“So, what did you do last night, Ryn?” Azurdee asked.
Ryn began looking around at everyone. We had snuck back into the house around five am and crawled into her bed in the guest room and slept until six.
“Um . . . Tristan showed me his Camaro.”
“I bet he did,” Lark said under his breath.
“Michael, stop.”
Ryn walked further into the kitchen and kissed my mother on the cheek. “Good morning, Joyce.”
Smiling like a fool, my mother held Ryn back and gave her a once over before letting her go. “Good morning, sweetheart. Oh the glow on your face is beautiful.”
Ryn blushed and looked my way. Giving her a wink, she blushed even more. I couldn’t wait to see that shade of red on other parts of her body. Feeling my dick jump in my pants, I tried to focus on something else.
Placing her hand over her cheek, Ryn whispered, “A glow?”
Nodding her head, my mother handed Ryn a coffee cup. Taking it from my mother, Ryn poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter next to me. I could feel the pull of attraction between us. If I hadn’t just made love to her in the shower, I’d be pulling her back into the bedroom.
Azurdee motioned toward us with her hand. “So?”
Lifting her shoulders loosely, Ryn asked, “So . . . what?”
Rolling her eyes and placing her hands on her hip, Azurdee blew out a frustrated breath. “Holding hands in the hospital, sneaking away for the evening. Are y’all back together or not?”
Turning, Ryn and I looked at each other and smiled. Nodding my head and not even caring that my parents were in the room, I said, “We are very much indeed back together.”
Azurdee let out a small scream as my mother walked over to me and wrapped me in a warm embrace. She moved her mouth close to my ear and said, “It’s about time, Tristan.”
Pulling back and giving her a warm smile, I agreed. “Yes ma’am it is.”
Azurdee was hugging Ryn as Lark reached his hand out for mine and pulled me into a hug. Pulling back slightly, he said, “The Camaro?”
Nodding my head, I whispered, “Hell yes. On the hood.”
Lark raised an eyebrow and mumbled, “I claim the shop tonight.”
Throwing my head back, I laughed. “It’s yours.”
Lark pulled Azurdee into a hug as she let out a giggle. Reaching for Ryn’s hand, I pulled her closer to me. She nuzzled into my side and I couldn’t believe how perfect this moment felt. “I’m stealing Ryn for the day, Mom.”
Smiling she asked, “Oh, are you heading into town?”
Glancing over to Ryn, she smiled. “Nope. We are picking out a spot on the ranch to build a house.”
The dish my mother had been drying off slipped from her hands and fell to the floor. I was shocked it hadn’t broken into pieces.
Placing her hand over her mouth, I saw the tears forming in her eyes. “What did you say?”
Grinning, I repeated what I had said. “Ryn and I talked last night and we are going to pick out a spot for a building location. If it’s okay with you and Dad, I’d like to keep it within a half-mile or so of here. Probably on the other side of the shop Lark and I built.”
Ryn squeezed my hand when I mentioned the shop.
My mom turned and looked at Ryn. “Ryn, darling. What about your business?”
Holding her closer to me, Ryn gave my mother the sweetest smile and my heart about burst open. “I can work from anywhere, Joyce. I’ll keep my office in Austin. I have three wonderful managers that don’t need me there all the time checking on them. They work better when I’m not in the office anyway. I spend ninety percent of my time working from home. I’ll just have to make a trip to Austin once a month for meetings that I can’t attend on Skype.” Turning and looking at me, Ryn’s expression changed. Her eyes were filled with happiness and love. I’d never felt so happy in my entire life. “Besides, my place is here, with Tristan.”
Leaning over, I pressed my lips to hers. Before I knew it, I was setting my coffee down and wrapping my arms around her and kissing her like I’d never see her again. My father cleared his throat and I broke our kiss. Pulling back enough to look into her eyes I whispered, “I’m sorry I broke your heart, but I swear I’ll spend the rest of my life putting it back together.”
One single tear fell from her eye as she pressed her lips to mine and whispered against them, “Tristan.”
