The Ivy House - By Drea Stein Page 0,88
a moment before she was ready to kick herself back up to the top. All of a sudden, there was something around her waist, pulling her up, up towards the fading light of the surface.
“Are you crazy?” Chase yelled when they hit the surface. Phoebe gasped in breaths of air, unable to answer. The water was cold and she was shivering. A crowd had gathered and there were flashlights being shone their way.
“Come this way, there’s a ladder,” someone called. Phoebe coughed, realizing she had swallowed more salty water than she had thought. Chase’s arm was still around her as he towed her against the current and towards the walkway.
Strong hands lifted her up. Phoebe looked around. Dean was sitting, holding his nose, while Lynn hovered over him. Someone had a first aid kit and she had broken out an ice pack. She glanced up, gave the thumbs-up sign.
Phoebe felt Chase’s presence behind her. “Does someone have a blanket?” he called out and, in a moment, she felt something draped over her. The police were there and so were the paramedics.
“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Phoebe waved them away.
Everyone was looking at her, at them. “I can swim, you know.” She pulled the blanket more tightly around her and started walking off the dock.
Lynn stood up, but she waved her away. Phoebe stopped in front of Dean, who looked up at her, an ice pack on his nose.
“Dean, I’m really not going back to California. I don’t want the job and I don’t want you. And that has nothing to do with him.” She nodded towards Chase. “I’m staying to pursue my business. And you and me, we’re done.”
Dean stood up. A lock of his blond hair fell across his eye, and he tried his best to work his charm as he stuck out his hand. “It’s my loss. But good luck, I guess. When you change your mind…”
She ignored his outstretched hand. “I’ll know who not to call.” And with that she kept walking.
Chapter 46
Chase found her by following the wet footsteps across the front porch, through the front door, which she hadn’t locked, down the hall and to the terrace. She had lit a fire in the fire pit and changed, though she was still wrapped in a blanket, sitting on the new outdoor couch she’d had delivered.
It had taken him a good hour to straighten things out with the police. Luckily, Dean, like Chase, hadn’t wanted to make a big deal out of it, so they shook hands, Chase with his stomach aching from Dean’s nicely placed roundhouse kick, and Dean with a shiner that made him look more like a biker than a preppy Hollywood type.
She was drinking tea, wrapped in a soft blanket, staring out at the water. The sun was well down below the horizon, but the last streaks of purple-pink suffused the indigo sky.
“I’m sorry,” he said, deciding to lead with an apology.
Her face didn’t turn. He could see her exquisite profile, the long straight nose, the way the fire picked up the red-gold highlights in her hair.
“Why did you come today?”
“I came because I thought you were going to Los Angeles with him, for him,” Chase said, and felt his hands clench and then unclench.
“Dean?” She had turned now, surprise lifting her voice.
“Yes. I thought you were going to walk out of my life and I was crazy. Crazy that I would lose you.”
He came around the couch and dropped down in front of her.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
Chase took her hands in his. They were still cold and her hair was still damp, probably from her shower. She smelled like her flower-and-citrus shampoo.
“Phoebe Ryan, I love you. I love you because you’re you. Stubborn, caring, loving despite never being loved, because you’re talented and creative. Because I can’t think straight when you’re around. Because when your blue eyes look at me, I would do anything for you.”
“You did jump into the water after me. I was on the swim team or didn’t you remember?”
“Shh.” He put a finger to her lips. “No sarcasm. I am trying to tell you something here.”
She shook her head, lifted her chin. “Then just say it, Chase Sanders.”
He smiled. “Phoebe, I love you. Every single thing about you. From your fuzzy slippers, to your silly salt-and-pepper shaker collection, to the way you look in the morning when the sunlight hits your hair on the pillow, to the way your skin smells in the rain. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you because you’re you. And no one else. Will you marry me?”
Chase looked at her, barely breathing. Slowly, excruciatingly, she reached up with her hands and brought his face close to her. She laid a gentle kiss on his lips and breathed the word, “Yes.”
They sat there on the couch, entangled in the blanket, watching the dying embers of the fire. It was fully dark now and frogs had grown loud around them.
“So, about this house,” he started to say.
“Oh, no you don’t.”
“I was thinking that we might need to expand it, just a little bit. You know, so you have a proper studio and there’s plenty of room for the kids to run around. That’s if you want to stay here. If not, I am sure we could find something else.”
Phoebe’s mouth shushed him with a row of kisses along his cheek.
“We can’t leave Ivy House. It’s magical.”
“Romance of this century,” he agreed, as his mouth caught hers and kissed her.
About Drea Stein
Andrea Stein is a writer of contemporary romance, a blogger, wife and mother who lives in central New Jersey. When not writing, she’s probably trying to squeeze in some reading, in between chauffeuring kids, making dinner, folding the ever-present laundry pile and updating her popular blog: www.dreastein.com or on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DreaSteinAuthor.
Copyright
Copyright 2013 by Andrea Drea Stein and Barn Hill Media, a division of Chanumas, LLC. All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any persons living or dead, or any places, real or imagined is a coincidence.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
About Drea Stein
Copyright
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
About Drea Stein
Copyright