I shake off the tingles, take a deep breath, push my shoulders back, and slap on my business face. “So, why are you here?”
He straightens and fiddles with the ribbon around the tin again. “I heard about what Archie said. I hate him for hurting you. It was wrong of me not to walk away from him and go after you.”
He lifts his eyes to meet mine and pauses as he searches for something in them. It’s mesmerizing. And I’m transfixed, drawn deep into those warm brown pools. It’s like he’s looking right into my heart.
The cold air between us crackles with the sparks of our unique, undefinable connection.
I’ve wished it wasn’t real. Over and over these last few hours I wished I’d imagined it, that I was mistaken about this thing we have. I mean what are the odds that a stranger who got lost outside my cabin would be my person? Pretty close to zero, right? So this whole thing must be my mind playing tricks because I’ve lived alone for so long.
But here I am, feeling all those things again. And now I’m certain I’m not imagining them. They’re real—so tangible I could almost reach out and touch them.
And yet, a relationship with Owen isn’t even possible. Thanks, Universe, for that tragic joke.
My belly flips and flops like it doesn’t know what to do for the best.
Owen swallows hard. “I made a mistake. I prioritized the wrong thing. I should have put you first. And I’m sorry. More sorry than I will ever be able to tell you.”
So, I wasn’t wrong about him having changed? Maggie wasn’t wrong when she told me she saw a different Owen? My heart shifts up a gear. The desire to grab his face and kiss it all over is overwhelming. But I can’t jump the gun here. It’s all well and good that he’s saying sorry, but words are easy. You can only judge someone by their actions.
“I was humiliated, Owen.”
He closes his eyes and nods. “I know. And in the worst way. Because I wasn’t there to stand up for you.”
“Oh, I can stand up for myself, thanks.”
He smiles. “And I adore that about you. You don’t need anyone for anything.”
He adores something about me?
“I’ve done my best to put it right,” he continues.
If he thinks his best is whatever is in that tin he’s staring at, it’s going to have to be one hell of a gift.
“After you’d gone, I told Archie to stick it. And came looking for you. But you’d already left, and no one had a sensible car I could borrow to drive here in the snow. I had to wait till this morning for a rental and…” His brow pinches over pleading eyes. “Well, I followed you here as quickly as I could.”
I point at the SUV. “At least you got a better vehicle this time.”
“Yeah, and that’s not the only thing I learned from you.” His soft eyes glisten in the sunlight. “All I cared about was that I’d let you down, and you’d gone. For the first time ever, I wasn’t high off trying to close a deal. All I felt was sick to my stomach that I might never see you again.”
“And you really told Archie to stick it?”
“Yup.” His mouth slowly turns up at the corners. “Told him he was a rude, obnoxious ass who I didn’t want to do business with.”
My hand flies to my cheek as my mouth drops open. “No! Honestly? You told him that?”
He quirks one eyebrow. “And that he could fuck off.”
Owen walked away from the biggest investor of his life?
For me?
He sacrificed the deal forme?
The butterflies in my belly do a little dance. “You told the man who could have made you a billion-dollar company, and fund the nonprofit, that he was an obnoxious ass who could fuck off?”
Okay, now I can’t help but giggle, imagining the man with the red face and the gold chain being told where he could stick his money. “I don’t imagine it went down particularly well.”
Owen nods. The adorable dimple forms in his cheek as a proud smile spreads across his face. “You imagine correctly. But it was deeply satisfying.”
