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As I came around the corner, I gasped when I saw the area lit up in little white twinkle lights. There were lights on the trees and bushes, and I could see River sitting on the shore, his kayak tied to the old, weathered dock there. I glided through the water, my heart beating so fast it pounded in my ears.
“You came,” he said.
“That’s what she said.” I chuckled because I couldn’t help myself.
He walked toward me, not caring that the bottoms of his jeans were getting soaked as he stepped into the water, and helaughed. He reached for the front of my kayak and tugged it over to the dock, tying it off beside his. He offered me a hand and helped me out.
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
“Pretty much all day. I was setting this up, and I didn’t want to miss you, so I just stayed and waited. Hoping you’d come.” He guided me over to a blanket, and we both sat down. There were a few lanterns with candles.
“You know when I told you to figure your shit out, that didn’t mean that you had to cover my office wall in sticky notes and light up all these trees and bushes. You could have just come and talked to me.”
He rubbed a hand over his jaw and nodded. “I’m not used to caring this much. I fucked up, and I want to fix it. Ineedto fix it. And I was stunned that you’d decided to stay that day I saw you at the barn. Stunned that I’d been such a fool about the way I’d handled things. I didn’t know what to say, so I managed to make things worse.”
“You didn’t make things worse, you just—didn’t make them better.” I shrugged. “You said some awful things. Some pretty unforgivable things.”
“Yep. I was an asshole. I saw that preppy fucker and lost my shit. Jumped to conclusions.” He cleared his throat. “I’m not even sure why I did it except that I was scared. I thought I’d lost you, and—God, I’m sorry, Queenie. I’m so fucking sorry.”
I listened, taking in his words. “I get that. But what does that mean now? We’re both scared, River. That’s not going to change just because I live here now.”
“I’ll tell you what’s changed.” He cleared his throat. “I love you, Ruby. I love you in a way I never knew I was capable of. And I will fight for you, for us, every fucking day. That’s what’s changed. I realized these last few days that I was never afraid of loving you. It was losing you that scared the shit out of me.”
The lump in my throat was so thick it was difficult to speak. “I love you, and I understand being afraid because I’m afraid, too. But we need to have some ground rules if we want to move forward. If we want this to work.”
“I want that. Tell me your terms,” he said, a wickedly sexy smirk on his handsome face.
“For starters, no more accusations. We’re both straight shooters, so how about we just talk things out?”
He nodded. “I can do that.”
“No more tantrums or meltdowns. If you’re bothered by something, just tell me.”
He shrugged. “Done. What’s next?”
I tried not to laugh because he was so intense and serious at the moment. It took everything I had not to climb into his lap. I’d missed him. Missed everything about him. “No more sticky note communications. If you feel a certain way, just tell me. And I’ll do the same.”
“But that whole wall of sticky notes was impressive as shit, wasn’t it? Even Beefcake was impressed. He asked Nash if he could have a sticky note wall in his bedroom, and he wants notes from all his favorite girls, including you.”
I tipped my head up to look at the moon and chuckled. “He’s six. It makes a lot more sense for a six-year-old to communicate via sticky note.”
“Okay. No more sticky notes. Although you did a fabulous job telling me I was an asshole on the sticky note you sent over with King.”
“It seemed fitting at the time.” I turned my head to look at him, his dark gaze locking with mine.
“Well, I sort of did something drastic because I really wanted to win you back after my lame attempt at an apology the other day. But now I realize I might have fucked up again because you just made this newwe-have-to-talk-everything-outrule.”
I cocked my head to the side. “You covered my wall in little yellow papers and lit up this entire area in twinkle lights. What could be more drastic?”
He reached a hand over his shoulder and grabbed a handful of his tee before tugging it over his head. A large bandage covered his chest, and my eyes widened as he peeled it back. The wordQueeniewas inked there.
“You’re permanently on my heart, because it belongs to you, Ruby. I don’t know how it happened, but I fucking love you. I want you with me always. So, I put you right here, where I can keep you forever.”
My teeth sank into my bottom lip as a tear slipped down my cheek. “We can make an addendum to that rule about having to talk everything through. Ink is different.”
“Yeah? You like it?”
“I like it,” I whispered, pushing up on my knees and gently tracing a finger around the surrounding area. “I love you, River Pierce.”
