Page 133 of When We Were Us
Her words punch me straight in the chest. I have to swallow hard over the lump that immediately pops up in my throat. “The cabin?”
She looks up at me and nods, likeduh. As if there is nothing more natural than moving out of her comfortable childhood home into my tiny-ass, one-room, hole-in-the-wall cabin out in the sticks with a shit two-burner stove and no bathroom door.
I laugh then. Really fucking laugh. Because this is crazy and just completely unbelievable.
She cocks a brow at me. “You cracking up on me?”
“Yeah. I think I’m having a stroke or something thinking about you leaving all this,” I look around, “for my place.”
“I’m not. I’m leaving all this forourplace,” she says, sweetly, and then her eyes widen a little in startled worry. “Unless you’d rather I don't.”
She doesn’t know the old cabin was always meant to beourplace. Doesn't know that before she left, I had planned to use that next year to fix it up so that when she came back for the summer every year, we’d have a place that was just ours. She doesn’t know because she left and never came back. And because I never told her. Never got the chance. Instead, it became the place I went to escape a life without her.
But I can tell her now.
I press my forehead back to hers and kiss her lightly. “It was always meant to beourplace.”
She pulls back, gaze locked on to mine. “What do you mean?”
For a split second, I wonder if I should tell her, if it’ll just hurt her. But then, I think of all the things I didn't get to say back then, and I don’t want that to be the way we start our life together.
“That summer, I had planned to fix it up after you left to make it a place we could come to that was just for us when you came back for summers and Christmases.”
Her countenance falls as her eyebrows pinch together over searching, dark chocolate eyes. “You never told me.”
I shake my head. “I didn't get the chance.”
Her eyes fall shut with an exhale and she gives her head a small shake. When she looks back up at me, her eyes are red-rimmed and swimming with tears. “God, Hank…I’m so sorry. For everything.”
I catch her gaze and hold it for several seconds, making sure she hears me. “I know. And I only told you because I want you to know,” I say, running my hands up her back before pulling her in close. “And now we can make it ours together.” I kiss her then because I don't want her to be sad. I don’t want her dwelling on what was, when right now, what is, is so much better than I ever imagined it could be.
“I guess I’ll finally have to get Wi-Fi now,” I huff out dramatically and it has the desired effect because she bursts out laughing.
“Welcome to the twenty-first century, Hayes.”
“Thanks,” I whisper and shift her closer on my lap so she’s right up against me, and then press featherlight kisses across her collarbone.
“Ok, so, we should make a plan. Get to work cleaning this place out.”
“Mm, I can think of something else that sounds more fun.” I run my hands around her waist and grab her ass in my hands, and my lips make a slow trail down the valley between her breasts.
“It’s so hard to find good help these days,” she says, and I momentarily glance up at her. “This guy said he’d help me, and he did a great job, but then he just started propositioning me for sex. So, now, I need to find someone else, or it’s gonna be a little slow going.” She rolls her eyes exaggeratedly and twists her lips into a saucy, little pout.
I drop my head back and laugh, resting my hands on her thighs. “So, what? You’re saying this guy’s got a shit work ethic?”
“No, he's got a great work ethic, but he’s also got a fantastic cock.” She rocks her hips against my lap, pulling a low groan from me. “Hard to think of much else when he takes that thing out.”
“That’s fair,” I say, breathlessly, as I move back to her lips. Gathering her hair in one hand, I grip it in my fist and drop another kiss on her collarbone. “Maybe he’s a workaholic and needed a day off. You probably saved him from himself.”
“Well, typically, I save horses, but… What’s that saying again?” She smirks at me as I look up at her. “Oh, I remember… Save a horse, ride a cowboy, isn’t it?”
She delivers another slow grind on my lap, and I dig my fingers into her hips, pressing her down against the fly of my pants. The bulge there grows harder by the second.
Putting her lips against the shell of my ear, she rasps out, “He promised me he’d fix my shutter and stop the leak under my sink, but so far, all he’s managed to do is make me wet.”
I hum against her skin, sucking and licking her neck.
I feel her shift and then look down at my chest when something cold and hard thumps against my sternum. It takes a full five seconds before I can see through the dry hump, hazy film covering my eyes to realize it’s a pipe wrench.
