Chapter 17

CHAPTER17

“Just give me five more minutes! That’s all I need!” the small woman struggling to crawl back beneath the staircase pleaded, making it really fucking difficult to hold onto her.

“That’s what you said an hour ago,” Eric pointed out, unable to help but chuckle as he tightened his hold around the squirming woman that lost it when he said the magical words that he knew would break her.

Not that he really thought there was a secret room built into this house, but she didn’t need to know that and definitely not now that he knew that he’d been right. She was definitely pulling away from him and he-

“And this time, I mean it!” Morgan promised as she wiggled in his arms, desperate to find a secret room that wasn’t there.

“And you said that last time,” Eric pointed out as he gave up trying to drag her away and threw her over his shoulder.

“Oh, come on!” she said as he turned around and headed back upstairs, only to sadly mumble, “I was so close,” against his back.

“You also said that when you got stuck in the fireplace,” Eric said as he shifted the small bundle hanging over his shoulder as he made his way down the long, dimly lit hallway.

“I know,” came the sad mumble and sniffle that had him smiling as he carried her into the room that had been set up for them and into the bathroom that was going to have to wait to be renovated until after they got to the rest of the house and set her down on her feet.

“I like the tub,” Morgan mumbled absently as her gaze shifted to the large bathtub before it immediately shifted back to the bathroom door and turned calculating.

She was honestly too fucking adorable for words, Eric thought as he reached over and plucked her glasses off her nose and carefully placed them on the small counter near his shaving kit before shifting his attention back to the woman about to make a run for it. With a heartfelt sigh, he plucked her off the floor, ignored her sadly mumbled, “Why are you doing this to me?” and carried her over to the large shower stall in the corner that looked at least twenty years past its prime and set her back down on her feet.

When she opened her mouth, most likely to make promises that they both knew that she wasn’t going to keep, Eric said, “No,” as he reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose, mostly to hide the smile that was threatening to break free as she narrowed her eyes on him. “I’ll remember this.”

“I’m sure you will,” Eric said, gesturing for her to get on with it.

That was followed by Morgan clearing her throat, throwing another calculating look at the bathroom door, and then finally, her shoulders slumped and she began grumbling to herself as she grabbed a large towel off the shelf. Taking that as his cue to leave, Eric headed back to the bedroom and closed the door behind him as his gaze shifted to the bed and-

There was no point in tormenting himself, not tonight, Eric told himself as he headed past the bed and made his way to the sleeping bag that he’d set up against the wall earlier. He had a plan, Eric reminded himself as his gaze shifted back to that bed as he thought about just how fucking badly he wanted to hold Morgan in his arms.

Christ, he would give absolutely-fucking anything to hold her, Eric thought as he forced himself to look away. He had a plan, he reminded himself as he reached back and grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled it off while he toed off his boots. He needed to get things back to the way that they used to be and he needed a miracle because he didn’t think that he would survive if he fucked this up again.

He-

“Don’t even think about it,” Eric said when he heard the soft click of the bathroom door, letting him know that the little pain in the ass was trying to make a run for it.

That was followed by a grumble, the sound of the bathroom door closing again, and the sound of the shower turning on a few seconds later. Chuckling, Eric pulled his belt loose and unsnapped his fly before shoving his pants down and dropped down on the sleeping bag with a sigh as the exhaustion that he’d been trying to ignore for the past week finally caught up with him.

All he wanted to do was pass out, but that wasn’t an option, not with the woman wrapped in a towel grumbling to herself as she stumbled out of the bathroom and headed for her bags, only to stop mid-grumble, perk up, and with a devious look that was honestly too fucking adorable for words, made her way to the bags that Uncle Jared dropped off for him. He watched as she helped herself to one of his tee-shirts before grabbing a pair of panties from her bag and made her way back to the bathroom with a satisfied sigh.

As much as he loved seeing her in a nightgown, and god, she was so fucking beautiful, Eric loved seeing her in one of his shirts more. He missed the days when she used to steal his tee-shirts and sweatshirts. He used to leave his sweatshirts where she could steal them just so that he could watch her do it, simply because she was so fucking bad at it, Eric thought, closing his eyes only to grunt when the little bully shoved his legs out of the way seconds later.

