When she finished sending her text, she plopped back down on the couch and pulled him toward her. He slid beside her, burrowing into her hold and nuzzling her neck. She giggled and for a moment it struck him just how long it’d been since he’d last heard her truly laugh.
“Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
Oh, he knew. He knew simply by the way she grabbed on to him and the ease with which she smiled. It was as if months of heartbreak melted away in a flash. But it wasn’t just that. He knew, since this little trip to Houston meant just as much to him as it did to her. Maybe more, because of what—and who—was waiting for her there.
The second her phone chirped, she snatched it off the coffee table, read the new message, then grinned like a gorgeous fool. “Yes! Caryn can cover for me. Oh my god, I have to pack.” She kissed him, hard and fast. “And you have to make reservations.” She smacked another kiss on him and he laughed again. He hadn’t seen her this lighthearted in months, and damn, it did his heart some good.
When she hopped up and darted into their bedroom, the little devil inside him shouted out to her. “Don’t pack much. I have a feeling you won’t be needing a lot of clothes.”
Matter of fact, he was certain she wouldn’t.
Twelve hours later, he and Riley were zipping through the sky on their way south. The flight couldn’t have been more uneventful, but that didn’t stop her from wriggling around anxiously in the seat beside him.
When the captain came over the intercom to announce their descent into the Houston area, she grabbed his hand and squeezed. “You know, I haven’t been down here since I was a teenager. One of the men Mom was dating for a while had a time-share condo in Galveston, and it was one of those rare occasions where Char and I actually got to tag along with them when they came down. I loved it, loved being that close to the water. It was so gorgeous. We had a lot of fun that week.”
“Good memories.”
She smiled a little. “Yeah. One of the few.”
Hearing her say that nearly killed him, but it also ramped up his determination to give her more amazing memories. A lifetime more.
The landing went smoothly, the taxiing to the terminal surprisingly quick. They’d carried on their luggage, so it wasn’t long before they were standing outside in the stifling Texas heat, waiting for Evan to pick them up.
He searched the loading area for the Land Rover Evan told them he’d picked up for a steal, but didn’t see it. He pulled out his phone and shot off a quick text. Minutes later, there was still no reply.
“Traffic, maybe?” she asked.
“I’m sure,” he replied, just as a sleek black stretch limo pulled up and stopped in front of them.
The driver hopped out and came around the back of the car, popping the trunk on his way. “Mr. Watson?”
Um… “Yes.” What the…
“Mr. Tucker wasn’t able to make it. I was hired by Tucker General Contracting to pick you up and drop you off for him.”
The driver opened the rear door expectantly, but Garrett and Riley just stood there. This wasn’t what they expected. It wasn’t what he’d planned.
“Drop us off where, exactly?” he asked.
“Mr. Tucker provided an address, about forty-five minutes from here.”
Okay, so not the JW Marriott where Garrett had booked a suite. Not that this little detour was a huge deal, but it certainly had Garrett wondering why Evan hadn’t clued him in on the change in plans.
“He said if you hesitated, to show you this.” The driver reached inside the door and came back to them holding a small plastic tub. The thing had a crimson red bow on top, and Riley was laughing before the driver even handed it over to her.
“What is it?” Garrett asked.
She peeled back the lid and showed him the contents—pink and fluffy cotton candy.
“Well, if that’s not an incentive to get in, I don’t know what is,” Garrett said, laughing too.
“I couldn’t agree more.”
With a leading hand, he said, “Shall we, then?”
Riley pulled off a chunk of the candy and slipped it into her mouth. He could almost feel the sticky sweetness wrapped around his dick as it dissolved on her tongue. “Definitely.”
They snuggled together in the deep rear seat of the limo as the driver loaded their bags into the trunk. “So you didn’t know about this?” Riley asked.
“No, not this,” he said evasively.
“And you don’t know where we’re going?”
He shook his head. “Not a clue. I booked us a suite at the JW, which is only about a half hour from here.”
“Maybe we’re going to his place?”
That was a distinct possibility. He pressed his lips against her temple as she pinched off another piece of the pink fluff. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Another adventure,” she said.
Oh yeah. She didn’t know the half of it.
The ride passed quickly, despite the heightened excitement bubbling between them. Not long after they exited the highway, the driver slowly turned down a recently constructed road.
“Look,” Garrett said, pointing out the window toward the subdivision’s landscaped entrance. The large stone sign on the corner had the words Sunset Estates etched in a thick yet stylish script. Stunning indigenous bushes and bright yellow and orange flowers enveloped the sign, setting off the entryway not only elegantly, but oh-so significantly too.
“Oh, Garrett,” she whispered, pressing the tips of her fingers against her lips.
Her eyes glistened as she smiled widely, and damn if he didn’t choke up a little right along with her. The subdivision was brand-spanking new, dotted here and there with half-built homes nestled along newly paved streets and cul-de-sacs. The driver steered them down one of those long cul-de-sacs, to the bottom of the circle. The house at the end looked to be the only completed one in the neighborhood.
