Wanting Forever (A Nelson Island Novel) (10 page)

W
elcome to the corporate offices!” Aston couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice on Friday.

This was her world, her livelihood, her future. And although she should have been reluctant, she simply couldn’t wait to share it with Sam.

When she glanced at him, he was staring up at the building ahead of them with focused eyes. He stood silently, just taking it in. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward.

“This isn’t what I expected,” he admitted as they entered the double red doors at the front. The Hopewell Enterprises logo stretched across the front, a windmill fan with the letters
H
and
E
emblazoned beneath.

The building, rather than being made of steel and glass, was of the Charleston historic style. Two mansions connected by a shared vestibule housed the corporate offices. The interior was light walls and dark, rich wooden floors. Antique bronze finishes adorned light fixtures and doorways.

“Shit.” Sam breathed. “This is kind of awesome.”

Aston grinned; her face hurt she was smiling so madly. She was home, and she wanted Sam to feel at home here, too.

She led him to the elevators located past the lobby, waving to the lady sitting at a generous front desk as she did so.

Once inside the elevator, Sam leaned his head back against the wall and eyed her. “Where to, Princess?”

“Daddy’s office. He told me to bring you up when we arrived.”

The elevator doors opened upon a traditionally decorated hallway much like the lobby downstairs, and they ended up standing in front of a large wooden door. A small atrium opened up before the office door, and an empty desk sat in the middle.

“Daddy’s executive assistant usually sits here,” explained Aston. “She should be back in a few weeks, when her maternity leave is over.”

She knocked lightly on the door before pushing it open and escorting Sam inside.

“Sam!” boomed Gregory. “Glad you’re here. How do you like the offices?”

“They’re amazing, sir.”

“Glad to hear it.” Gregory stood from his desk, resting his palms on the top. “I’ve been building this business for a long time, Sam. It’s my home.”

The phone sitting on top of Gregory’s desk buzzed. He pointed to the door. “I want you two to pull up the latest projections sent to me by the geothermal researchers. I have to sign off on the final drilling project today for their trip.”

He turned to his phone, Aston and Sam’s cue to exit the office.

As soon as the doors closed behind them, and they were back in the atrium outside the bustling hall, Sam grabbed Aston’s forearm.

“I get it,” he said softly, chocolate brown eyes holding hers.

“Get what?”

“I get why you love this…working here, being a part of it. I think I just fell in love with this place.”

Shuddering slightly at his words, she sent him a small smile. “I knew you would.”

She settled down in the chair behind the executive assistant’s desk, and Sam stood just behind her, leaning over slightly in order to read the computer screen.

His warm breath tickled her neck, and the hairs there stood at attention. She was suddenly hyperaware of his cool, masculine aroma and his hulking manliness in such proximity. She was sure he had no idea what he was doing to her.

And what was he doing to her? He was working, and he was learning, and he was succeeding. It was sexy as hell to watch the progression and forward motion that was Sam Waters. It was as if when given the right tools and opportunities, he was unstoppable. And she just wanted to be a part of it.

They worked side by side until Sam thought he needed to go home and prepare for Ever and Hunter. Aston reluctantly shut down their desk, silently wishing she could somehow extend the workday.

Sam paced in front of the main house. Hunter had called from the gas station just before the bridge to Nelson Island, and he’d given him careful instructions on how to get to the ranch. They would pull up at the main house any minute, and he planned to walk them to the tack house from there.

Anxious didn’t begin to describe Sam’s current state. A thin sheen of sweat had broken out over his palms, and his skin was cold despite the summer heat.

Headlights turned onto the drive from the state highway. The early evening air was alight with fireflies, and crickets chirped noisily in the brush all around him. But as the vehicle approached, the evening noise fell silent within his bubble of existence. The lights crawled forward, and he stopped pacing as Hunter coaxed Ever’s old red Chevy pickup around the curve and slowly stopped close to the opposite end of the driveway.

“I’m guessing I can’t park this old thing here.” Hunter opened the driver’s side door and climbed out, stretching his long legs.

“Leave the keys in the console,” Sam instructed. “I’ll have Reed move it for you.”

