He leads me through bedrooms, bathrooms, and an office with a desk that’s empty aside from his laptop. The house is big, much too big for one person, but it’s comfortable.
“It’s a lot of house.”
“It’s ridiculous,” he agrees. “And the smallest one available with these views. So, I snatched it up.”
“In one day?”
“I got lucky.”
I give him a look that says right.
“I really did. The former owners moved out of state, and this was all staging furniture. So, I just bought it all.”
“Just like that.”
He walks behind the island in the kitchen and starts pulling bowls out of the fridge.
“Like I said, I got lucky.” He sets a skillet on the gas stovetop and turns on the burner, then dumps some ground beef into the pan and starts to stir. “Not to mention, money talks, sweetheart. I made a pitcher of margaritas if you want one. I also bought that wine you like, if you’d rather have that.”
I sit on a stool and stare at him. Am I dreaming? Archer is in Bandon. He bought a house and is making me tacos.
What alternate universe am I living in?
Whatever it is, I don’t want to leave.
“I’ll have a margarita. I wouldn’t want them to go to waste.”
“Good idea.” He fills two glasses and clinks his to mine. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.”
He takes a platter out of a cupboard. Who knew serving implements would be part of the staging items included in the house? As he begins to pile stuff on it, the smells coming at me are amazing and make my stomach growl. I didn’t realize I was so hungry.
“Let’s take this all out onto the deck and watch the sunset while we gorge ourselves on guacamole,” he suggests.
I haven’t had a better offer in years. I hop up and help him gather all of the food and our drinks, and we make our way onto the deck, where a small table and chairs are set up, just big enough for dinner for two.
“I admit, this is pretty great,” I say as I dip a chip in the guac and shove it into my face as I look out to the sea that’s as calm as it gets tonight.
“The view or the food?”
“Both.” I watch him as he chews and swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the motion. “You’re stubborn, you know that?”
“Hi pot, I’m kettle.”
“Archer, you bought a house. And not just any home. You bought this insanely big house. You could have stayed at the resort for a hell of a lot less.”
“I’m more comfortable here,” he says with a shrug. “Besides, I’ve lived in a lot of hotels lately, traveling all over the country, trying to track you down. I’d rather have a home base for a while. And, after I’m done here, I can lease this place out and make some money. Flip it when the value goes up.”
“How long did it take you to find me?”
“A few months.”
I feel my eyes go wide.
“I couldn’t just look for you every minute of every day. I had to go back to Seattle for blocks of time so I could work, be with my family, that sort of thing. But when I could get away, I returned to the search.”
“Why now?”
“Because Anastasia screwed up and let it slip that she hears from you now and then. I didn’t want to talk about it. But then she messed up more by admitting that she knew why you ghosted me after we got married. After that, I became a man obsessed. I had to find you. I mean, I took one night to get stinking drunk and sing bad Irish songs in Kane’s brother’s bar, but then I got down to business.”
“You sang Irish songs?”
His lips twitch. “Not well.”
“I wish there was a video of that.”
“No, you don’t. Trust me.”
“I still can’t believe that after all this time, you came to find me.”
“You married me,” he says, his voice suddenly heavy with impatience. “I vowed to love you for better or worse. And you up and broke it off so suddenly that you made my head spin. And you wouldn’t talk to me. We were together for two years, attached at the hip, and then one day, you were just gone.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
He growls, and I reach over to lay my hand on his arm.
“Listen to me. You don’t understand because I never talked about it much. I just wanted to be a normal girl with you. I didn’t want to be the princess. Different. Being with you, with your family, was the most incredible experience of my life.”
“So you left me?”
“You’re not listening.” I want to smack him. “I never told my family I was with you. Not after I tried, and my father told me to break it off. I knew it was too risky.”