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What David and I had shared was special, but if I were honest with myself, it wasn’t close to what I’d experienced with Collin. He and I had shared body and soul with each other—a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But we’d also shared deception and betrayal. Collin and I were fire and ice, love and hate. When you climb to soaring heights, the fall is much more deadly.
What I had with David was deeper and more meaningful, and yet…it was not quite enough. Collin was right. I’d never experience anything like the pure completeness I had felt when we were connected, but those moments had been fleeting, and our passion had come at a steep price that wasn’t worth it. The sad truth was that Collin couldn’t give me what I needed, because he couldn’t givehimselfwhat he needed.
I needed to make a choice and I needed to stand by it. David deserved the same commitment that he’d offered me. I knew that once I picked, I couldn’t go back.
I stared into the face of the man sleeping beside me and brushed the hair off his forehead. I knew in my heart he was perfect for me.
I leaned down and brushed a kiss on his lips, whispering. “I choose you.”
Then I laid my head on his chest and slept a dreamless sleep.
Chapter24
We only slept a few hours before I got up to make breakfast for the guests in the inn. With Myra gone, I couldn’t forget the real reason I was staying in the house.
I hung around the office and small kitchen of the inn, greeting guests and giving them directions and suggestions for sightseeing. David got up with me and hovered nearby for most of the morning. Normally, it would have felt claustrophobic, but after my real-life nightmares of the previous night, I was freaked out enough to not want to be alone. And I knew David wasn’t the hovering type. He was staying close to me because he knew I needed him.
I pushed him into the office and reached up to kiss him. “Thank you.”
A wicked gleam filled his eyes. “And what exactly are you thanking mefor?”
I kissed him again and stepped back. “Everything.”
When the guests left for their day of sightseeing, David followed me upstairs to help me make the beds and clean the bathrooms.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said, tucking in a sheet. “You can go do something fun.”
“No. I’ve always been fascinated about the role of an innkeeper.”
I laughed. “An innkeeper, huh? You make me feel like I’m sixty.” I leaned over in the bathroom connected to the room and grabbed some damp towels off the floor, wincing as I stood.
“Ellie, you shouldn’t be bending over like that.”
“I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt or anything. It just stings.”
He took the towels from me. “Where do I put these?”
“The basket in the hall,” I said, turning on the water I’d need for cleaning.
He dumped them where I’d told him. “Want me to get started in the next room?”
“David, you don’t—”
“Ellie, let me help. The sooner we get done here, the faster we can get back to searching for your father’s notes.”
I nodded and then rushed out into the hall to give him a quick kiss. “Okay, as long as you don’t mind.”
He grinned against my lips. “Don’t you have a bathroom to clean?”
I lifted my eyebrows in mock surprise. “Oh, yeah.”
He disappeared into the other guest room, and I returned to the bathroom I was cleaning, surprised to see that the mirror had already steamed up. I leaned over to crack open the window and gasped.
“David.”
He was through the doorway in seconds, worry on his face. “Are you okay?”
I pointed to the window. In the steam was the outline of a symbol. It was a four-pointed star. It looked weirdly familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
