“Doesn’t include what? Me?”
Silence. That was answer enough.
I should fight. Should argue, convince her, make her see what I saw. But I was so damn tired of being the one who had to prove he was worth keeping around. Tired of chasing people who were already halfway out the door.
“I’ve spent my whole life being the guy people walk away from,” I said quietly. “Thought I was done being that. Guess not.”
I turned and pushed through the swinging door, back into the dining room. The guys looked up as I passed, but I didn’t stop. Didn’t explain. Just grabbed my coat and headed for the exit.
“Hux—” Her voice came from somewhere behind me.
I didn’t stop.
The cold hit me like a slap when I stepped outside, but I welcomed it. Cleared my head. I trudged across the street to the firehouse, where earlier, a couple of the guys had been working on digging out the truck bay.
I grabbed a shovel and got to work.
I don’t know how long I was out there. Long enough for my fingers to go numb, for the sweat to freeze on my back. Longenough to replay every word she’d said and wonder where I’d gone wrong.
“Hux.”
Her voice came from behind me. I straightened, turned. Allegra stood in the snow, arms wrapped around herself, no coat. She was shivering, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“You’re going to freeze,” I said.
“I don’t care.” She took a step closer. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I got scared and I pushed you away and that was wrong.”
“You don’t have to?—”
“Let me finish.” She held up a hand, and I shut my mouth. “I don’t know how to do this. The relationship thing. The staying thing. My whole life, I’ve been focused on getting out. Building something somewhere else. And then you showed up, and suddenly I’m thinking about what it would mean to stay, and that terrifies me.”
“Allegra—”
“But I don’t want to lose you just because I’m too stubborn to try.” Her voice cracked. “I don’t want to be the person who walks away from something real because it wasn’t part of the plan.”
I closed the distance between us, cupping her face in my frozen hands.
“I’m not asking you to give up your dreams,” I said. “I’m asking you to let me be part of them. Open your restaurant here—I’ll be your first customer every damn day. Or open it in Asheville, and I’ll move. I don’t care where we are, as long as we’re together.”
Her eyes were bright, wet. “You’d do that? Move for me?”
“In a heartbeat.” I brushed my thumb across her cheek. “Just don’t decide I’m not worth the risk before you even give me a chance.”
She grabbed the front of my coat and pulled me down to her, kissing me hard. When she pulled back, she was almost smiling.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “Not yet. Maybe not ever.”
I grinned, feeling something loosen in my chest. “Careful, chef. Keep talking like that, and I might start thinking you like me.”
“I love you, you idiot.”
The words hit me like a wave. I went still, heart pounding.
“Say it again.”
“I love you.” She was smiling now, really smiling. “I love you, Hux.”
I pulled her close, burying my face in her hair and holding on like I’d never let go. Because I wouldn’t. Not ever.
