Page 24 of Chase Our Forever

“If I didn’t want you wearing it, I would’ve said something. I’m blunt—sometimes to a fault. It looks better on you than it does me anyway.”

We’re both quiet for a moment as my last words hang in the air. I didn’t mean anything weird by it. It slipped out before I could think better of it.

My ears feel hot as I try to figure out if I should apologize or not. The last thing I need is for her to think I’m a creep. “I didn’t mean that in any weird way. All I meant was I wear it and look like I?—”

“It’s fine.” She laughs, and it seems genuine. The softness of her eyes and the smile on her lips tells me I might be worryingfor nothing. “I’ll accept the compliment. Let me get my purse, and we’ll go.”

She turns around and heads back to her room as I let out a sigh of relief. I’m going to have to get used to sharing my space with someone. I’ve had plenty of nannies stay here with me and Clara, but none of them lasted long. I never really cared about establishing a professional relationship with them because they were gone as quickly as they started.

But with Liv it feels different.

I already want her to stay awhile. There’s something about her. She radiates light, even with the knowledge she seems to have gone through a lot. And I want Clara to have that in her life.

When she walks back out with a smile plastered on her face and her purse swung over her shoulder, I accept that I might need a little of that light in my life, too.

15

LIV

“Houses in Coloradoare way different than houses in Florida,” I mutter as Dean takes us down a long, winding driveway toward his childhood home.

“I’ve been to Florida before. There’s definitely beautiful real estate there,” Dean remarks as he parks his truck right next to another one that almost looks identical to his.

“I wouldn’t know. There was nothing beautiful about where I lived.”

He frowns but doesn’t respond to my comment. I like that he doesn’t ask a lot of questions. I wouldn’t answer him even if he did.

“Sounds like you need to see better parts of Florida.”

I laugh. “I never want to go back to Florida. I’ll stick to different views. Like this one right here.” I lean forward in my seat and rest my elbows on the dashboard.

In front of me is another breathtaking landscape. While Dean’s house is more nestled in a valley between mountains, his family’s home is right on the side of a mountain. There are trees everywhere, but they’re spread out enough that you can still see their neighbors. At Dean’s house, all you can see are trees,mountains, and the little pond behind his house. There isn’t a neighbor in sight.

“What do you think?” Dean asks. I can feel his eyes on me even as I look ahead at the beautiful house in front of us.

Where Dean’s house had modern accents that show it was recently built, his childhood home is the complete opposite. It looks like a house you’d find in Colorado. It’s a cherrywood-colored cabin, but still larger than the typical size I was expecting of cabins. As someone who grew up in Florida, maybe my perceptions of the size of what a cabin should be are just wrong.

“I think that the house is beautiful. I haven’t been inside yet, but I can just feel that you had a good childhood here. That it was a great place to grow up.”

There’s an old tire attached to a huge tree not too far from us. The rope has been weathered by the sun over the years, but it still hangs like someone could use it even today. I try to imagine a small Dean swinging from it. Even though he seems calm and reserved, I get the feeling he was still a daredevil in his younger years.

The thought makes me smile. Clara seems like him in that regard. I’ve spent one full day with her at this point and have quickly learned she has no fear.

I keep looking around, taking in the sights. There are more cars here than I was expecting, making me wonder how many siblings he has.

He hums but he doesn’t take his eyes off me. I don’t know why, but my cheeks heat under his gaze. I both want him to keep looking at me and for him to look away. “It was the best place to grow up. This house, this town, I could never imagine leaving.”

“Pippa said the same thing,” I respond, my eyes catching on a giant yellow dog running along the fence line.

“You’ll see. This place is hard to leave. We do need to get out to Jennings Ranch before it gets too cold. Going on one of their trail rides will guarantee you the best view of all time.”

I finally look at him, finding his brown eyes still on me. I can’t help but smile at the thought of seeing views more beautiful than what I’ve already seen of Sutten. “I’d love that. Although, I’ve never even ridden a horse before…”

This makes him raise a dark eyebrow. “Don’t worry. I’ll show you the ropes.”

The husky tone to his voice sends a shiver down my spine. I can’t explain why. I know his innocent sentence shouldn’t have any kind of effect on me, but I can’t help that it does. I shake my head, trying to get rid of the weird sensation as quickly as it appeared.

Luckily, Dean doesn’t seem to notice my weird reaction. He grabs an old baseball hat from his side of the dash and places it on his head. When he looks over at me, that mischievous tilt of his lip is back. “Let’s see how long it takes my mom to lecture me on wearing a hat at the dinner table.”

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