He's shaking, arms around me, face buried in my neck. "I love you too. Damn, Avery, I love you so much it scares me."
"Then be scared with me. We'll figure it out together."
"I don't know how."
"Neither do I, but that's okay. We'll learn. It’ll be spontaneous."
He pulls back to look at me, and his eyes are wet. "You'd really stay? Give up your career? Because I can’t, no, I won’t go back to the city, to corporate society."
"I don’t want you to. I'll revise my career. Open a small practice here. Evergreen Lakes probably needs another lawyer. Fewer billable hours, more mountains, more you."
"That's crazy."
"Probably. But so is falling in love in a week. So is getting stranded in a storm. So is everything we've done." I cup his face."For twenty-five years I’ve been safe, controlled, and miserable. Now I'm done being safe and want to be alive. With you."
"I don't deserve you."
"It’s the other way around. I'm extremely high-maintenance." He laughs through tears. "But you're stuck with me anyway."
"Promise?" he asks.
"I promise."
He kisses me again, soft and sweet and full of hope, and I know we'll be okay.
We'll be terrified and messy and unplanned.
But we'll be together.
And that's everything.
Chapter 6
Brennan
I can't stop touching her.
We're at Maggie’s Diner, so Kelly won’t spot us at the resort together since there’s a no fraternizing with the guests, but I say fuck that. Avery is no guest; she's my woman, and I've got her tucked against my side in a booth, her hand in mine, and I keep expecting her to vanish like a dream.
But she's real. Solid. Here.
And she loves me.
The thought keeps hitting me in waves—disbelief, joy, terror, more joy.
"So you're staying?" Matthew asks. He pulls up a chair the moment we come inside.
"I'm staying," Avery confirms, and there's wonder in her voice. "I mean, I have to give notice, wrap up cases, and sublet my apartment. But yes. I'm moving to Evergreen Lakes."
"To open a law practice?" Maggie asks, delivering our coffee.
"Small practice. Estate planning, real estate, small business law. Nothing high-stress."
"Honey, this town needs a lawyer. Old McFadden retired two years ago, and everyone's been driving to the next county for legal help."
Avery lights up—that sharp intelligence I first found irritating and now find incredibly sexy. "Really? What's the typical caseload? Commercial real estate or more residential? Any particular gaps in services?"
And she's off, asking Maggie detailed questions about the local legal landscape, her mind already working on logistics and planning.