“Reed?” Hunter’s eyebrow’s rose. “Is he the butler?”

Sam grinned and grabbed Hunter in a bear hug. They slapped each other’s backs, and then he turned to the passenger-side door and flung it open.

Ever stepped out, her long red hair blowing in the mid-June breeze. She looked exactly like he remembered, only without the bruises. She was a little plumper, healthier-looking, too.

“Ever.” Her name was barely a breath on his lips, and he grabbed her around the waist to lift her off her feet.

As soon as he touched Ever, he rocketed back to life with her in Duck Creek. How they were always desperate; desperate for love, desperate for safety, desperate for
more.
Hugging her made it all achingly real again, and he immediately released her at the jolt of pain that staked through his chest.

“Sam.” She looked up into his face and gently squeezed his solid biceps.

He held her at arm’s length.

“You look good,” said Sam tentatively.

“You, too,” she answered, glancing around her.

Sam bent down to kiss her but missed her face as she slowly whirled, taking in her surroundings.

“This is where you’ve been living?” Incredulity filled her voice.

“I told you it was big.” Sam offered a wry smile. “But I don’t live in there. I can take you guys down to the tack house where I’ve been staying.”

“Oh, that sounds more like it.” Hunter reached into the bed of the truck to grab two duffels. “They put the help in the outhouse.”

Sam laughed. “Wait until you see it. It’s far from an outhouse.”

Ever and Hunter exchanged a look that he couldn’t decipher. That was new. Usually he and Ever were sharing looks Hunter didn’t understand. Now that he’d been away, he was out of the loop and his stomach rolled uncomfortably in response. What was he missing here?

He led them through the wooded grounds until he reached the front door of the tack house. He opened it wide and grabbed Ever’s bag to carry inside with him.

Shutting the door behind them after they entered, Sam gestured around him grandly.

“My accommodations,” he intoned in a grand, formal voice.

“Wow.” Ever stared around her with wide eyes. “Sam, this is…this isn’t what I expected. I mean, from your letters and what Hunter told me, I knew you were living well here. But this crazy-ass estate and this cozy little house…I just don’t know. It’s wild.”

“But you like it, right?” Sam pinned her with imploring eyes. “You can stay, Ever. You can stay with me if you want to. I have a job here and everything.”

“Sam…” she began and then stopped.

She glanced over at Hunter, as if at a loss for the right words. She perched on the end of the couch.

The feeling that he was missing a large piece of a puzzle crept along Sam’s spine. His gaze swept to his brother as he raised his brows. Hunter met his eyes, and Sam fought to comprehend the warring emotions battling in his eyes.

“What are we doing tonight?” Hunter cleared his throat, and Sam embraced the shift in subject.

“We’re going to just order some dinner and relax. You guys have had a long drive and I know you’re probably tired. Then tomorrow I thought we’d go on over to the beach and hang out during the day, just the three of us. Tomorrow night we’re going to a bar with some people I’ve met here. They’re the real deal. You’re going to love them.”

Ever stood, and Sam took a second to reabsorb every detail of her into his brain. “Okay, then. I’m, um, going to take a shower. Can you show me where it is, Sam?”

He nodded, grasping her hand and leading her into his bedroom. Something was off, something he couldn’t fathom. She wasn’t reacting the way he’d expected her to after their long separation.

“This is your room,” she said, biting her bottom lip.

“Yeah.” He pulled her around to look at him. As he stared into her jade green eyes, he was reminded of another pair of eyes he’d stared into recently. In those blue pools he was frozen solid, barely able to take in air. He shook his head, drawing a deep breath.

“Ever,” he began. “Something’s wrong here. I’ve been thinking about you all the time. I think N.I. would be a good place for us to start over together. I like it here.”

He tamped down the fact that although he missed her, she was bringing up emotions he had been able to bury deep inside him while he’d been living in Nelson Island. Seeing her was doing things to his soul. Things he hadn’t realized he had enclosed tightly in a glass jar. Ever was opening the lid and letting it all out again.

“I can see that,” she answered. “But now that my daddy’s gone, Sam, I like Duck Creek.”

