How to Rebuild_A.K. Evans

by Evans, A. K.

  I closed my eyes and tried to do as he requested, but I struggled. For some reason, I felt the need to give him something else.

  “Kieran,” I called after a few minutes in the dark.

  “Yeah?”

  “Can I give you a little secret, too?” I asked.

  His fingers, which had been curled possessively around my breast, pressed in as he replied, “Of course.”

  I licked my lips before I shared, “When I first saw you at the airport, I thought I was in a dream. You were perfect for me. And even though I struggled with getting to this place we’re at right now, I don’t regret making that promise to you. Thanks for not giving up on me.”

  Kieran didn’t immediately respond with words. Instead, he pressed a kiss to my bare shoulder first, allowing his lips to linger there a long time. Then he quietly promised, “This is no dream, Elise. And I’m going to do what I can to make sure you never regret following through on that promise.”

  With those words, there was nothing left to say.

  I allowed them to seep into my veins as I cuddled closer to Kieran.

  And not long after he gave me one more squeeze making me feel safer than I had in a really long time, I drifted.

  “Ommetaphobia is the fear of eyes. True or false?”

  “What?” Elise gasped. “That can’t be a real thing.”

  With a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth, I asked, “So… false then?”

  “I didn’t say that,” she replied as she bit the corner of her lip and her eyes narrowed, pinned on mine. It was like she believed she’d get the answer if she stared long enough.

  I waited.

  I didn’t care.

  I’d stay like this all afternoon because there was nothing else I’d rather be doing.

  It hadn’t even been a full twenty-four hours since I’d arrived to pick Elise up for our date last night, and there was not a single question in my mind that it had been the best time of my life. I believed I’d lived a lot of my life and experienced many things, but nothing gave me the same feeling that being around Elise did.

  The only way I could justify it was to admit the truth to myself. I’d had a nagging suspicion ever since I walked away from her that day at the airport. But now I knew without any doubt that it was her.

  She was the one.

  Maybe that seemed a bit premature, but I knew what I felt. Nobody, not one other person, gave me the same feeling inside that Elise did. Something about her was just… perfect. At least perfect for me.

  We’d only spent a little bit of time together, and while we spent a good portion of it getting physically acquainted with one another—which was something else entirely—we had taken a lot of time to talk to one another. And I believed I now had a good idea about the kind of woman Elise was at her core.

  She was tough as nails, determined, and successful. There was also a softer side to her. I found that I liked both of them. I liked knowing she could be both of them.

  Elise’s strong side is out in full force regularly. She’s not tough in an obnoxious way. It’s just that she’s got the sureness about her and what she’s doing that she doesn’t let anything drag her down too far. Not that I had seen anyway.

  Even when we were on that plane. Elise was distraught then, but she didn’t allow it to ruin her entire flight. Then, somehow, she managed to come back home and get right back on her feet so she could fight to rebuild her brand.

  As tough as she was, Elise still had that softness about her. It wasn’t something she’d showed me too many times, and I found myself craving it. Part of me thought she was holding back, maybe in an effort not to be hurt. I hated to think that Elise was afraid to be vulnerable with me and hoped it would get easier for her over time.

  Luckily, I got the opportunity to see a little bit of it last night when she shared another reason she couldn’t initially follow through on her promise. I knew it took a lot for her to share that, and I appreciated that she gave it to me.

  I didn’t know the reason for it, but Elise was in the mood to give last night. Because she didn’t only give me that reason, she gave me more. Something I’d been thinking about since the day I met her. Seeing her mouth wrapped around me while she looked up at me with her gorgeous eyes, it was a wonder I managed to hang on as long as I did. Thankfully, I was able to see to her first before crossing that finish line myself.

  And for the second time ever, last night, I got to fall asleep holding her in my arms and wake up this morning beside her. It felt comfortable in a way that had nothing to do with how plush her mattress or fancy her sheets were. It was just right.

  Overcome with the emotion of it, I woke Elise up with some teasing this morning before having some fun with her. Following a quick respite for breakfast, we found ourselves tangled up with one another in the kitchen. I loved that she didn’t seem to have any hesitation about acting on what we were feeling, regardless of where we were.

  That was the one thing that I had noticed about her. Even though there were few moments of vulnerability from her, the dark cloud that I’d seen hanging over her the day of the flight and the night out at Lou’s seemed to be lifting. Or, at the very least, it would when we were spending time alone together.

  Now, we were finding a different way to have some fun.

  We woke up this morning to find that while the forecasters had gotten the start time for the storm wrong, they hadn’t been wrong about the amount of snow or the storm’s duration. Elise made it clear she was not even remotely prepared to entertain the idea of me driving home. Of course, I hadn’t planned on leaving anyway, but I was okay with letting her think she was the one forcing me to stay.

  So, with no place to go and needing a bit of time to recuperate from all the sex we’d had last night and this morning, Elise challenged me to a game of Trivial Pursuit on her coffee table. I’d do just about anything for her, so I sat my ass down on the floor and played the game.