Ryn and I had been driving over a two-mile radius as we checked out possible building locations. When I asked Ryn what she was thinking about for our house, she smiled and said, “I don’t know. This is all so crazy! I have a million ideas floating in my head.”
“What are you thinking you want to do with your house in Austin?” I asked.
“I’m not sure I want to sell my house in, Austin. It’s in such a great area and I think I could rent it out for over two thousand a month. I have some money saved up in my savings, so I guess we’ll have to come up with a budget we are both comfortable with. This is a huge step, Tristan, and we just got back together so I’m trying to process it all.”
Nodding my head, I took her hand. “I know, baby. I don’t want you to give up anything. I realize this is huge, I mean, I basically asked you to move in with me, in the middle of South Texas. And oh yeah, we have to build a house. I’m doing one hell of a good job scaring you away.”
Laughing, she punched me lightly in the stomach. “You could never scare me away. I finally feel like I’m home and I never want to leave.”
Placing my hand on the side of her face, I gave her smile. “Ryn, you know you don’t have to worry about money, baby. I can afford to build the house no problem.”
Nodding her head, she barely said, “I know.”
She looked a million miles away and I wanted to know what was making her pull back. Ryn knew I had money, a lot of money, but she never asked me how I came into it. My parents were well off, but both sets of my grandparents were very well off. Lark and I both received a good chunk of money from them when they passed away. After we each bought expensive-ass condos in down town Austin, we treated ourselves to the shop and our toy cars. The rest we have invested in real estate and other ventures.
“Talk to me, Ryn.”
Pursing her lips, she looked away. Placing my finger on her chin, I turned her face back to me and pulled her lip out from her teeth. Leaning in, I gently kissed her. “Please don’t pull away, baby.”
Smiling weakly, she began talking. “I know you have money, Tristan. I know Lark has money. Azurdee mentioned once y’all getting some from your grandparents but I never questioned or asked anything else, it wasn’t my business. This is such a big step and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. You pushed me away once when things got to serious, what if—”
“I’m not going anywhere, Ryn. I swear to you. I know what life was like without you and I don’t ever want to go there again. Ever.”
Smiling, she nodded her head. “Okay. I believe you. If we do this though, build a house and move in together, I want to feel like I’ve contributed to it. I don’t want you to have to foot the bill for everything just because you can. I don’t want you to think I’m going to take advantage of that.”
Placing my hands on the sides of her face, I tilted her head back, exposing her neck to me. Running my tongue along her neck, Ryn let out a moan. “You taste so damn good, Ryn.”
“Don’t change the subject, Tristan.”
Laughing, I placed a gentle kiss on her neck. “How about I let you decorate the entire inside?”
“All of it?”
Hmm . . . that got her attention. “Yep. All of it. It’s your blank canvas to do what you want.”
Giving me an incredulous stare, she raised an eyebrow up at me. “I can pay for decorating the inside of the house?”
Letting out a chuckle, I said, “Well, since you’re in charge of the inside it’s only fair you can pay for decorating the inside of the house.”
The sm
ile that moved across her face caused my knees to wobble. “How does this happen? How do we go from pushing each other way to building a house and moving in together?”
Pulling my head back, I said, “You forgot the part where we are having great sex.”
Making a face she slowly nodded her head as she pointed to me. “That’s what it is. The sex. You won me over with your high-performance dick.”
Laughing, I said, “Hell yeah, I did!”
Ryn gave me a small push and caused me to lose my balance. Grabbing her, I pulled her to me. The look in her eyes told me she was thinking the same thing I was. We wanted each other.
“Are you cold, baby?”
Looking at me funny, Ryn shook her head. “No, it’s seventy-two degrees outside.”
Moving my hands to the bottom of her T-shirt, I quickly lifted it over her head and tossed it to the ground.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to take you now, Ryn. Take off your clothes but not your bra and panties.”
I watched as Ryn’s mouth slowly parted open. I was pretty sure I heard a whimper come from her lips as she stared at me. “You want me naked? Here? Now?”
Giving her a sexy grin, I said, “I want your clothes off, except your panties and bra, yes. Here. Now.”
Ryn’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she began to unbutton her jeans. “Keep your boots on, baby.”