice. That shower is massive and the tub to die for. I’d be afraid people could see me.”
The tub was in front of a large window. “Nope. The glass is covered. They can’t see in.”
“Maybe I’ll try it when all my devices are on my arms. I don’t sit in water when it’s on my leg. They won’t stay on.”
He knew those things. The same with swimming. She didn’t do it often though she enjoyed it.
She said she wanted to learn to surf and he’d told her if she wore a dry suit, then her devices would stay dry. Not ideal for surfing but anything to get her out there and comfortable.
He had a variety of tapes that could go over her devices to try also.
“I’ve got some things that might help. I’ll show you later,” he said.
She left his room and looked into the spare that had its own bathroom, then they went to the lower level.
“This is a small version of the cabin,” she said. He had a pool table and darts down here. A bar and a poker table.
“There is a guest bedroom over there. A full bath by the door so people can access it quickly from outside.”
“It’s like an outdoor living room,” she said, opening the doors.
“That’s the plan.”
He had a fence around his yard from his neighbors, but there was a pergola overhead covering the sectional, outdoor kitchen, a few chairs and a TV mounted on the house.
“Can we walk to the beach?”
“Absolutely,” he said, sliding his Birks off his feet.
She bent and removed her sneakers and socks. She was in shorts and a T-shirt, and together they walked on the beach toward the water after they left his gated property, her slice of pizza all gone.
“You can’t really block out people, can you?”
“No,” he said. “But this is really a private beach. I hate having the gate block my view, but I don’t want to worry about people walking right up to the house either. I’ve got security cameras everywhere and codes to get in. I’ll give it all to you.”
“You’re still a few steps up,” she said.
Which helped with the view.
“You’ll get used to it.”
“It’s hard not to. I feel as if this is all a dream. Do you surf right here from your house?”
“I can and do. The waves aren’t as good as other places, but it doesn’t matter to me.”
“It’s just about being out in nature, isn’t it?”
“That’s it. But I’ve got the best view imaginable in front of me right now.”
She smiled and gave his arm a playful shove.
He couldn’t explain the relief he felt that their every interaction transferred from Denver to California.