“Because we need to make sure the surface is sanded down and clean before we apply the first coat of primer. A solid foundation … ”
She threw the scraper at me. “Oh, would you stop it with that solid foundation speech?!”
I laughed.
“I just want to know why we’re sitting around fixing up this old house when we should be out there hiking or swimming or … ” A blush fell across her cheeks. “ … having picnics.”
She walked over to me, seductively swaying her hips in her cute as hell attempt to deter my desire to fix up her house. I leaned against the stair railing and crossed my arms over my chest waiting for her to get close enough that I could grab her. When she reached me, I captured her in my arms and pulled her against me. She threw her arms up to push herself away while protesting.
“Damn it, Hunter, you’re all sweaty.”
Her laughter carried across the wind and I smiled. “So are you.” I pulled her against me again and licked a line up her neck, nipping along the sensitive skin. My next words came out as a throaty growl. “I love the way you taste.”
“Ew!” Her laughter howled out of her as she attempted to pretend she was disgusted with what I’d just done. But I didn’t let go and I kept up my assault until her body went limp in my arms.
“You two should seriously get a room. I know daddy isn’t going to be happy about the peep show outside if you keep this up.”
Both our heads spun to see Ryan and Lily standing to our side. Lily smiled brightly and Ryan looked like he was trying to hold back a grin. I nodded in his direction and he nodded back.
Releasing Ellison, I bent over and picked up the scraper she’d thrown at me earlier. Holding it in front of her face, I said, “Think you’ll be needing this.”
She scowled at me before snatching the scraper from my hand. “You suck. You know that?”
“You’ll thank me for it later.”
I watched her walk back to the wall she’d been working on and I turned my attention to Lily. “Bill’s finally come around, huh?”
After I’d starting working at the Tavern, Ryan and I became friends. We spent many nights sitting behind the bar talking. Ryan told me about the things he’d been through in high school and how difficult it had been for him to straighten up. He credited Lily for giving him a reason to want to make the effort. Over the months that I worked there I talked to Bill the following mornings, making a case for Ryan. It took a while, but eventually Bill seemed to come around. My best argument had been that Ryan wasn’t any different than me, and all he needed was for people to believe in him to become a person worthy of Lily’s time. Seeing Ryan standing on the property without fear of being shot was a good sign that my talks with Bill had been a success.
Lily’s blush covered her whole face when she pecked Ryan on the cheek and answered, “Yep. Seems Daddy’s going to give him a chance. So, to thank you, we’ve come over to help fix up the house. It’ll get done a lot faster if we all work on it together rather than just you and Ellison.”
I was surprised by her offer, and I responded by picking up some extra bottles and scrapers we had laying around and tossing the supplies in their direction. Once everyone was settled and working on his or her section, I smiled. Fixing Bill’s house had been an exercise in patience, endurance, determination and desire. The act itself had given me time to reflect on my life, to think about my future, and to take pride in repairing something that had been neglected and forgotten over the years. And now it was time to fix Ellison’s house, to repair something that had been damaged by the many seasons and storms throughout its life. Much like Bill’s house, it would take time to strip away the fading paint, to prepare the house for the first coats of primer and to rip away and replace the rotten boards and shingles that no longer served their purpose. When it was fixed, when enough love and attention had been paid to the surface and to what existed beneath the layers of dust and decay, it would last a lifetime as long as it was given the same care and attention it had taken to repair it in the first place.
“So, did you find out whether you’d be given a scholarship yet, Hunter? It’s been months. I’m surprised they haven’t answered yet.” Lily absently scraped at the chipped paint while asking me about the school’s decision.
My arm came up to wipe the sweat from my forehead. “They answered a couple of weeks ago.”
Ellison looked up from where she was working to pay attention to my response.
I let out a deep sigh, resigned to finally tell the truth, knowing it would disappoint El. “They declined. Unfortunately, because I dropped out mid-semester at Harvard I was disqualified for an academic scholarship until such time as I can prove myself ‘worthy’. So, basically, I have to pay for a year or two and prove I’m serious before they can offer me any type of financial assistance.”
“But that’s bullshit! You had an emergency!” Ellison’s face was red with anger and she huffed out an adorable little breath that blew the loose hairs away from her face.
Shrugging, I went back to work scraping. “It is what it is. Just another roadblock that I have to work around until I can get to where I’m going in life.”
“Where are you going?” Ryan piped up, keeping his eyes trained on the wall.
I sat back and my eyes flicked to Ellison. Her eyebrow arched and her lip twisted into a confused smiled. “Yeah, Hunter. Where are you going?”
I hadn’t yet spoken to Ellison about the decision I’d made the night I returned to Florida and found Ellison completely buried by the cruel circumstances of her father’s illness. Lily and Ryan stopped what they were doing and silently looked between Ellison and me.
The corner of my mouth crooked up at the side and I confessed, “I’m going to medical school.”
Ellison’s jaw dropped. “What?”
I shrugged. “I’ve always been good at science and math, so it wouldn’t be unusual for me to pursue that path. Plus … ” I breathed out heavily to bring it up. Looking Ellison directly in the eye, I continued, “Do you remember what you told me outside of the plane when I went back home.”
