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TWENTY-EIGHT
"Wow, it’s so strange to be back here,” Eden said, looking around at her house. True to his promise from the night of her poisoning, Chandler had gotten a cleaning service in—one trained in dealing with crime scenes—and they had scrubbed the place down from top to bottom, making sure there were no contaminants anywhere.
So now here they were a week later, with Chandler helping Eden move back in.
“Does it feel different?” he asked.
“A little, maybe,” she admitted. “I guess it’s never going to feel quite the way it used to again.” It had always been her safe space—the home she’d carved out for herself and earned through her hard work and dedication. She’d felt safe there. And now…she didn’t anymore. Even though both of the Rosses were currently in custody. Even though Chandler had personally overseen the installation of a high-quality security system. The sense she’d had before, that nothing could hurt her here, was gone. She could replace most of the stuff she’d had to discard after the poisoning, but her sense of security was irreplaceable.
“You could always change your mind, you know,” he said hopefully, “and just come back to living with me.”
If she’d thought he really meant it, that he was trying to pressure her into giving up her home, she would have been annoyed. But she knew he was just teasing—mostly. Oh, he’d probably be thrilled if she decided she really did want to move in with him for good, but when she’d told him she wanted to keep her own place, that she didn’t want to rush into living together when there weren’t legitimate safety reasons requiring it, he’d listened and understood.
He really was the most wonderful guy ever.
“I know it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind,” she teased, “but I’ve got to warn you, I have no intention of changing my mind about that any time soon.”
“Not any time soon,” he repeated. “Got it. So I’ll just have to try again later. I can do that. I used to be a SEAL, you know—give me a mission and I’ll always get it done. But inquiring minds want to know. Do you have any ideas on when ‘soon’ will be over?”
Eden rolled her eyes. “At ease, soldier.” When Chandler made a disgusted face, she giggled. “Sorry, sorry, I know it hurts your delicate naval soul to be called a soldier, like you’re some kind of army grunt. At ease, um, sailor?” she tried, and he nodded, mollified. “There’s no rush, you know,” she continued. “I’m happy with what we have, and I’m definitely not planning on letting it go—not now, not soon, and not later. I just want to take my time with our relationship. Do it right.
“Unlike last time,” he said, a look of dawning understanding on his face. “Is that why this is so important to you? Because you feel like you rushed into things last time?”
“Partly,” she admitted. “We really did go from dating to married to moving across the country way faster than anyone sensible would have. If we’d gone slower, we might have seen the cracks in our relationship sooner and realized just how wrong we were for each other.”
“But that’s not going to happen to us,” Chandler said. It wasn’t a question—his voice rang with certainty. The same certainly she felt. After all, she loved him, more than life itself. She knew he was it for her, for the rest of her life.
“No, it’s not,” she agreed. “I intend to take my time and enjoy every step along the way to us building a life together.”
Afterward, they settled back into going through the house and making sure all the new purchases were put in place and that everything was arranged the way Eden wanted it. When they had stopped for a lunch break of pizza and beer, Chandler came back to the topic of her marriage.
“So, what did happen with you and Trent?” he asked. “I mean, I know the two of you were together, and that you liked the idea of going out to California, but was that really what made you say yes?”
“You really want me to tell you all about why I decided to marry someone else?” She raised a brow at him, stopping mid-sip from her bottle.
Chandler smiled at her around a bite of pizza. After he swallowed and wiped his mouth, he said, “I’m just curious. I mean, what was it like? Must’ve been a whirlwind to happen so fast.”
“Hmm.” Eden shook her head. “That’s one way to describe it. Nothing would be another.”
“Nothing?” He gave her a skeptical look. “How can a marriage be nothing?”
“Well, it wasn’t loving—not really. It definitely wasn’t passionate. There wasn’t much commitment, and it didn’t take long for us to realize that when we didn’t have our group of friends around and all our shared school interests, we didn’t really have much in common.” She lifted a shoulder. “There wasn’t really any there there. I mean it’s not like it was a great romance or anything. The exact opposite, really. Hell, he didn’t even buy me a ring. We were both so young, and he didn’t have the money or a job to make any. He said he’d buy me one in California once he started making big bucks at his job, but obviously that never happened—and once we showed up, he never even mentioned a ring again. Not a good sign for the rest of our future.”
“Well, I guess I can be grateful to him for one thing,” Chandler said, giving her a little smirk.
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“I won’t have to work very hard to outdo him.”
Eden snorted. “You already outdo him about a thousand times over.” When Chandler looked smug, she gave him a little shove. “But that doesn’t mean you get to half-ass your proposal, mister. Your standard isn’t ‘Is this better than Trent?’ but ‘Is this good enough for Eden?’ And my expectations are going to be high.”
He grinned. “As they should be—because you deserve the world, baby, and I’m going to do everything in my power to give it to you. I’m going to court you so good you won’t ever forget it. And when I propose, you’ll have the biggest, most beautiful ring I can find in Virginia.”
Her heart swelled so big that she thought it might burst right out of her chest and fall in his lap. So sweet. And kind and wonderful and protective and loyal and trustworthy and…
She wouldn’t tell him, though. Not yet anyway. Instead, she grinned right back at him, toasting him with her beer bottle. “Challenge accepted. Make sure you impress me, sweetheart.”
Then she climbed onto his lap, and he got started right away with impressing her all the way down to her toes. Three times.
