“Um, hello?”
He turned around at her words, and she was right. There were all those muscles on the front side of him, too, and damned if she didn’t have to work extremely hard to remember why she was mad. Oh yes. That’s right. He was ruining her view. Ironic, really, since the view she had right now of him was pretty enjoyable.
“Hey. Welcome back.” His voice seemed a little huskier than usual.
“Thanks.”
They stood there awkwardly, staring as he wiped his hands with a work rag. “You ran out on me,” he finally said. “That wasn’t very nice.”
Now she scowled. “It wasn’t very nice to buy the property right in front of this cottage without telling me, either. Seems like you might have mentioned that when we were talking about it in bed. And it wasn’t very nice for you to trick an old lady into selling you her house, either.”
“Chloe said that’s why you were mad, and you were absolutely right to be.” He shook his head, a rueful smile barely tilting the corner of his mouth.
“You talked to Chloe?”
“Yeah.” That smile turned sheepish. “While you were in San Antonio, she and Susie Mahoney demanded a meeting with me, my dad, Gigi, and June Mahoney. It wasn’t easy getting those two old women in a room together, but the kids were adamant. Lilly helped, but it was all Chloe’s idea. That’s some clever girl you’ve got there. She’ll make a great business manager someday.”
“What are you talking about?” Chloe called a meeting?
He tossed the rag onto a nearby table. “Well, it seems that when Chloe and Susie Mahoney compared notes and realized what we so-called adults were up to, they decided to put an end to this feud once and for all. Susie told her grandma June that if she built a bed-and-breakfast in front of Gigi’s cottage, Susie would never speak to her again. And Chloe told Tag and me that if we built it, she’d make sure that neither you nor Lilly ever spoke to him or me again. She was quite persuasive, and having Lilly on her side didn’t hurt.” He slowly walked toward her, all soulful eyes and wistful smile, that bastard.
“But Peach, none of that was necessary. If you’d just answered my phone calls, I would have told you everything. I started having second thoughts as soon as I was here with you and saw what the Mahoney plans would do to Gigi’s view, and once you’d told me you were interested in that pink house, I told Bryce the deal was off. I just couldn’t tell you that yet, because we had a confidentiality clause in the contract, and I didn’t feel like getting sued.” He came closer still, with all the muscles, and pulled both of her hands into his. “I don’t know what you think you heard on the phone, but that was me telling my brother I’d have to renegotiate with the Mahoneys, and I’ve done that. I gave them an alternate plan to consider, and although they were not easy to convince, I finally got everyone to agree. You’ll keep your view.”
Her breath went deep as her heart lifted high. “You did? I will? How?”
“Come downstairs a minute. Let me show you something.” He pulled her with him and she followed, still in a bit of a daze. So they weren’t building a bed-and-breakfast?
In the kitchen, on the newly completed island, was a drafting notebook. Ryan opened it up and took out several pages that were already detached and spread the drawings out. They were versions of Bridget O’Malley’s little pink house, but with some exterior upgrades, like a new front porch and larger windows. There were some other sketches, too, mostly empty interiors that Emily recognized as the inside of that same house.
“I don’t understand,” she said, looking at the drawings spread out over the counter.
“The Mahoney sisters were willing, reluctantly, to sell the land back, but Mrs. O’Malley decided she’d rather keep their money. Apparently she charbroiled a tray of snickerdoodles last week, so the fire chief finally convinced her to move to the retirement community since it’s closer to a hydrant.”
Emily chuckled and felt a moment of relief on behalf of Mrs. O’Malley. And the fire department, but that didn’t really solve her problem.
“But that means the Mahoneys still own the land, doesn’t it?”
His smile was warm, nearly as warm as a tray full of snickerdoodles.
“Yes, they do,” he said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get them to agree to sell it to you and Gigi, but I told them my company could not, under any circumstances, build them a bed-and-breakfast due to a conflict of interest. Not that Susie or Chloe would have let that happen anyway. But here’s the better news. I managed to convince them to leave the pink house. I told them it would make far more sense to remodel it, and I said I knew of an excellent and reliable someone who might be available to take on that project.”
He couldn’t be serious. None of this could be real. “You think the Mahoneys are going to hire me to remodel Mrs. O’Malley’s house for them?”
He nodded and gazed down at her with optimistic expectation in his eyes. “The job’s yours if you want it. Gigi said it was okay, by the way. The feud is officially over, although I don’t think she and June are ever going to be pals.”
Emily’s mind was spinning at a dozen different speeds and in a dozen different directions. “I’m so confused, Ryan. Why would you do all this? Not just because of me.”
He chuckled and pulled her into his arms. “Yes, of course because of you. Do you not remember the part where I said I liked you? Like, liked you a lot?”
She did remember him saying that, but those words were mixed in with all the other stuff that had happened in the last few weeks, and now it was hard to put all the pieces together into any kind of coherent thoughts. Especially when his body was pressing up against hers, making it officially impossible for her to stay upset with him.
“I like you, too, Ryan, but I thought business always came first? Isn’t your company going to lose a lot of money if they don’t build that bed-and-breakfast?”
His nod was casual. “Yep, we’re losing all sorts of money, and Bryce is none too happy about that, but Peach, that’s just business. This is personal, and I realize now which is more important.” He leaned down and kissed her lips, soft and sweet. It was a tender kiss, full of apology and promise, and she moved against him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and returning his kiss with all the hope and forgiveness she had inside.
Ryan hugged her tighter, then lifted his head to gaze down at her, his eyes searching hers. “I’m not sure what happens next for us. This is all so new, but I just know for certain that I want us . . . to be an us. Because when I said I liked you, I wasn’t being completely honest. The truth is, I seem to have fallen in love with you.”