Caleb cleared his throat from the side, drawing my gaze, then tapped a finger on his watch, lifting his brows in awe gotta rollgesture. I turned back around and ignored him. I’d fly the two of us back to Seattle myself if I had to in order to get even five more minutes with Kenna.
But I couldn’t deny that time wasn’t on our side. Which meant if I was going to open my chest and bare my heart to her again, now was the time.
“I might be a glutton for punishment,” I said.
“With how often you continue to challenge me to a bet even knowin’ I’ll kick your ass, you definitely are.”
A quick grin tipped up the corner of my mouth. Christ, I loved this girl. “That too, but this isn’t about that.”
“No? What’s it about?” She seemed to hold her breath, her eyes darting back and forth between mine as she completely ignored the hoots and calls of congratulations to the acting mayor.
“I’ve got something I need to ask you again. And I’m gonna keep askin’ because you’re not the only pigheaded one in this duo.” I cupped her face and brushed my thumbs over her cheeks, darting my eyes over her face. Attempting to memorize every eyelash, every freckle, every gold fleck in her irises and tuck them away for when I’d need them the most. “I’ve never stoppedwantin’ you, Kenna. Not a day since I’ve been gone. And I won’t stop. Not for the rest of my life.”
She reached out and tucked her fingers into my jeans pockets, not tugging me closer, but not letting me put even an inch of distance between us.
I took that as encouragement and continued, “And I think we both know I’ll never stop lovin’ you. I’d give anything to have you by my side, but I understand that you can’t do that right now. I see how important you are to this town. To your family. I know how much you’re needed here. But I need you too. I need you as much as I need air. Bein’ home, bein’ here with you, feels like I’ve taken a deep breath for the first time in ten years.”
Kenna’s eyes shone, their glassiness reflecting the hanging lights on a nearby tent. “Hud…”
“I know you need to stay, but we can still be together, Kenna. Even if we’re a thousand miles apart. Even if we’rethreethousand miles apart. Couples do it every day, and there’s no way they’re as stubborn and determined as we are. So, I’m askin’ again. Hell, I’m beggin’, and you know I’d never admit that to anyone but you.”
She huffed out a laugh and then seemed to hold her breath, waiting for the next words to come out of my mouth.
“Be with me,” I said. “In however that takes shape, for however long you’ll have me. Just be with me.”
She didn’t answer with words. Instead, she lifted up on her tiptoes, gripped my neck, and brought my face down to hers. Our lips met, then parted, our tongues sliding against each other, and I’d never tasted anything sweeter in all of my life. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I lifted her up against me as our mouths stayed fused together, our bodies as close as we could get in public without getting ourselves arrested.
Christ, what I wouldn’t give to be inside her once more before I had to leave. But time already wasn’t in our favor, and I knewthat once I got lost in her body, there was no telling when I’d come up for air.
I only hoped her reaction meant I’d have plenty more chances in the future to cover her body with mine, sink into the heaven between those beautiful thighs, and settle into the home she provided me within her body and her mind and her heart.
Holding her against me so her feet dangled a foot above the ground, I pulled back and looked into her eyes. “Is that a yes?”
“No,” she said, cupping my face, her thumbs tracing the five-o’clock shadow that had sprouted up since I’d shaved off my beard that morning.
My stomach dropped, my eyes flicking between hers as I tried to read her, but I couldn’t decipher anything from her stare.
And then she pressed our mouths together and murmured against mine, “It’s a hell yes.”
“Yousuck.” I nipped her bottom lip, laving the sting with my tongue, too lost in the sound of her laugh to stay mad at her for almost giving me a fucking heart attack.
She smiled before it slipped from her face, her expression sobering. “I need you as much as you need me. And I’ve been an idiot, thinkin’ we can’t make this work. You’re right—wearestubborn. And if anyone can do this, it’s us. I have faith in us. In you.” She glanced down, her voice lowering to just above a whisper. “And for the first time in a long time, I have faith in me, too.”
My chest filled with pride for my girl—my best friend, my soul mate, my Kenna—so thankful she finally had as much trust in herself as everyone else did. I kissed her again, needing to fill my well with as much of it as I could to last me for the coming months we’d be apart.
After not nearly long enough with our lips melded together, our tongues twined, CB jumped up on my legs, barking her littlehead off and proving exactly why I’d named her that in the first place.
I pulled back, holding Kenna up against me by a handful of her ass and not caring in the least that dozens of Havenbrook residents were watching our every move.
She glanced down at the barking dog before meeting my gaze, her lip caught between her teeth. “What’re you gonna do with CB?”
“Well…I needed to talk to you about that. I was sorta hopin’ you wouldn’t be opposed to a roommate.”
“And you thought you’d wait until now to spring that on me?”
I shrugged, unrepentant. “I knew you wouldn’t say no that way.”
“Liar.” She leaned close and scraped her teeth against my bottom lip. “You knew I wouldn’t say no, period.”