  I’d just asked her what I thought was an easy question. It wasn’t that I knew the answer before I’d read it, but it was true or false. She had a fifty percent chance of getting it right.

  After staring at me for several long seconds considering which way she wanted to go with this one, she finally said, “Okay, fine. I’m going to say it’s true, even though I think it’s ludicrous that it could be a thing.”

  Grinning at her, I replied, “Get your green wedge.”

  “I’m only doing it because I want to beat you, not because I agree with that question,” she grumbled.

  “It’s a fact, Elise,” I noted. “There’s nothing to agree with.”

  After pulling a green wedge out of the bag and putting it into her game piece, she declared, “Well, I feel terrible for anyone who suffers from whatever that word was you said. I think you could help them.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “I love your eyes,” she blurted. “They were one of the first things I noticed about you. They’re beautiful.”

  I cocked a brow and shot back, “Is that so?” There was no mistaking the teasing in my tone.

  “Oh, please,” she replied, trying to brush it off as no big deal. “Don’t tell me nobody has ever told you you have gorgeous eyes.”

  I wasn’t going to tell her that because I would be lying if I did. Instead, I returned, “They have. But I liked hearing it from you the most.”

  Something washed over Elise, and she looked genuinely surprised by my comment. “Do you really mean that?” she wondered.

  I dipped my chin.

  Elise held my eyes—eyes she loved—in silence a moment before she noted, “It’s your turn.”

  Letting out a laugh, I shook my head and picked up the die. I rolled it, moved my game piece, and landed on orange. The category was sports and leisure.

  “Oh, this is so not fair,” Elise cried. “This is probably going to be so easy for you.”

  “Maybe not,” I said. “I don’t watch a lot of sports.”

  After rolling h
er eyes at me, Elise read the question. “In Brazil, most cars are built to run on what fuel made from sugarcane?”

  I wanted to burst out laughing. She was right. This was going to be easy for me. Doing my best to fight the twitch of my lips, I answered, “Ethanol.”

  Elise growled. “I can’t believe that was the question you got. Do you have the best luck in the world or something?” she questioned me.

  “I never used to think so,” I replied. “But I’ve been feeling a bit differently about that lately.”

  Elise handed me an orange wedge. I took it from her and put it in my game piece before she asked, “What makes you say that?”

  “Are you telling me you genuinely have no idea?”

  A small smile spread across her face. “I don’t want to make any assumptions,” she reasoned.

  “It’s you,” I clarified, picking up the die and handing it to her. Once I placed it in her hand, I continued, “You are what makes me say that.”

  The moment the words were out of my mouth, I could see Elise fighting the urge to say something. I didn’t want to push her to say it, and unfortunately, she managed to find a way to hold herself back. Instead, she rolled and took her turn.

  “Yellow,” she said unenthusiastically. “It’s history. I’ll have you know I hated history in school.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “Because it was boring,” she remarked. “Don’t tell me you liked it?”

  I shrugged. “Math was my favorite subject, but history was a close second. I enjoyed it a lot more than I liked my English classes,” I confessed.

  Elise made a face to indicate she was grossed out. I chuckled and picked up the card. After reading the question silently to myself, I let out another laugh. I was relatively confident she wasn’t going to get this one right.

  “In 1914,” I started as Elise groaned.

  “You should just stop reading now,” she suggested. “I already don’t know the answer.”

  “You might,” I replied, trying to be encouraging. “Just listen.”

  “Okay,” she agreed.

  “In 1914, what was stretched coast-to-coast across the United States and was thirty-four-hundred miles long?” I asked.

  Her eyes widened. “Is there something that can do that?” she asked. “I have no idea.”

  “You don’t even want to take a guess?” I tempted her.

  She shook her head and guessed, “A rubber band? I don’t know.”

  Laughing, I shook my head and shared, “A telephone line.”

  Realization dawned, and she replied, “That makes sense. Maybe we should have chosen a different game. This one is making you look brilliant, and I look like an idiot.”

  “You’re not an idiot, Elise,” I declared, a bit of an irritated edge to my tone. I didn’t want her to talk about herself like that. The woman was brilliant. She’d built a multi-million-dollar company. How could she not see that?

  Ignoring my comment, Elise said, “Speaking of coast to coast, I just remembered that you had said on the plane that you were visiting your family. Did you grow up in New York?”

  Leaning back against the couch, I took my attention away from the game and settled in for a bit of sharing.

  “Yes,” I answered. “Born and raised.”

  “What made you move to Wyoming?” she wondered.

  “Adventure and change,” I said. “I wanted to do something different, so I packed up and moved out here. I love it here.”

  “Do you think you’ll ever move back to New York?” Elise pressed.

  I shook my head. “I’ll go back to visit my family because I do genuinely miss them, but I have no plans to leave here.”

  “But that’s your family,” she reasoned. “Doesn’t it bother you that you can’t just see them whenever you want?”

  Nodding, I confirmed, “Of course. But I’m happy here. I love my job and the people I work with. Why would I walk away from that?”

