Page 84 of A Cornish Love Story
‘“Whatever It Takes”,’I said, and he groaned and pressed his head into my neck, his hot breath puffing against my collarbone as he laughed. I decided there was nothing I loved more than Ethan’s laugh, than him finding refuge in me. ‘So whatdoesit take?’ I asked, knowing we couldn’t stay like this, wondering how the suspended time of being locked in Sterenlenn together could translate to a future for us.
He pulled back to look at me. ‘There’s nothing tying me or Sparks to Bristol, and I’ve always loved Cornwall more than anywhere else.’
My heart missed a beat. ‘Seriously? Just like that?’
‘I’ve been working through a few things over the last month, too. You remember that abandoned shop on the corner of the seafront parade?’
‘The old watchmaker’s. The glass is like—’
‘Picture glass,’ he finished. ‘It’s got all the original features, and a good-sized flat upstairs.’
‘You know this because …?’
‘I’m buying it,’ he finished. ‘I’m moving the firm here – part of it, anyway. Sarah and the technical team can stay in Bristol, but it doesn’t hurt to expand, and I won’t be that far away. The watchmaker’s needs a lot of work, but at the end I’ll have a new office with living space above.’
‘Ethan.’ My throat was fully clogged up. ‘When you say you’re buying it …’
‘My offer has been accepted, I just need to sign the paperwork. But I didn’t want to come back here, beminutes away from you if you didn’t want to see me; if it would feel like unwanted pressure when you were trying to move on. If that’s the case, George, then I will stay in Bristol, but—’
I leaned in and kissed the words off his lips. Our knees knocked together, the position awkward but the kiss perfect, because it was Ethan, and there was nobody else.
‘You’re moving here,’ I said, when I’d forced myself to put a couple of inches of space between us.
‘I can run my business from anywhere. There’s a whole lot of real estate being bought up in Cornwall because people want secluded seaside mansions, so it’s ideal, really – there’ll be so many new projects. And most importantly …’
‘What?’ I frowned.
‘That was a lot of talking. Can I kiss you again?’
‘What’smost importantly?’ But I let him kiss me again, and by the end of it I was quite proud that I hadn’t crawled onto his lap. I glanced at the empty house, thinking of all the furniture being shipped out to make way for the owners’ new things, that huge bed that we already knew was so comfortable.
‘Most importantly,’ he said breathlessly, ‘if youdowant me here—’
‘I think I’ve just proved that I do. Do you need me to tell you that I love you? That I’ve never, ever stopped loving you, and that of course I want you here?’
‘I …’ He swallowed. ‘Right. Then,most importantly, I’ll also need to be here for my other role.’
‘There’s somethingelseyou’re doing?’
‘Goingto be doing.’ He ran his thumb along my jawline, as if he couldn’t stop touching me. My hands were at his waist, itching to get under his shirt and feel his warm stomach, so I was in much the same predicament.
‘What’s that, then?’
He smiled at me. ‘Supporting my girlfriend while she writes her first book – a future bestseller – reminding her constantly how talented she is, and occasionally bringing her breakfast in bed after I’ve shown her, thoroughly, how completely in love with her I am, that I always have been and always will be.’
My heart skittered. ‘Occasionallybringing me breakfast in bed?’
Ethan grinned. ‘That’sthe part you’re taking from my heartfelt speech? Are you, Georgie Monroe, determined to make a joke out of this?’
‘I don’t know,’ I murmured. ‘It depends how long I have to wait for another kiss.’
Our noses were inches apart, and I knew I had the same look of delirious elation on my face that he did. He’d waited for me, he’d never stopped loving me, and now he was uprooting his whole life to be with me. I already knew I would do as much as I could to match his commitment: whatever it took.
‘Not very long,’ he said, ‘but you have to give me a couple of seconds.’
‘Why?’ I asked, joy bubbling up inside me.
‘Because it’s going to take a while to get used to thisfuture. One filled with – what was it? – happiness and hope, living the life I always wanted?’
‘You memorized my letters,’ I said, as he wrapped his arms around me, scooping me onto his lap. Sterenlenn watched on silently – for once – and I hoped it approved of the decisions we’d finally got around to making.
‘Of course I memorized them,’ he said. ‘They were you, George. They were my way back to you.’
I kissed Ethan on the front step where, only a few weeks ago, I’d been standing, preparing myself for one of the most difficult nights of my life.
But I hadgot into the house, I’d done what Spence had asked me to do, and I had found what I was looking for – though it hadn’t been some divine inspiration to help her write her book, or a bundle of letters written using her characters’ names. I’d found something much more important than either of those.
As Ethan and I kissed until neither of us had any breath left, and his hand found its way under my T-shirt, his warm palm pressing into my lower back so he could get me even closer, and the sun dropped lazily towards the horizon, content at having provided Alperwick with another perfect day, I sent a silent thank you to Tyller Klos – Sterenlenn – for being there, and for knowing that this was always how it was supposed to go: Georgie Monroe and Ethan Sparks, and our very own Cornish love story.
The End