She nodded, but still appeared lost.
“When you said you hated cancer and asked if I knew what you meant? Well, I do know what you mean, I understand how it feels to hate it, and I decided I’d work to do something about it. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to change, but I can at least work towards finding a cure.”
Ellison sat silently, her jaw hanging slightly open to hear what I’d told her. Ryan and Lily continued looking between us and Ellison eventually stood up and walked over to where I was sitting. When she was standing above me, I craned my neck to look up at her. A single tear ran down one sun kissed cheek and she lowered herself down so that she was straddling me on the ground. My eyes didn’t leave hers and I heard Ryan and Lily silently excuse themselves and walk over to the other house. The sun shone behind Ellison making her hair glow around her face and I laughed to find ourselves in the same position we’d ended up in many times when we first met.
I started to say something, but she shook her head, placed her hands on the sides of my face and leaned down to kiss me. The strawberry flavor to her lips had become my favorite thing. When she swept her tongue across my lips I opened up to her and cherished the moment she deepened that kiss. It would never get old — the feeling of Ellison James kissing me. It was addicting, it was extraordinary, and it was something that would always, ALWAYS, keep me coming back for more.
When she stopped and pushed herself up to look at me again, she whispered, “You’re amazing.”
“I’d do anything for you, El.”
Slowly, her lips pulled back into a toothy grin and I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her down so that her body covered me. We laid together on the ground for a few minutes, just holding each other before she asked, “How are you going to afford it, Hunter? Would your parents … ”
“No. They haven’t attempted to contact me and I have no intention of conta
cting them. I can do this own my own, El. I can work, take out loans, hopefully earn that scholarship back quickly. There are other options besides running back to my parents. It’s the same reason I haven’t driven the car since I returned home to get my stuff. I don’t want anything from them if they can’t accept you, Lily and Bill as family.”
“I don’t want to be the reason you stop talking to your folks.” She got quiet and I saw a streak of pain flash across her face. “You don’t get forever to fix things with them, Hunter. Trust me on that.”
I sat up, but held her on my laps as I crossed my legs beneath. Her legs wrapped around my waist and I hugged her to me. “I know. But you are my family as much as they are. They are the ones who refuse to acknowledge you — not the other way around. I made my choice, El. I choose you.”
She nodded and I grabbed her chin with my fingertips to get her to look at me. “And don’t start thinking that if it wasn’t for you things would be different between my parents and me. They wouldn’t. The only thing that would be different than how things are now is I would be at college living my life the same way I had in high school. I’d still be lost if it wasn’t for you. I’d have no drive, no focus, nothing to look forward to in my life. My parents didn’t think enough of me to ever attempt to help me change. You did.”
Blowing out a breath, she placed her hands on my chest. “If you say so.” She broke her eye contact with me and looked around at the miscellaneous supplies that were littered around the perimeter of the house. “Are we allowed to give up on this today and go do something fun? It’s Spring Break and they have a bonfire going out in the fields tonight.”
I groaned. “Will Finn be there?”
She laughed in response. “You have nothing to worry about when it comes to Finn. He’s accepted that I moved on and has finally moved on himself.”
I knew I had nothing to worry about, but it was still fun teasing her every once in a while. Unwrapping my hands from her waist, I grabbed the cheeks of her butt and pulled her hips against me. Her legs tightened in response.
“Sounds good. But, I think I can come up with something we can do in the meantime.”
She squealed and I sat up quickly to take her lips with mine. By the time I pulled away she looked stunned from the intensity of the kiss and I moved sideways to dump her off my lap. “Race you to the bedroom.”
Her eyes flew open and she smiled while pushing up off the ground to race. We laughed as we wrestled each other up the stairs and we damn near hit the ground when we threw the front door open and attempted to squeeze past one another. Once we were in I slammed the door behind us and chased her through the living room towards her room. When I reached the hall, Sasha and Bear excitedly ran past my feet, tripping me in the process. Flying forward, I hit a wall before falling to the ground and hitting my head. I rolled on my back and held my head where it had hit the floor. Sasha and Bear took the opportunity to lick me all over my face.
“I win!” Ellison screamed out at me from the bedroom.
Opening my eyes, I looked up into the furry faces above me. They looked like they were smiling. “Traitors.”
A grin came over my face and I laughed. If this was what the rest of my life was going to be like, I couldn’t be happier.
Chapter Thirty
“There! The final touch has been finished and your house is perfect.”
I stood back from where I’d installed a new doorbell on Ellison’s house. She ran up the new wooden steps and paused with her hand hovering over it.”
“Do I get to be the first one to ring it?”
I couldn’t believe how excited she was over a doorbell, but I guess when you grew up without much, it was the little things that you learned to appreciate.
“Go for it.”
She hit the button and chimes played in the house. Sasha and Bear barked in response. Jumping up and down, she threw her arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. “I love you and I love this house. Thank you.”
Smiling, I kissed her back. “Don’t thank me. You worked on it as well. So, since the house is done and it’s still early, you wanna go for a swim and see your fish buddies?”