  Elise lifted her shoulders to her ears before she answered, “I was just curious. I mean, I guess I couldn’t ever see myself leaving here either.”

  “Is your family here?” I asked. “Were you born here?”

  Something washed over her face, and I instantly knew this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation for her.

  “I’ve lived in Wyoming all my life,” she started, her voice slightly strained. “But for years now, it’s just been my brother and me. Our grandparents raised us, but when I was twenty and Porter was seventeen, they both died within four months of each other.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I assume Porter is your brother,” I said.

  Elise dipped her chin and smiled. “Yeah.”

  “What does he do?” I asked.

  “He’s my brand manager and marketer at Flynn Beauty,” Elise began again. “We’ve been doing this together for years.”

  I sat there and stared across the coffee table at her, completely in awe. I had my parents, brothers, sister, and grandparents, and the reality of just how lucky I was hit me like a ton of bricks.

  Elise was sensational. It was just her and her brother, and she’d still managed to build an empire. I was convinced there wasn’t anything she couldn’t do.

  I must have remained quiet thinking about this for too long because she finally broke into my thoughts and asked, “What’s that look for?”

  “Do you realize how amazing you are?” I countered.

  “What?”

  “How did you accomplish everything you’ve accomplished on your own?” I asked, still feeling completely mesmerized by her brilliance. The fact that she’d claimed I was brilliant and she was an idiot only minutes ago was even more ridiculous now.

  Elise’s cheeks flushed as she looked away. “I’m a determined girl,” she murmured. “And I didn’t want to continue to live scraping by. We weren’t exactly what I’d call poor, but my parents lived their entire lives in debt from what my grandparents told us. It was the same for them, too. Porter and I always had what we needed, but we didn’t have the luxuries that other kids had. At a young age, I never knew how I would do it, but I knew I wanted to build a different future for myself and the family I hoped to have one day.”

  “Well, you’ve done that,” I noted. Elise’s gaze slid back to me, and I continued, “Despite what you’ve dealt with these last few weeks with your brand, you should be proud of yourself, lady. I am.”

  “Thanks, Kieran. I appreciate that,” she replied. “What about you? Do you have any siblings?”

  I chuckled and shared, “Two brothers and a sister. I’m the oldest. Then it’s Cameron, Ashton, and Shannon.”

  “Wow,” she marveled. “Are you close to them?”

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Do they come to visit you?”

  “My brothers and my sister have come out a couple of times over the years to visit me, but if I want to see my parents or my grandparents, I’ve got to go there,” I told her.

  “That’s right. You mentioned on the plane that your mom was terrified of flying,” she recalled.

  “My dad said he’s going to try to convince her to come out this year, but I’m not sure he’ll have much luck,” I said. “And my Nan and Pop aren’t getting on a plane either.”

  Elise’s eyes searched my face. Following a few moments of silent deliberation, she asked, “So you go out every Christmas to visit, or is it random?”

  “Christmas.”

  Elise gave me a look of understanding before her eyes dropped to the board game. There was no missing the longing in her face.

  Shit.

  She probably spent every holiday alone.

  “Elise?” I called.

  “Yeah?” she responded, lifting her eyes to mine.

  “Come here,” I ordered.

  Surprise washed over her, but she did as I requested. Once she was close enough, I snaked an arm around her waist and tugged her toward me. Her thighs parted, and she straddled my l
ap. My hands came up to frame her face, my thumbs stroking over the soft skin of her cheeks.

  “If this stays good between us,” I began, my voice gentle. “I’d love for you to come to New York with me next Christmas.”

  Hope surged in her features. “Are you serious?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Will they… I mean, they don’t,” she stammered. “If you only see them once a year, I don’t want to intrude on that time. The last thing I’d want is for them to resent me.”

  My body shook hard with the force of my laughter.

  Elise simply stared at me in awe and a bit of horror. “What’s so funny?” she asked when I settled down.

  “Sorry,” I apologized. “It’s just that you have no idea how crazy that statement you just made is. For the last couple of years, my family has been giving me shit because I keep showing up alone. Trust me when I tell you that if you walk through those doors with me, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a way to have them resent you.”

  Elise swallowed hard and stared at me. I let her do that because it was clear she was trying to process something. A moment later, I learned what it was when she asked, “Do you think we’ll still be together at Christmastime?”

  “If things stay like they are now, I can’t see any reason why not,” I told her.

  “They could get better,” she pointed out.

  Leaning closer, bringing my mouth inches from her lips, I confirmed, “They could.”

  “They could also get worse,” she noted.

  “What do you think is going to happen?” I asked.

  Even though I was as close to her face as I was, I could see the change in it. Not only that, I felt her body tense.

  “What is it?” I pressed.

  Elise shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

  “It’s something,” I countered.

  Something washed over Elise’s face. Pain? Heartbreak?

  I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it wasn’t right. Not wanting to ruin the chance of having her tell me whatever it was, I did what I did best. I waited.

  Being patient with her would get me what I wanted. So, I didn’t make a move, and I didn’t speak. When she was ready, she’d talk.