The voice stops me cold.Familiar.Rough silk and sunshine.
I look up and my heart leaps.
“I didn’t know you were coming back!”
Sawyer stands there, dusty jeans, faded flannel, and that crooked grin that still melts me like butter on hot toast.
“You’re not getting rid of me, Lil Bit,” he says, voice low, leaning in until I can feel his breath on my cheek.“Thought I told you that.”
He kisses me, quick and soft, and the whole world fades out—the fair, the noise, the crowd.
It’s just him.Always him.
When I pull back, I see everyone from the ranch behind him—Micah, Benji, Angie, Diego, Alex—all wandering the stalls, pretending not to stare but failing miserably.
“You gonna stay all day?”I ask, smiling up at him.
“I sure plan on it.”
“Then be an amazing fiancé and get me one of those cinnamon fudge brownies from the bakery stand?”
“You bet I will,” he says, eyes crinkling at the corners.“And I might stop by Dolly’s Dairy for more goat cheese—if you promise to fry up those panko goat cheese balls again for dinner.”
“Deal,” I laugh, and kiss him again just because I can.
Just because he’s mine.
“So, you really love me?”
“Just a lil bit,” he teases and I roll my eyes.
But I feel happy.So happy.
He rests his forehead against mine, murmuring, “I love you more than anything.And I’m proud of you, Bit.”
And that isit.
That’s everything.
The October sun is warm, the fair smells like sugar and hay and happiness, and my heart feels so full it’s ridiculous.It took me a while to find where I belong, but I’m home now.
Home isn’t a place.
It’s a cowboy with rough hands and a soft heart, who built me a sign that says love and meant every word of it.
And I couldn’t be happier.
The end.
