Chloe

About a year and a half later

"Come, Chloe! It is finished!" Diego shouts, running down the incline at such speed I'm afraid he'll fall and break something.

But there's such glee in his face, such wild excitement, I stop myself from telling him to slow down.

"Your home, it's done!" he says breathlessly as he reaches me.

My chest is swelling with all the excitement and happiness that's bubbling from him, as I let him drag me back up the ravine to the spot right at the highest point of the estate, which Rider chose to build our house on.

The smell of fresh wood reaches me seconds before I see the home he's build for me, for us. It's shaped almost exactly like the thatched-roof bungalow where our love blossomed and our life together started. Only it's the grown up, permanent version of it, topped by a real roof that can withstand any storm.

Diego leads me up the wide wooden staircase to the large deck the juts out from the house. I can see past the jungle below, all the way to the ocean, to an entire bay stretching out all the way to the horizon, the water sparkling gold and white in the midday sun.

"Do you like it?" Rider asks, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Love is not a strong enough word to describe how much," I say, closing my fingers around his forearm, because I need to hold him too.

Diego and Pedro are bouncing beside us with excitement. They, and most of the older kids at the orphanage helped him build this home in the last few months after we got done fixing up Dom Gustavo's house to serve as the orphanage from now on. More children came once it was done, and most of the volunteers returned to help. Ed and Olivia both stayed too, and after the run-in with the cartel, even Ed and Rider became the best of friends. I think Ed and Olivia might be on the verge of declaring their love for each other, but they've been very secretive about it, and I don't want to pry.

My deepest dreams have been coming true one after another, since Rider came into my life, and this one—a home for me and the man I never want to live without—is the perfect topping to it all. Almost…

I lean my head against his shoulder and look up to see the glorious view reflected in his perfect eyes. "I was thinking we could go away for a couple of days. As in just the two of us, and the open road. What do you think?"

His eyes are drowning me in love, desire, blissful wild abandon, that I have no power to resist, nor will I ever try to. He hasn't mentioned wanting to go riding, but I know he must be yearning for it. He's even started to work on his bike more now that the orphanage is set up and our house was almost finished.

"We could take your bike," I add smiling at him. The old restlessness I used to feel, the one that drove me to just take off by myself practically every weekend back in my old life, has been creeping up on me too. And right now, as I see that same desire reflected back to me in his eyes, it's exploding inside me to the point that I don't know what we're still doing here.

"No, we'll take the jeep," he says. "So you can bring your surfboard."

The conviction in his voice brooks no argument, nor do I try to give any.

"Thanks," I whisper, and it's not nearly a strong enough word for the gratitude I feel that he came into my life, stayed, and continues to give me exactly what I always needed and wanted.

"I should be thanking you, Chloe," he says, hugging me even tighter. "For giving me the home I never had."

"You've given me so much more than that," I whisper. "You've given me my life back."

Then his lips find mine, because no words can ever express the bond we share. Our love is bigger than both of us, and still takes my breath away.

"Come on, Chloe, come see the inside," Kaia says impatiently. "It is beautiful."

The timid, frightened girl she was when she came here is completely gone. There's no denying her sparkling brown eyes, as she waves for me to follow her inside. I grab Rider's hand and pull him after me, since I want us to see our new home together.

Then later, once the kids leave to eat their lunch, we can christen it properly. I'll give myself to him in every room, and anywhere else he wants me, from now until our forever runs out. And tomorrow we'll go riding, sate our restlessness, which is just another thing we mirror so perfectly.