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“I’m hearing you just fine,” she snapped. She planted her palm against his broad chest and tried to shove him away. It was like a fly trying to fight off a giant. All she got was the burn of his chest seeping into her palm and up her arm and right into her tender, aching heart.
“No,” he said roughly, right into her ear. “You’re not. You’re not hearing me. The thing is, I don’t want to do any of that without you. I thought you might think that staying in a castle in Ireland was neat. That you might want to see some of the world too. That maybe, you might just think that studying fashion and design or art, or whatever you want to do in Paris or somewhere in Spain or Italy or just- something, somewhere, might actually be fun.”
His words struck her dumb. Completely speechless. She finally stopped struggling and just stared up at Ross, her mouth gaping open.
“Or if not, if you don’t want to do any of that, I’ll give the castle to my parents and we can go wherever. I’m just hoping you’ll give me a shot. If it doesn’t work out, that’s okay. We’ll try. If you want. Because I want to. I want to try with every fiber of me being. I want to date you. I want to go on adventures with you. I’ve never dated anyone. Not dated, dated. I want you to be my first. I want it to work out. I want you to be my last.”
“How can you say that? It’s only been, like one day?”
Ross shook his head. “Nope. I’ve known you for twenty-six years. I feel like I was asleep for a long time and then I finally woke up and got my shit together and I looked at you and realized that it’s always been you. We were just waiting, both of us, for the right time. I might have been waiting for you to grow up, but I know that I wasn’t anywhere near that mark myself. We’re here now and I know. I know now. I’m sure. You have this huge heart. This beautiful heart. Thinking about anyone else being with you, getting your heart, getting all of you or any of you, makes me want to go crazy.”
Alix gulped. She could barely even process what was happening. Was it real? Was she going to wake up and realize that she was just dreaming. That this whole day had been another one of her fantasies in which all her hopes and dreams finally came true? Not just all of them, but design? It was what she’d always wanted. Truly. Deeply. She’d never even hoped she’d have the freedom to travel and see the world. All as one package? It was pretty hard to believe.
“I hope that you’re going to say yes, or at least that you’ll consider it, because right now your face looks a little like when your parents walked into the kitchen to find their oven a smoking wreck and me standing there buck ass naked.”
“My mom saw your junk,” Alix giggled.
“That shit is not funny.”
“No.” She sobered up. She ran her hand over Ross’s jawline, and he curled his face into it. “No, it’s not funny at all.”
The car was silent for a minute until they both burst out laughing. She laughed. She laughed until her belly ached and her chest felt like it was going to collapse and there were tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.
“That was really bad,” she gulped between giggles.
“It was. I doubt I’ll be able to look your parents in the eye again.”
“Maybe- maybe if you bribed them with a castle too.”
Ross threw back his head and laughed. “Whatever it takes. They want a castle too? You got it. I mean it, Alix, if you’ll have me, it’s you and me. I’ll try until we either work or until it’s so glaringly obvious that we don’t. I just have one stipulation.”
“What’s that?”
“No more cakes. No more baking. Ever.”
She punched him lightly in the upper arm and he pretended to wince. “Jeez. Thanks for the faith in me. We could always take cooking lessons. Together.”
“I don’t think it’s safe,” Ross shuddered.
She punched again but this time he caught her hand and brought it to his lips. He grazed them hotly over her knuckles and she was the one who shuddered back. She looked up at him and he looked down at her and there was no mistaking the glow of emotion suffusing his whole face.
“I have something to ask you,” she breathed. He kept right on staring at her the way she’d always wanted to see him look at her. Like she was his entire world.
She knew what he meant. About something just clicking, finally. All it took was a second for it to all come together. She’d felt the same way the night on the water tower, when she realized what she’d done to him by asking him what she had before prom. She’d spent years punishing him when he was just trying to save her from herself. She wasn’t ready then and she made him pay. She’d never understood until that moment, when she’d grown up all at once and got her head on straight and realized how childish and silly she’d been.
