I reached over and took his hand in both of mine. His fingers were rough, and they curled around mine like a perfect fit.
“I’m being serious too, Zane. I… I’ve never told you this, but I’ve had a crush on you since my freshman year in high school. If you’d asked me to stay, hell, if you’d taken me on asingledate, I don’t think I would have ever left Red Oak Mountain.”
The pain in his eyes was real. “You must have told me a thousand times about how this little mountain couldn’t hold you back. I know your heart’s not here.”
He cleared his throat and added, “You’ll wake up in six months and hate this place. AndI’llbe the reason you stayed.”
“I wish you could accept that this is the world I want. One withyouin it.”
Then I added, “and my parents. And Kelly and Rose, all my friends. It’s not just for you. Red Oak Mountain feels different this time. I can see my life here, if it includes you.”
His eyes came up to mine, searching.
Lightning flashed and threw the planes of his face into sharp relief. He was so beautiful that it made my throat tight.
“What about Chicago?”
“What about it?” I shook my head. “I moved away from that place. I’mherenow. There’s nothing that says I have to leave.”
“Yourcareer.”
I thought about the Chicago offer, and what it would mean to stay here and build something new from nothing. On myownterms.
It scared me. But so did the alternative.
“I’ll figure it out. I’m good at what I do, Zane. Maybe I can work remotely. Or put up my own shingle and be a consultant.” That idea excited me. I squeezed his hand. “Theonlything I can’t solve is being somewhere you’re not.”
Zane scrubbed a hand down his face and looked away toward the storm-darkened window.
“You say that now,” he rumbled quietly. “But six months from now, when this place starts to feel small again… I don’t want to be the reason you stayed.”
“You’re so certain I won’t want you,” I said softly. “That you’re chasing me away before you give us a chance.”
Zane went completely still.
Then he stared at me for a long moment, still ragged around the edges, wounded by years of quiet longing.
But something in his expression had shifted.
Hebelievedme.
His head came to rest against my chest, his arms sliding around my waist, and I wrapped myself around him and held on.
This is who I came home for.
Then he rumbled, low and quiet against my chest, “I wantyou. I want this life with you.”
Zane pulled me against him, his big arms wrapping all the way around me, and I tucked my face against his neck and felt something I’d never felt before.
I was home now. Home in his arms.
Home was wherever Zane was. And he was here, in this quaint little farmhouse and a gorgeous patch of land with a perfect view of the mountains.
“You asked me a question earlier,” he growled out. “I want dozens.”
I pulled back to look at him, shocked. “Dozens ofbabies?”
“Yeah.”