He stared at her, horrified. “You
like
Duck Creek? Ever, no. We hate Duck Creek.”

She shrugged. “It’s my home. My daddy dragged me through hell and back again, but he’s gone now. Everything has changed. It’s like I’ve woken up after a long nightmare, and the sun has broken through the clouds for the first time.”

All of that had happened while Sam was gone. He didn’t miss the fact that she was healing, and it was without him.

And, he realized, he was healing as well.

“But you know I can’t ever go back to Duck Creek.”

She sighed. “I know.”

He stared at her, utter confusion controlling his features.

“Let me take a shower,” she said. “We’ll have some dinner and have a good time tomorrow. We don’t need to worry over details right now.”

She entered the bathroom and closed the door gently behind her.

“Hell,” he muttered. “It’s going to be a long night.”

He went back out to the living room and sat on the couch beside Hunter, sprawling back against the cushions with his legs splayed. Hunter, a slightly smaller version of Sam with dark blond hair and hazel eyes, reached over and patted his back roughly.

“I missed you, dude. Ever did, too.”

“Then why does everything feel so wrong between us? Shit. Ever is all I’ve known my whole damn life. If she and I can’t figure things out now, I don’t know what I’ll do. I don’t know how to live without her.”

“Yes, you do,” Hunter said softly. “You’re doing it.”

They had a quiet dinner of pizza and sweet tea, and Sam began pulling out blankets for the couch.

“Hunt, I’ll make up the couch for you to sleep. This place isn’t big enough for a guestroom.”

Hunter nodded, his expression cloudy. “What about Ever?”

Sam glanced at Ever. “We’ve slept together a lot of nights. I’m sure we’ll make it.”

Ever nodded. She pushed off the couch and slipped into Sam’s room. Sam could see her through the door held ajar, rifling through her suitcase.

“Hey,” Hunter said, reaching out and grabbing hold of Sam’s arm. “Take it slow with her, man.”

Sam stared at him with unblinking eyes. “I’d never do anything different, Hunter.”

He followed Ever into his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

When he turned to face the room, Ever was in the bathroom bent over the sink, brushing her teeth. Sam leaned against the doorjamb, watching her complete the normal, mundane task with a growing sense that everything was not normal and mundane.

“Feeling the effects of the long trip?” he asked her when she was done.

She nodded, squeezing past him to the bedroom and climbing up onto the big, four-poster bed. Her sleep shorts and tank top were different from what she used to sleep in, Sam noticed.

She used to sleep in his football jersey, or a T-shirt that belonged to him.

He reached up and absently tugged on his earlobe, and Ever’s face broke out into the first true smile she’d demonstrated since arriving.

“Still got your nervous tic, I see,” she said with a grin.

He smiled wryly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m never nervous.”

She scooted over on the bed and patted the place next to her.

He stripped off his shirt and climbed into bed with his sweatpants still on. He stared at the ceiling, hands folded over his chest.

“Ever,” he said softly. The pleading in his voice couldn’t be hidden. “Are we going to be okay?”

“One way or another, yeah.” Her voice was equally soft, but firm. “We’ll both be okay, Sam.”

When he glanced in her direction, she was staring straight up at the ceiling, her body tense. He could sense the distance between them, even though she lay right beside him. He reached out to caress her hand, rolling her palm over and clasping her fingers in his. Rolling over on his side, he brought it to his lips.

She squeezed his hand in return, and then sat up. “We’ve been together for as long as I can remember. It’s always just been me, you, and Hunter…against the world.”

He nodded, turning his head to face her. “That’s never going to change.”

“Isn’t it, though? I feel like the minute you left, everything changed. Taking you out of Duck Creek was like flipping a switch. You seem happy here.”

“I am happy…and you could be, too. You just need to give it a chance. Maybe you’ll fall in love with it.”

She sighed, a soft breath in the darkness. “I fell in love with
you,
Sam. Before I even knew what love was. We had to fight for every breath, and we made it through to the other side. Now…I don’t know where we go from here.”

The sadness in her voice was slicing a crack through his heart. Everything shouldn’t be this difficult now. They should now have a clear path to happiness. Why didn’t they?