Once the limo came to a full stop, Garrett didn’t bother to wait for the driver to come around and open the door. He climbed out first, then held his hand out for Riley. She’d barely gotten out of the car before the front door to the house cracked open.
The first thing Garrett thought when Evan stepped into the sunlight on the porch was, Christ, he looked good.
Riley practically squealed before latching onto Garrett’s hand and pulling him along with her up to the front stoop. She leapt into Evan’s open arms, and Garrett followed right behind her, holding onto him too.
“I can’t believe we’re here,” she said. “We missed you so much.”
“Me too,” Evan said, gripping them just as fiercely as they gripped him. “You two look great. Better than great. And you feel so amazing.”
So did he. The only thing better was the way they all felt together. They felt like home. They felt like family.
The three of them stood that way for a long moment, simply latched onto each other while they soaked one another in, only letting go once the driver came up behind them with Garrett and Riley’s luggage.
“Just add this to my account, okay, Nick?”
“Sure thing, Mr. Tucker,” the driver said.
As Garrett and Evan took the bags from Nick, Riley ogled the wide expanse of the stone façade of the house. “Did you do this, Evan?”
“Guilty.”
“It’s gorgeous,” she said.
“Well, I had a little help,” Evan added. “The crew we’ve hired does some of the best work I’ve ever seen.”
Garrett scanned the rest of this street. “The lots here are huge. Certainly nothing like the crowded neighborhood we live in now.”
“No, I imagine it wouldn’t be. Each lot here is an acre or more, and the houses start at a minimum of three-thousand square feet. This is the first one we finished, so it’s pretty special.”
When Riley nuzzled in beside Evan, he slung his arm across her shoulder, pulling her in tighter. “We’re so proud of you, you know that?”
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Evan simply smiled.
“Truly, man,” Garrett added, sliding in on Riley’s other side. “You’ve got some real talent and it shows.”
Evan gripped the back of Garrett’s neck and squeezed. “Thank you. But this isn’t all there is to it. I have more for you guys. Way, way more.”
Evan already knew about the surprise Garrett had waiting for Riley, but the rest of this—the unexpected limo ride, the amazing house, the way, way more Evan referred to… It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Garrett wasn’t the only one with a secret here.
Garrett had a serious hunch as to what that secret was. And if he was right, he could honestly say all of Riley’s dreams were just moments away from coming true.
Chapter Fourteen
Riley couldn’t stop staring at Evan. His hair had been sun-lightened, his skin was tanner than it was just three months ago and he looked more relaxed and at peace than she’d ever seen him before.
And the bonus was he didn’t walk with a limp anymore.
“The foot’s still doing okay? No problems with it?”
“Nah. I’ve got a nasty scar, but other than that, it’s fine.” Leading them indoors, he stopped in the middle of the bare foyer.
When he’d said this was the first house he and his crew had completed, she had to admit that seeing the inside unfinished wasn’t what she expected. The walls were painted a bright new-construction-white, and the floors were nothing more than bare-wood sub-floors.
“This will be the living room, with the dining room just beyond it,” he said, gesturing to the room on the left, the one with the custom-built stone fireplace inset into the far wall. But he didn’t give her the chance to either ooh or ahh at his handiwork. Instead, he dropped her suitcase to the floor and grabbed her hand, pulling her with him toward the back of the house. “This is the kitchen/family room combo. And outside…” He yanked open a set of French doors leading to a screened-in four-season room.
“Oh, Evan. It’s perfect.”
The property backed up to the tree-lined edge at the rear of the subdivision. “Beyond that is a forest preserve. That’s what makes this lot so sweet. There will never be neighbors, or anything else for that matter, behind it.”
Garrett slid in behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “No neighbors? I could absolutely get behind that.”
“But that’s not all. Come on.” Evan led them back indoors, through the cabinet- and appliance-less kitchen and into the foyer once again.
“When will the inside be completed?” Riley asked, her voice echoing in the open two-story area.
Evan smiled at her with a hint of something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. “I need to set up a meeting with the new owner to go over all that. They get to choose everything that goes in here—the cabinets, the fixtures, the paint and the flooring. All of it is totally up to them, with the exception of one room.”
She followed after him as he headed upstairs.
“There are four bedrooms up here,” he told them. “Each with their own bathrooms. But this one here at the end? This is my favorite room.” With a flourish, he opened both sides of the heavy cherrywood French doors leading to the master suite, then stood aside so she could go in first.
When she did, her heart lodged in her throat. “Oh God,” she whispered. “Evan…”
Garrett came up beside her, looking just as stunned as she felt. “Oh man. You did this?”