Opening his eyes, Eric watched as Morgan reached over him and grabbed his backpack so that she could help herself to one of the legal pads that he always made sure that he packed for her along with a pen before dropping the bag on the floor next to him. That was followed by Morgan pausing to push her glasses back up her nose, shifting to get comfortable, and then…

“What do we know about the house?” Morgan murmured absently, letting him know that it was time to get to work.

“It has a new septic tank and a roof, updated plumbing and electric, and it’s going to cost a fortune to fix all the damage the previous owner left behind,” Eric said, reaching into his bag and grabbed the file that Uncle Jared left for him and placed it on the floor next to Morgan as he sat up.

“Did Uncle Jared set a budget for the renovation?” Morgan asked as she reached over and picked up the file.

“No,” Eric murmured, watching Morgan frown in confusion.

“He didn’t set a budget?” Morgan asked as she shifted her focus to the file on her lap.

“Not this time,” Eric said while he sat there, absently running his thumb over the thick wedding band on his finger as he watched her search through the file for the contract that didn’t exist.

“That’s not like Uncle Jared,” Morgan murmured to herself as she started her search all over again when she didn’t find the contract. “He didn’t leave any notes about what he wanted done?”

“No,” Eric said softly, watching her as he continued absently running his thumb over the wedding band, taking comfort in the soothing action as he ran his eyes over her, taking in the long, damp curls that she’d put up in a messy bun after her shower, the way that her glasses began their slow descent down her nose as she frowned down at the file on her lap, how unbelievably fucking adorable she looked in his shirt, and the way that her little toes wiggled as she searched for answers before his gaze landed on the matching wedding band on her finger.

“I guess we don’t need these anymore,” Morgan said, following his gaze.

“Guess not,” Eric murmured as he watched Morgan pull the ring that he’d imagined seeing on her finger at least a thousand times off, and after a slight hesitation, she held it out to him.

“I thought Amber wanted to use her grandmother’s rings,” Morgan said as he reluctantly reached over and took the ring from her.

“She did,” Eric said as he rolled the small ring between his fingertips before he reached inside his bag and grabbed the small black box that he’d been carrying for the past year and carefully placed the ring back in its slot, praying like hell that it was the last time.

“Then, where did you get the rings?” Morgan asked, throwing him a questioning look as he put the small box back in his bag. “Did you buy them at the airport?”

“Uncle Jared doesn’t own the house,” Eric admitted because the last thing that he wanted to talk about was how fucking pathetic he truly was.

He’d lied to her.

He didn’t propose to Amber.

At least, he didn’t that night.

That night, he’d realized that it was time to move on, but he knew that he couldn’t do that until he talked to Morgan. That somehow led to him stopping by the jewelers on the way home, taking his time looking for the perfect wedding bands, but they weren’t for Amber.

An hour later, he was sitting in his living room, forcing the words out of his mouth and praying for any fucking sign, however small, that he was making a mistake. While he forced the words out of his mouth, he’d watched her, waiting for her to say something to stop him, but instead, she gave him a warm smile as she congratulated him before she left him sitting there, and…

He’d fucking lost it.

He grabbed a bottle of whiskey, drove up to New Hampshire to the campgrounds that his family rented every year and threw the fucking rings in the lake before he proceeded to get drunk. When he woke up the next morning, hungover and so fucking angry that he could barely see straight, Eric told himself that it was over and that he didn’t fucking care. He’d forced himself to walk away, to get in his truck and drive away. He’d barely made it to the next town over before he was turning around.

Four hours later, he was stumbling out of the lake, freezing his ass off and holding those rings tightly in his hand. He’d carried them with him ever since, a token of a dream that he wasn’t ready to let go, and now…

He was ready to turn that dream into reality.

“Uncle Jared doesn’t own the house?” Morgan asked as her glasses started sliding back down her nose and-

“We do.”