Page 69 of Unbreak Me
“What do you think?”
“I…” She turns and looks at the house again. “It’s beautiful. I love the privacy and the yard. Do you know who lives here?”
“A client of mine owns it. He’s moving and when he told me about the place I had to see it for myself. I knew the moment I pulled up that this was it. It was our home. The home where we would raise our kids and fill with so many memories.”
“Ryder…I…” Her eyes fill with tears, and I catch one as it falls, wiping it away.
“Do you want to see the inside?” I reach for the spare key he dropped off this morning so we could look at it in private.
She nods her head, grinning before excitement has her throwing the door open. I laugh and follow her to the front porch before walking inside. Light grey wood floors are throughout the open-concept kitchen and living room. A grey stone fireplace is along one wall with lots of room for a big sectional. Windows cover most of the walls overlooking the front and back yard. The kitchen has white cabinets with a huge island in the middle. Wooden barstools line the white marble countertop. An alcoveoverlooks the backyard with rounded windows and a place to put a dining room table.
“So these open up all the way and slide into one another, making this whole glass wall disappear.” I point to the big sliding glass doors that lead to the pool. “There are two bedrooms down here,” I say, walking her to the right of the kitchen, where a little hallway leads to two good-sized bedrooms and two bathrooms. “This door leads to the pool area.” I point to the door in the back bathroom.
I watch her smile as she looks at everything, and I know she’s picturing us living here just like I did.
“Then, on the other side of the kitchen is an office.” I lead her across the kitchen to a small room overlooking the backyard. It has cottage doors leading out to the deck. This will be a perfect place for her to work from home when she wants to. “Now for the best part, where all the magic happens,” I wink at her, and she laughs, taking my hand as I lead her back to the living room and up the wooden staircase.
“Besides the master, there are two bedrooms up here and another bathroom.” I walk down the hall and open the doors for her to see. “I thought for now we could use one for a nursery and the other for Ryland so they can be close to us. Then, when they get older, they can move downstairs, and our new little ones can take their place up here. We will get baby gates, of course, for the stairs to contain our little animals.”
She laughs and swipes another tear away.
“And this,” I say, opening the door, “this is ours.” I watch her as she gasps at the view. Most of the back wall is covered in windows, and cottage doors lead out to a small balcony. We step outside, and through the trees, you can see the ocean in the distance as the wind blows the palm tree leaves.
The pool is good-sized, with a hot tub cascading down into it. Off to the side is an outdoor kitchen and a place to have someoutdoor furniture with a fire table. They don’t have an outdoor shower, but I already have plans to build one for us.
“It has a castle swingset,” she whispers, looking down at the yard. I couldn’t believe it either when I saw it. It was exactly what I was picturing when I mentioned it before. They can get to the tower by a rock climbing wall or spiral steps. The tower is covered by a grey roof resembling a castle. Two different slides can be used on the way down to the swings and monkey bars. Under the tower is a shady area filled with sand for playing.
“It stays with the house.” I smile and wrap my arms around her from behind. “Ryland will love it, and this little one, too.” I place my hand on her tiny bump. She’s still not showing but I can see little changes in her body every day that get me more and more excited to become a father again.
“It’s perfect, Ry,” she says softly.
“You haven’t seen the best part yet.” I pull her back into the bedroom and across the wooden floors until I reach the door to the master bath. I know how much she loves bubble baths, and I especially love her in them. She walks in and gasps. A double vanity sits along one wall, with white marble surrounding the two sinks. In the corner is a huge walk-in shower with matching marble tiles but it’s the tub along the back wall that’s got her attention as she walks over to it. It’s a huge standing tub with jets, big enough for both of us. A beautiful chandelier hangs from above, and the light hitting the huge frosted glass window casts tiny rainbow prisms around the area.
“So what do you think?” I watch her run her hand along the white surface of the bathtub.
She turns and flings herself in my arms, burying her face in my chest. “This is our home, Ryder. I can feel it. It’s more than I ever thought to imagine or let myself hope to have.”
“I feel it, too. That’s why I already put an offer in and they accepted.” She goes still in my arms, and I grin. I took a chanceon her loving it as much as I do. “It’s ours, Eve. We close at the end of next month and can move in on the first of September.”
She lifts her head and looks up at me. Her blues are so bright now and full of love that it takes my breath away. I gently brush back a piece of her auburn hair that escaped her ponytail.
“I love you so much,” she says softly. “You have no idea how much because it’s impossible to say in words what I feel for you.”
“I have an idea because it’s exactly what I feel for you.” I lean down and bring those lips to mine. My fingers weave into her hair as her tongue comes out to dance with me. We both softly moan as our words are felt in every touch we feel…every sound we make when our bodies are pressed together. We may not be able to speak the depth of what we feel for each other, but it’s heard loudly in the silence whenever we are together.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
EVE
“It’s so hard to leave this place when I come to visit,” Savi gazes out into the ocean and sips her wine. She leaves tomorrow to go back up to Georgia, wanting to get settled in before school starts. Sophia and I wanted some girl time with her before she left, so when the guys took the kids to the beach after dinner, we stayed back.
“Whydidyou leave this place?” I glance out at the view from the back deck and can’t imagine ever wanting to move out of Blue Haven. I was surprised when Ryder told me how she was going to school up in Georgia. I always thought she would stay here and choose a college close to her family. I know she loves this place as much as I do.
“The typical reason that most run away after high school. It’s either to get away from their family or wanting to get away because of a guy.”
“I’m assuming, since your family is amazing, that it’s the latter. You know,” Sophia says, studying her. “As much as we have talked, you never did tell me what happened to make you want to move away.”
“That’s because I don’t like to talk about it,” she laughs and takes another sip. “Long story short, I fell in love in high school. I thought he was the one. I had it all planned out in my head. We would go to college together and then live happily ever after, but once graduation hit, I got…I really need to experience the college years and don’t want to be tied down to a girlfriend, but maybe when I’m done, we can get back together.”
