Swallowing hard, he nodded. “Is it a good one?”
Mack turned, his knee bumping Jeff’s. “I have no idea, but I don’t care.”
“So you’re going through with it? You’re gonna move to Austin? Even after you learned about—”
Mack’s hand came up to cover Jeff’s mouth, effectively cutting him off.
Jeff’s eyes widened when Mack scooted closer.
“Did you mean what you said earlier?” Mack asked, lowering his hand.
“I said a lot of things,” Jeff countered, trying to filter through their conversation.
“About me moving in here.”
His breath halted in his lungs even as he nodded.
Mack shifted closer, cupped his face. “I want to be with you, Jeff. It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted.”
More nodding, no words forming because his throat was closing from an overload of emotion.
“I’ll accept the offer on the house because you’re right. It’s not home. Never has been.”
“And the bar?” Jeff forced past the lump in his throat.
“I’m not sellin’ Moonshiners. I don’t want to leave Coyote Ridge. I don’t want to leave you. So for as long as you’ll have me … this is where I want to be.”
Again with the nod, but this time Jeff reached for Mack, pulling him closer, their lips meeting. Mack took over from there, easing over Jeff as they laid out on the couch, chest to chest.
“I’ve got a lot to make up for,” Mack whispered, staring down at him.
“No you don’t.”
“I do. And I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I’ll make sure not a day passes that you don’t know how much I love you.”
Jeff already knew, even during the years when Mack had pretended otherwise. Sure, they’d kept their distance, but the fact that neither one of them had moved on was proof that it was only a matter of time. Would he change anything? Damn right he would. He would’ve never let Mack walk out on him that day if he’d known he would spend years without him. But since he couldn’t modify the past, he would adjust the future.
And this time he would make sure Mack couldn’t walk away. Not without a legal battle, anyway.
Jeff pushed at Mack’s chest. “Get up. I want to show you something.”
With uncertainty glittering in his eyes, Mack did as he instructed. When Jeff got to his feet, he took Mack’s hand, led him down the hallway to the master bedroom.
“I like where your head’s at, sheriff,” Mack said when Jeff pressed up against his back.
“Notice anything?”
Mack glanced back over his shoulder. “I notice you’re not naked yet.”
“Not yet,” he agreed. “Anything else?”
Mack shrugged, then turned back to the room. Jeff felt his body tighten and he knew what he saw.
“Those are my reading glasses.”
“Yes.”
“And my alarm clock.”