“That’s seven miles away!”
“Well, okay, I mean, if you don’t think you can handle it … ”
Her hand smacked me on the shoulder. “Oh, please, I can out-hike your ass any day. Let’s go.”
I opened the doors and grabbed our bags that I’d packed and set aside earlier in the morning. Stepping outside, her brow arched to notice that I’d planned on taking her hiking, and she grabbed her pack to toss it over her shoulder.
Normally, hiking the trail gave me an elevated heart rate due to the physical exertion; however, this particular hike had me damn near floored. I was giddy, I was nervous and I walked behind Ellison trying to keep my breathing even. When we reached the spring, she immediately threw her pack on the table and starting stripping off her clothes. I watched her undress and when she looked up again I smiled.
“Sorry, just enjoying the view.”
Her lip curled. “It’s hot as hell, Hunter. Take off your clothes and jump in the water with me.” She didn’t have to tell me twice.
When we reached the waterline, she looked out before jumping in and pulled me back when she noticed something floating on the surface out in the distance. Her head swiveled so she could look at me. “What’s that?”
I shrugged my shoulder. “Don’t know. Guess we need to swim out there to find out.” I jumped in, pulling her with me, and it took a second for my heated skin to adjust to the cold-as-shit water. Eventually, I was able to move again and we swam out to the float. It was nothing more than a square piece of white Styrofoam, one that I’d used before. Recognizing what it was, Ellison dove under the water and grabbed the waterproof case I had tied underneath. When she resurfaced, she held the case up.
“Open it.” My heart fell to my stomach and my skin tingled making it feel like every part of my body had fallen asleep. Nervous energy caused my chest to constrict. I could feel a lump form in my throat in anticipation of her reaction.
She twisted the case apart and pulled out a small, black velvet bag. Her eyes flicked up to mine and I couldn’t speak while I waited for her to open it. Finally, she pulled at the little string on the side, opening the bag and she pulled out the ring from inside it.
Her eyes looked over the ruby heart shaped solitaire that was set into the platinum band.
I cleared my throat to settle the lump that had formed.
“Will you marry me, Ellison?”
Thank god the water in the spring was as crystal clear as it was because she dropped the ring almost instantly in shock. My eyes followed it as it floated to the bottom and I made a mental note of where it had landed.
“Oh my god!” Her hand flew to her mouth. “I’m sorry, Hunter, I didn’t mean to drop it!”
“I don’t care if you dropped the ring, El.” I grabbed her chin to pull her face up from the water to look in my direction.
Her eyes met mine.
“Will you marry me?”
When I noticed a tremble to her bottom lip, I got nervous. Tears broke free of her eyes, and she nodded “yes.” A flood of happiness and relief assaulted my body when she finally opened her mouth.
“Yes.”
That was the best fucking “yes” I’d ever heard. Diving beneath the water, I retrieved the ring from the bottom. Resurfacing, I looked at her, placed the ring on her finger, and pulled her into me before kissing her like my life depended on the feel of her lips against mine. Pulling away, I pointed to the ring.
“I bought that for you for Christmas, but given everything that happened, I never had the chance to give it to you. I didn’t intend for it to be an engagement ring when I bought it, but over the past seven months I’ve fallen for you more every day. I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I know the ring isn’t much, but I’ll replace it with a diamond one day.”
She held the ri
ng to her chest and shook her head. “No. I don’t want you to replace it. It’s perfect. I never want to take it off my finger.”
“But you deserve the best.”
She smiled up at me, reaching out to pull me against her. “I have him.” Throwing her arms around my neck, she kissed me until we could no longer breathe. The sun shone down on our skin and the rainbow wave of fish swam beneath our feet. It was a magical moment, one that would forever be a cherished possession in my heart and thoughts. And it was there, in the spot where we’d first learned about each other and where we’d first kissed, that we started living the rest of our lives together.
~ ~ ~
When we finally reached the houses in midafternoon, Ellison ran inside her house to get a shower and I went over to Bill’s to grab some clean clothes. Even though I was spending every night with Ellison, I still tried to keep up the appearance that I lived at the other house. Walking in, I waved to Bill and turned to meander down the hallway to grab my clothes. I decided to jump in the shower while I was there, and when I got dressed and moved back into the living room, the front door was open and Bill was nowhere to be seen. My curiosity was piqued so I stepped out the front door and my eyes fell on the sleek black paint of a restored 1970 Mustang. I could tell that a lot of time and money had been put into the car and I knew whoever drove it here wasn’t a local.
“Fuck.”
Bill was talking to someone who was sitting in the vehicle and I groaned wondering who from my former life had just shown up. There was only one person I could think of that would be driving that particular car. Walking around the side, I stopped suddenly when I saw my father. As soon as I came into view, their conversation stopped and my father and I stared each other down.
“Why are you here?” My voice was an octave lower than normal and rattled against my chest from anger.
He blinked, but the bored expression on his face didn’t change. He stepped out of the car and I noticed that he was dressed in a suit as usual. The sunlight streaming through the trees glinted off the solid gold watch on his wrist. “Good to see you too, Hunter.”