This came so close to being an exact replica of the top floor in the house in Inlet Beach it had him doing a double-take. It was fully furnished, complete with a king-sized four-poster bed and his-and-hers dressers. Evan had even matched the lamps on the nightstands and made the bed with the same silky bronze-colored bedding that the beach house had. A leather loveseat/settee grouping sat next to a wall of sliding glass doors that led out to a wide balcony, just as it had in the bedroom back in Florida. The carpet was lush and thick and she practically bounced on it as she moved further into the room. The layout was a bit different, but still…
When she glanced off to the right, her eyes widened as a laugh gurgled past the lump in her throat. Evan had installed the same smart glass window separating the bedroom from the bathroom. Through it, she could see the identical faucet for the huge garden tub, the one where the water came out of the spigot from a hole in the ceiling.
“This is so amazing,” she said on a half laugh, half sob. “I can’t believe you did this.”
Evan perched himself on the edge of the bed, smiling like crazy. “You like it?”
“Like it? I love it.”
“Man, you’ve completely outdone yourself,” Garrett said. “You couldn’t have gotten it any closer.”
“Good, I’m glad you both approve, because I have even more for you.”
“What? More than this?” And what did he mean by for you?
He reached for Riley and Garrett’s hands and scooted back on the bed, bringing both of them with him. The three of them sat in the middle of the big bed, holding hands as if they were going to have a séance.
“Before I tell you, though, I think there’s something Garrett needs to let you in on.”
When Garrett’s eyes narrowed on Evan, Riley’s stomach flipped.
“You want to do this now? It’s not what we had planned.” There wasn’t any anger in Garrett’s words, just a boatload of whoa-wait-a-minute.
“You have to. Because what I have to say hinges on the surprise you have for Riley.”
“What surprise?” she asked, her stomach flipping now for an entirely different reason.
Garrett hesitated another moment, but when Evan squeezed his hand, Riley knew he was going to give in. Thank God, too, because she didn’t know how much more of this evasiveness she could stand.
He cleared his throat and looked her right in the eyes. “You know the meeting I had last night with Kramer?” When she nodded, he went on. “It wasn’t just your typical, everyday kind of meeting.”
Oh boy. “What kind of meeting was it?”
When his lips edged up into a grin, she couldn’t help it, she smiled too. And she didn’t even know why.
“He gave me a promotion.”
“What!” She lunged to wrap him in a huge hug and ended up smack-dab in the middle of his lap. “Oh, Garrett. I’m so proud of you! What kind of promotion did he give you?”
Garrett smiled so widely that his eyes became little half-moon crescents. “He gave me my own office to run. My own division.”
“Garrett! Oh my god.” When she wrapped him in her arms again and squeezed as hard as she could, he laughed. “The Midwest?”
That was when he shook his head. When he did, a tiny tingle fluttered up her spine. “Not the Midwest? Then where?”
Could it be… God, should she even hope…
“The entire Southwest. Including Texas.”
“Wait…” Her gazed bounced from Garrett to Evan and back again. “You mean…”
“The division headquarters is here. In Houston.”
She thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest as happy tears burned her eyes. “We’re moving? Here, to Houston?”
“If that’s what you want, then yes.”
She swooped him up again, this time tackle-hugging him so hard he fell onto his back on the bed. She straddled him and kissed him over and over again, all over his face. “I want! Yes, I want!”
“Which brings me to my surprise,” Evan said, stretching out on his side next to Garrett. He propped his head up on his elbow and slid his hand across her thigh. The excitement in his eyes had her heart melting into a puddle.
When he didn’t immediately say anything, she bounced a little, which had Garrett grabbing her hips and growling. She could feel him getting hard, which, damn, made it just a bit tricky to concentrate.
“What is it? Tell me.” She pathetically sounded like a little girl at Christmastime, but she didn’t care. She was too excited to care.
“Remem
ber when I said that the new owner of this house gets to choose everything for the interior?”
Oh God Oh God Oh God…
“Yes…” she answered, drawing the word out.
“Do you prefer maple- or cherrywood cabinets?”
Wait, that meant…
Before she could manage to get a word out, Garrett sat up with her still in his lap. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
Riley still couldn’t find it in herself to speak. All she expected from this trip was a quick vacation, not a new house. Not a brand new life.
Evan just kept on smiling that beautiful smile of his. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. I built this house for us. For all of us. I built it to have a place to grow old with you two. I built it for a family. For our family.”
Sweet mercy, that was all he had to say. She covered her mouth with her palm and tried to choke back her sobs, but she couldn’t. Deep down—ever since she was a little girl living with a mother who seemingly cared more about scoring a new boyfriend than she did her own children—this was what Riley had wanted. A home of her own. To have someone to love and to have someone love her just as much in return.
And now she had that.
She had it times two.
Her heart burst with so much love for these two men. As she cried and cried and cried, Garrett shifted to his side to lay her between him and Evan. They simply held her, letting her get it all out. Once she had, and was able to speak, she cupped Evan’s cheek tenderly.
“I love you.” She turned to Garrett, sliding her hand gently along his cheek as well. “And I love you. I love you both more than either of you will ever know.”
Evan closed his eyes, but only for a second, as if she’d speared him with her words and he needed that moment to soak it in. “I’ve been dying to tell you the same thing. God, I love you both. Looking back, I think I have since the first night I spent with you two.”
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