“I’ve got my priorities straight, at least.”
With her hands moving to her hips, she walked closer to the TV. “This is obscene. It’s bigger than me.”
“There’s a lot of action in sports.”
She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “It’s more like a billboard.”
“It’s immersive,” I said, sliding my hands into my pockets. “I come up here whenever I can. Especially in the summer. I have a little fishing boat out back too. Do you want to see it?”
She glanced back at me. “Yes. Definitely. I didn’t know you fished.”
“Sometimes.”
“You don’t strike me as a fish person.”
“I contain multitudes.”
She snorted softly at that and stepped out through the back door and onto the deck with me. The sunlight hit us full and warm. The air smelled like water, pine, and freedom. The lakestretched out below, not that long but wide enough to need the boat.
Kate stepped up to the railing. I sat down on a deck chair, just watching her take in the trees and the open skies stretching for miles overhead. When she finally turned back around, those eyes immediately found mine and locked onto them like laser beams.
“You said it was private?”
I nodded, my heart flipping as she slowly came closer. “Completely. The nearest neighbor is a couple miles out.”
Without stopping when she reached me, she climbed into my lap, straddling me. My hands settled on her hips and I tipped my face up to keep my eyes on hers. “What’s this for?”
Her hair was loose, catching the sunlight in soft, red curls. “It’s my favorite seat in the house.”
I smiled, then tilted my head slightly. “What are you thinking about, Kate?”
It slipped out naturally, the same question I’d probably asked her as Emma at least a hundred times before. Her expression softened, letting me know she recognized it too.
“I think…” She trailed off and I waited until she looked back at me. “I think I love you.”
Something in my chest tightened, sharp, sudden, and real. I raised an eyebrow at her. “Youthink?”
Her nose crinkled. “I’ve said it before.”
“You said it to CB.”
Her eyes locked on mine again, her expression steady and certain. “I love you, Nate.”
My heart went wild, the lines between reality and every imagined fantasy I’d had for so many years suddenly blurring together. This was Kate, my wife, and she loved me, and I was pretty fucking sure I loved her too.
CHAPTER 42
KATE
For the longest time, Nate just stared up at me, his jaw slack and his eyes wide. The only thing that kept me from wondering if I’d just made a huge mistake telling him that was the awe in his expression, like he couldn’t believe he was hearing it in real life.
To be fair, the first time I’d told him I was in love with him had been last year. Wine-soaked and in the middle of a break-up with someone I’d realized hadn’t meant nearly as much to me as myfriend, CB, I’d blurted it out to him via text message.
It had taken him forever to respond then, too. In the end, several of the longest minutes of my life later, he’d replied that he’d been waiting for years for me to say that.
As he looked up at me now, I hoped he still felt the same, but I wasn’t sure until he caught my face in his hands and held my eyes like he would never look away. “I love you too, Kate.”
My heart skipped and my stomach swooped with disbelief and joy. I couldn’t hold back my smile as I slowly lowered my mouth to his. “You do? For real?”
