My hands lift to his forearms, holding on because suddenly it feels like my body needs proof that he’s real. “You’ve always mattered,” I whisper.
His gaze drops to my mouth for a brief second before he forces it back to my eyes. “I tried so fucking hard to tell myself this was just work. I was just the contractor. This was your house. And I got good at it—at keeping it professional.”
I blink because I feel the same way.
“But then you started showing me more,” he continues. “You started trusting me with your decisions. You laughed when I joked. You didn’t make me feel stupid for caring about safety and structure when you knewnothingI was going through. Somewhere along the way, this stopped being a job. It stoppedbeing a place to hide. And I know, without a doubt, it’s because you were here.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to cut him off.
It’s my turn to say how I feel, but I still can’t get words to come out.
Not when Tucker is baring himself to me.
“When I told you all of that back at that hole in the wall burger place, I thought I knew what home was. But then you walked into my life and somehow made it all mean something else. I didn’t know what that something else was. I’ve never felt like this before, so I didn’t understand it. But I do now.”
My breath trembles as I stare at the man who has made everything lighter during this process. Who has allowedmeto be myself in the process. And he’s standing here, offering me the heaviest and most beautiful thing he owns.
Himself.
“I love you, Scottie. I’m so crazy and deeply in love with you that I don’t remember what my life was like before you were in it.”
A smile curves at my lips. I lift my hand, touching his cheek and feeling the dampness from the emotions he let out. “I love you, too,” I whisper.
His eyes widen like he doesn’t believe he’s allowed to hear it back. But then he lets out a sound that is half laugh, half breath, and half something that might be relief.
“Can you say that again for me?”
“I love you, Tucker Daniels.”
And before I can even get his full name out, his lips are on mine. Like he can’t survive another second without it. Like he’s been starving and didn’t know it until I said it back. The kiss is slow, but then it deepens quickly, because Tucker doesn’t know how to be careful with something that feels like salvation.
His hands slide into the back of my hair, holding me there. When we finally break apart, he stays close enough that I feel his breath on my lips.
“I think…” He pauses, pressing his forehead to mine. “I thought this house here was my dream home. But it turns out you are. You’re the home I can run to when I need an escape, when I need to feel seen, and when I need something that’s real.”
I reach up, pressing my lips to his again.
His arms tighten around me, pulling me in until there’s no space left for any doubt. No space left for fear.
Just us.
CHAPTER 32
I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE I’LL BE.
Tucker
I’ve built houses that can stand a storm and not budge, but nothing has ever hit me the way those three words have. Nothing has ever made me feel like my entire life split open. Hearing the words back, after fearing saying them to her, feels like everything before her was grayscale and all the after finally has color.
She breaks away from the kiss, looking up at me with a soft smile.
“You used my full name,” I murmur, voice rough from everything I’ve been holding in.
“I did,” she whispers and shrugs. “Felt dramatic.”
I laugh, hooking an arm around her neck to pull her to my chest. I know she can feel my racing heart. It hasn’t calmed down since her parents showed up. Since I watched her stand tall in front of them and say everything she’s been holding back for years.
I wanted to cut in a dozen times.
