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Reid brought my car around...and that brought us to here.
“It’s beautiful.” Wrenlee studied the large exposed architraves with their criss-cross struts and the high gabled roof.
“You should see it when it snows.” I grabbed the key from my glove box and held out my hand.
“I’d like that.”
“Then it’s yours.” I held out the key. “My father gave me this place for my eighteenth birthday. A bit of a tradition to have–well, a hunting lodge, but for me it was more about dirt trails and getting away from the chatter in the world around Rippton. It’s a heady thing, being accepted into a frat. It’s also a hell of a thing to be stripped of most of your privacy. I used this place a lot when I was a freshman. It’s yours, Wrenlee. I mean it.”
Her mouth hung open. “You can’t give me a– a–”
“A pretty cabin in the woods? I sure as fuck can, kitten. Come on.” I slipped an arm around her shoulders, tucking her into my side. The air never really warmed up here come winter. The coldsunk up from the ground as well as heading down from above, and I snuggled Wrenlee into me.
“Chilly.” Her teeth chattered as she gave me a curious glance and figured out the key. “This one?”
“Yep.”
The other was for a wood shed out back, and a few were for windows that were never locked. Out here if someone wanted to break into the place all they had to do was smash a window. No one would hear it, and there was no one to stop them either.
I covered her trembling hand, helping her fit the key in the lock. The door swung open, and I reached around to flick on the internal lights that gave the darkened house an instant warm glow.
“So pretty,” she breathed, stepping inside.
I flicked the air con on beside the door, not having time to set the fire just yet. That could come later. Right now I didn't want my girl’s bones chattering as well as her teeth.
My girl. That had a funny sound to it, like it wasn’t quite real after everything we’d been through.
“You like it?” I followed her into the living area that opened out to a full wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling glass panel that overlooked the forest valley below.
Wrenlee said nothing, only walked toward the window and pressed her hands to the glass like a kid at Christmas.
I bit back a grin. It was the exact same thing I did on my first day.
“You can’t give me this. It was a present from your dad.”
“Fine, then consider it ours,” I murmured.
Her eyes narrowed and I cursed myself for giving in too fast.
“What are you up to, Lancaster?” She sassed me, raising her chin definitely.
My heart swelled and maybe a few other things at the display, loving that no matter how scared, how traumatised she was, shefought back in her own way. In a safe place, with me. That she still trusted me.
There wouldn’t be a better moment, and I slipped my hand into my pocket, bending a knee before I could chicken my ice hockey ass out.
“I’d like to share the house with you. And my life. You’ve.... changed the way I look at so many things, Wrenlee. When I saw you there, with that rope–” I choked and her eyes filled with tears, but I barged on, " I knew that living without you meant nothing. So, I know it’s fast. I know kids like us don’t do things like this but–”
Her fingers pressed over my mouth, silencing my begging little ramble.Probably for the best.
“Yes,” she whispered, her eyes sparkling like newly fallen snow. Her forehead pressed gently to me, and she moved her fingers to brush her lips over mine. “It’s okay, Leon. Yes.”
“I never got to ask,” I said a bit stupidly.
Her expression cleared as she sat back on her heels. “Oh. Sorry. Go right ahead.”
I cleared my throat, my heart beating double time. “Shit. This is harder the second time around.”
“You could have just taken my acceptance, you know,” she pointed out with a sweet smile.
