The pair ended Tuesday night's finale happy and in love.
Susie Evans didn't wait long to get back in touch with Clayton Echard. On Tuesday's finale of The Bachelor, Susie rejected Clayton's offer to leave Iceland together, but the pair patched things up post-show, and appeared happy and in love during a live, in-studio appearance.
The morning after their public debut, Susie told ET's Denny Directo that she "pretty much reached out to Clayton immediately" after her initial rejection.
"I got my phone back, called my parents, and then I slid into Clayton's DMs," she recalled. "I was like, 'Hey, just checking in. Would love to have one more conversation with you if you're open to it, but will also respect your boundaries either way.'"
The pair ended up speaking on the phone for five hours that night, and then "talked every night after that for several weeks, before deciding to meet back up."
When it came time for that first in-person meeting, Clayton told ET that he "was nervous" about the whole thing.
"We had talked about it going in that there were no expectations, let's just meet up and see where this goes," he said. "And, of course, I want to put my best foot forward. I wanted to speak from the heart. I wanted to hopefully see if there could be another chance."
"But I also [was] like, 'You need to respect her, respect her boundaries, listen to her, ask a ton of questions, and don't put pressure on this. Just let it be a conversation and if at the end of the weekend it goes well, and you do all those things, then yeah, you guys may end up meeting up again,'" Clayton continued. "That's the way I took it, one conversation at a time."
After that first meeting, Susie said that she and Clayton "worked a lot to rebuild trust." Despite her decision to initially turn him down after learning that he'd been intimate with and was in love with multiple women, Susie told ET that she "trusted Clayton to be an honest man from the day I met him."
"He had proved that to be true and he still proved that to be true. He has never lied or been deceitful... One of the first things that we did after the show is we just were completely transparent, not only about our needs, but also about where our minds were at during the journey and after the show as well," she said. "... I know Clayton is an honest man. He was never going to lie to any of us. That wasn't hard, to rebuild trust."
"It was just getting to the bottom of where our minds were at while we were making decisions," Susie continued. "I know Clayton, the whole time, has had the purest intentions. He's got the biggest heart and he genuinely has not only cared for me, but he has cared about the other women and the repercussions of his actions."
Though rebuilding trust wasn't a struggle for the pair, they wanted to be sure they were in it for the long haul before making their debut as a couple on live today.
"I think that's why it was so important for me to turn down that final rose," Susie explained. "If I had accepted it, there would’ve been pressure to be there with him, so I can say confidently, both of us there last night, we were there because we wanted to be there and we chose each other. We've chosen to stand through the tough stuff together, so I feel confident in that."
Susie achieved that confidence by being fully transparent with her beau, and by him doing the same in return.
"He was transparent from the beginning. We did not jump back into this relationship without turning every stone. We talked about everything. I knew where his heart was at every point in the journey," she said. "... There were tough conversations or tough moments, but ultimately I am very proud of him for following his heart, and just for being the kind and compassionate person that he is, and growing so much through this."
Now that the dramatic season is behind them, Clayton is excited to make the move to Virginia to be with Susie.
"I sold [my condo] before I went on the show. I wanted to... uproot myself and give whoever I end up with a chance for this to actually work," he said. "I do believe it's important to be living under the same roof if you really wanna give it the best chance of starting that forever with somebody. I'm moving in."
"We're flying back tomorrow and then about a month from now we'll actually go back to Scottsdale, grab all the rest of my stuff out of my apartment, and then we're taking a road trip across the U.S," Clayton added. "... We're gonna start planning all of that now. It's gonna be a lot of fun."
Tune in to Wednesday's episode of Entertainment Tonight for more of ET's interview with Clayton and Susie.
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