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“Hmm?”
“You were right…not just about the joke, but everything yesterday. I’m happy with you. I’m not ashamed of us or who we are—I want you to know that. I love you. I’m going to stop worrying about the future and attaching my self-worth to tangible things. I don’t have anything to prove to anyone.”
“Damn right you don’t,” he says.
“I love you.”
He shakes his head. “You really needed your ass beat, didn’t you?” he asks. “I’d say that was a successful attitude adjustment.”
I sigh and don't reply, but I think we both know the answer.
“I’m going to find a new job,” I tell him. “Something that pays better. I’ll start trying to save up again. Maybe we can get our own place.”
“I’d love that,” he says. “I think we can definitely do that.”
“When do we have to leave?” I ask.
“We can stay the night if you want,” he says.
“I do want to.”
“I thought you would.”
“You know what? Sometimes, I think you know me better than I know myself.”
“You’re just too hard on yourself,” he says. “Why don’t you head out to that outdoor shower? I’ll be right behind you. I want to see my handprint on your ass while you walk away.”
I smile and stand up, adding a little extra swish to my hips as I walk, knowing my punishment isn’t over quite yet.
After the shower, it was the hot tub, and after that, we took a nap in the best bed we could find upstairs. There are seven of them in the house. We tested each one, narrowing them down as we went until we found which was indisputably the best bed—the winner—and slept for four hours.
I made us dinner, and we ate out here on the patio, and now, the sun has all but set. I’m in my bikini bottoms and one of Ty’s hoodies with a glass of wine in my hand, and the only sounds are those coming from the forest behind me and the man in front of me, splitting logs to add to the fire.
“I love it here,” I tell Ty. I lie down on the glider and watch him. “I don’t think I’d mind Lost Hollow so much if it was just the two of us—alone all the time.”
“Yeah?” he says. “I wouldn’t mind that either.”
“Hey! Take your shirt off. Give me something to look at.”
He laughs and misses his mark, shaking his head. “You’re ridiculous,” he says.
But he does it anyway, doesn’t he?
“Yes! That’s it, sexy! Take it off!” I tease, as he pulls it off. He spins the shirt over his head, then throws it at me.
“Satisfied?” he asks.
“Very,” I tell him. “Nice abs; very lickable. Carry on.”
He splits the last one, adding a couple to the fire before crawling in behind me on the glider. He slides his hand under my sweatshirt and traces circles on my back with his fingertips.
“Where do you want to sleep?” he asks. “In the winner, or do you want to give one of the other beds a chance?”
“Mmm…I kind of want to sleep out here. Is that okay?”
He laughs and shakes his head. “I bring you out to this giant house to impress you, and you want to sleep in the dirt?”
“No,” I tell him. “Not just in the dirt, anyway. I want to sleep under the stars…with you. This is the best part of the house, anyway.”
