Page 135 of The One

“There it is.” I nodded toward her face, my fingers fighting to stay tucked inside. “God, I’ve fucking missed that.”

She slowly took a breath. “Can I get you a drink?”

“Yes.”

“What do you want?”

You.

“Whatever you have is fine.”

“Take a seat in the living room. I’ll be there in a second.”

She left me in the foyer to go into the kitchen, and I watched the way she moved around the small room. My mind pictured her in my kitchen, her light-brown hair flying every time she turned, the early sunlight catching the golden streaks. Her hands on my countertops, mine wrapped around her stomach.

Fuck yes.

As I took a seat toward the center of the couch, I heard glasses hitting the countertop and the fridge open. The rattle of ice. The beautiful noise of her bare feet hitting the hardwood floor as she walked into the living room.

She handed me a tumbler. “It’s vodka.”

When she sat, putting a cushion between us, I held my glass out to her. “To unpacking memories.”

Her inhale was loud. “I’ll cheers to that.” She took a quick sip. “I feel like we have fifteen years to catch up on. I barely know anything about your life now. Just that you’re an executive for Cole and Spade Hotels.” Her eyes went wide. “Rhett, you followed your dream. You made it happen. I’m so proud of you.”

“It’s not exactly hard when your dad owned the company. But, yeah, I’m one of the head guys there now. When I firststarted out, I worked a bit in each department, getting a feel for the way everything ran, until I slid into an executive role. Now that we’ve merged with the Spades, the seven of us—we’re all equal partners—manage the daily operations. And aside from that, each one of us works on a hotel from start to finish, meaning we find the land, we help design the building, we’re there during construction, and we stay until it’s open.”

“Which hotel is yours?”

“Iceland.”

“Iceland, huh? I’ve been. It’s unbelievable. I mean that quite literally. The whole time I was there, I kept saying to myself,I can’t believe I’m here, and I’m seeing this.”

I chuckled. “My experience was similar.”

“I didn’t realize there was a Cole and Spade Hotel on the island. I don’t remember seeing that as a choice when I stayed there.”

“It’s not built yet. We’ll be breaking ground in a few months.” I took a deep breath. “And I’ll be moving there.”

Her brows rose and stayed high. “Moving there?”

“For six to eight months.”

She took another drink. “That’s … amazing.”

I slowly nodded. “You can call it that, I suppose.”

The room turned silent for several moments before she said, “What about your family? How’s Rowan? Ridge? Mom? Dad?”

“Rowan has a little girl now. Her name is Rayner. She’s just a tiny thing and so cute. She’s with Cooper Spade—one of our partners—and they’re getting married. Ridge is a single dad to Daisy. Well, he’s not so single anymore, he’s dating Daisy’s first-grade teacher.” I pulled out my phone and showed her my lock screen, which was Daisy and me at Disney. “That kid is my whole world.”

“She’s quite possibly the most beautiful little girl I’ve ever seen.”

“She is, and she has me wrapped around her sparkly pink-polished finger.” I chuckled and put the phone back in my pocket. “Fingers she recently had manicured when I took her to the nail salon.” I pointed down at my feet. “She demanded that we have matching toes.”

“Are you telling me you have sparkly pink polish on your feet?”

My head rocked up and down, and I ran my hand over the top of it. “That’s what I’m telling you.”