Page 64 of A Cornish Love Story
‘What’s been the hardest thing about Sterenlenn?’ I danced my fingertips over his chest. ‘Was it like an episode ofGrand Designs?’
He laughed. ‘Nothing this big or complex goes smoothly, and everyone said I was making things extra difficult for myself, starting with a renovation rather than a new-build. I thought having the original house here would be easier, but it wasn’t. Every plan, blueprint, formula – when it came to it, we needed so many workarounds. Sparks was the thing I was most confident about, because we’d been developing it for years – it’s such a dedicated team. It felt like the final flourish once all the hard stuff was done.’
‘You have a team of computer whizzes? Are you thinking about sacking them after this?’
‘No, I … You know, that is very distracting, what you’re doing.’ I could hear the restraint in his voice, which only encouraged me. I trailed my hand lower.
‘You have faith in your team, despite what’s happened?’
‘It’s a teething problem. And OK, it’s pretty fuckingserious, but we’ve worked so hard – there must be a way to fix it.’
‘Good. You should be confident. You’ve got this, Ethan Sp …’ I stopped in case the house tried to do something else unexpected.
‘I’ll have to go back to the office as soon as we’re out,’ he said. ‘Take the house off the market while we fix it.’
My heart sank at the thought of him leaving immediately, and I wondered how much of this would have happened if we’d been free to leave. Would I have walked out when I planned to, right after the event ended, and never seen him again? ‘You could say it comes with an escape room feature?’ I suggested. ‘One of the hardest in the country. Home andentertainment centre, rolled into one.’
Ethan turned onto his side, facing me. ‘Great idea. Maybe you should have written the marketing material for me.’
‘You didn’t offer me the job,’ I said, looking into his brown eyes. They seemed warmer, now; he’d lost the impassive, detached look he’d had on the front path a few hours ago. He’d kindled back to life, and I liked to think I’d had a lot to do with that. ‘Did you have to give a presentation about this place in front of a whole load of investors?’
‘Yes.’ He grimaced. ‘It ranks up there with the least fun days of my life.’
‘You didn’t imagine them all naked?’
His gaze trailed from my face to my neck, then lower. ‘No,’ he said eventually. ‘I pictured you naked instead.’
‘You did not.’
‘I did.’ He nodded, decisive. ‘Thinking about the house came hand in hand with thinking about you, and that whole stage – pitching to investors, getting my proposal approved, developing then rehashing the blueprints, getting them locked down so they passed the endless surveys and checks – it was so stressful, because if it failed at any point, I would have lost the house and all those years of work. So I thought about what you would say to me. You always believed in me, encouraged me, even at the end. It was your faith in me that made you so angry.’
I chose to ignore that last point. ‘So you imagined me giving you a pep talk, naked?’
His lips tipped up. ‘Maybe. Sometimes.’
‘What memories did you go back to?’ I had meant it to sound challenging, but it came out far too sincere, like I was hanging on every word.
‘The first time we were together,’ he said. ‘I don’t know – a whole slideshow of memories. That time on the beach.’ He grinned, and I groaned.
‘Anyone who says they like having sex on a beach is lying. A Cornish beach, anyway. I bet they don’t have seaweed in the Seychelles.’
‘They get deadly box jellyfish in the Seychelles.’
‘Well then, all beaches are out.’
‘It was fun though. I laughed a lot.’
I returned his grin. ‘Yeah, me too.’
‘You always made me laugh. I’ve sort of … forgotten how. Everything’s seemed so serious, lately.’
‘That might be the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. Ethan S., young architect on the cusp of a brilliant career, has forgotten how to laugh.’
‘That’s a very long-winded headline,’ he murmured, as he traced the line of my collarbone.
I closed my eyes, distracted by his touch, and by his warm body so close to mine. ‘“The Spark has gone”,’ I said in a deep voice. ‘“When success comes at the cost of happiness”.’
‘Ouch,’ Ethan said quietly. ‘Maybe I don’t want you making up headlines about me, after all.’
