Page 88 of Cherry Picked
“I get the feeling this isn’t about the room. If it was about the room, you would have shown me when we got home last night, like you promised.” Hawk’s teasing grin was clear in his voice, even though I couldn’t see his face. “And why would you blindfold me to show me an empty space?”
“Oh, it’s about the room,” I corrected, stopping him in front of the door. “It’s definitely about the room. But what you didn’t know—and reallyshouldhave known—is that I am actually amasterof DIY.” A little smugness crept through in my voice. “I had the door installed properly all along.”
“You what?” he demanded, voice muffled by the fabric. “You mean you could have been ravishing me in the ravishing room for weeks and weeks? Jack Wyatt, is our whole relationship a lie?”
“Not even a little bit,” I said seriously. “And, in fact, when you think about it, this kinda proves that we were in a relationship even before I knew we were in a relationship.”
Hawk turned to look at me, and though his face was hidden, I knew the exact expression he’d be wearing, the precise level of confusion in those honey-brown eyes. “Huh?”
“I’ve been taking the doorknob off every night for the sole purpose of keeping you out. I, uh… I did a thing,” I admitted.
“A thing?” His voice rose on the last syllable. “Like the thing last night, where you got my brothers to wear top hats and Macarena to theSussex Waltz? That thing? Because really,Pride and Prejudicefanaticism aside, I’m a simple man, Jack. I don’t know how many more things I can han—oh.”
I whipped off the shirt, and he stared at the still-locked door, taking in the hand-carved sign hanging on the wall beside it.
Hawk’s Nest.
“Remy Fortnum carved it for you,” I murmured against his curly hair before pressing a kiss there and inhaling the familiar scent of his shampoo.
“For us,” he said, turning his head to look at me.
“For us,” I agreed. I reached over his shoulder and dangled a large, intricately carved brass key I’d ordered online back in May. “Go on. Open it.”
After another questioning look up at me, Hawk took the key and turned it in the lock with a softsnick. He turned the knob, and before the door even opened all the way, the sound of his gasp filled the room.
Sunlight streamed in through the open curtains on two sides of the corner room, nestled between wall-to-wall built-in bookcases made from a rich dark cherrywood. Remy’s carpentry skills and a lot of hours of work by both of us had turned my dream library plan for Hawk into a reality that exceeded all of my expectations.
Hawk took a step inside the room and then another. “What… what did you do?” He turned in a circle, taking in the books shoved cover to cover on the shelves. It was an eclectic mix of his own collection, the few books I owned, and as manyPride and Prejudicevariations as I could scramble together from resellers and online auctions all over the country.
“It’s not the library at Pemberley,” I admitted. “But I made sure it at least had a rolling ladder.”
Hawk spun around to meet my eyes, bringing his hands up to cover his mouth. Unshed tears filled his eyes as he gaped at me. “You built this for me?” The hushed reverence in his voice dispelled all of the remaining nerves in my gut.
“‘If I could, I would have a library of my own,’” I whispered, quoting back some of the first words I’d ever heard him say. “‘A whole room filled with books and a sofa and cookies… Hawk is in his reading room, you’d say, and you’d say it respectfully because when a whole room is dedicated to a task, suddenly, we realize it’s important.’”
I saw his face change when he placed the origin of my words, and then his tears fell.
“Jack,” he said, the single syllable filled with enough shock and accusation and desire and promise to fill every volume in the room…
And love. Always, always love.
I pulled him toward me, wrapping my arms around him and kissing him deeply before pulling back to answer him in a rough voice. “The day we met, I committed those words to memory because there was something about you, even then, that was special. You were so unapologetically passionate. You reminded me that it was okay for me to be passionate about things, too.”
“Baby…”
“Last fall, I started thinking… I wanted to build this for you. So that you’d know this house you helped me turn into a home was yours, too.” I snorted a little at my own obliviousness. “So myfriendHawk would always have a reason to be near me. I built the addition in the spring because none of the other rooms caught the sunlight quite right and started building up a collection of books. Mr. Yetzer helped—he let me know which books you’d checked out more than once—”
“Oh, god, and I was so judgy about his lack of respect for privacy…” Hawk sniffled.
“This isn’t about proving anything to you, baby,” I said, remembering his concern from last night. “It’s about wanting you to have everything you ever dreamed of.Everything.”
“If I have you, I have everything,” he said in a voice wavering with emotion. “I love you so much. You don’t need to do things like this for me. You’re enough. I promise.”
I smiled at him, running my fingers through his unruly hair. “I want to spoil you. Let me spoil you, Bird.”
A tear escaped his eye, and I leaned forward to kiss it away. We hugged and kissed lazily before he finally pulled away with a sniffly laugh. “I want to see my new library! Show me everything. This is amazing.”
I gave him a small tour, pointing out the books and explaining what they all were, showing him the sentimental objects placed here and there on the shelves between the books and indicating a few hidden storage cabinets at the base of some of the shelves.
