“What do you want?”
“I’m looking at her.”
My heart pounded in my chest.
He wanted me. And I wanted him.
“Are you sure about that?” I bit my bottom lip.
“Never been so sure about anything in my life.”
I smiled up at him. “Sounds like we have a new plan.”
He pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me.
And though I was terrified of this blowing up in our faces, I was willing to do whatever it took to make it work.
Because the love of my life was sitting right in front of me.
And he wanted this as much as I did.
thirty-three
. . .
Cutler
“I wantto say something to you, and I need you to hear me,” I said.
“Okay.” She searched my gaze.
“We will figure this out. It’s not about where we live, it’s about how we move forward.” He tucked the hair behind my ear and traced the pad of his thumb along my cheek. “This means no more secrets. We tell our parents. The people in our lives should know that we’re together.”
Her eyes widened. “Okay. You don’t think that will add extra pressure?”
“Jeege, I don’t feel pressure about being with you. Iwantto be with you. I’ve been miserable ever since you left. Fucking miserable. And I’m not saying that because we can’t make it work if we don’t live in the same state. But we can’t make it work if we don’t at least admit that we want it to work. Does that make sense?”
“Yes.” She nodded, eyes wet with emotion.
“So, we don’t hide it. We don’t avoid it. We face it head-on.” I reached beneath her chin, tilting her face up so she was facing me. “I love you. Not like a best friend. Not in a way that I want toplay it safe. This is a my-life-doesn’t-work-without-you kind of love. A nothing-else-matters kind of love.”
She nodded, bottom lip trembling now. “I love you the same way.”
“Then it doesn’t matter where we live. And we don’t have to decide today. You stay here and kick ass and see what you think of living in the city. If you love it here, and this is where you want to be—then I will sell my company and move here. I’ll start a new company here with you if that’s what we decide is best. It doesn’t matter where I work. What matters is that we’re together.”
“You would move here?”
“I would absolutely move here.”
She sniffed a few times, and I swiped my thumbs beneath her eyes. “And for now, we can visit each other. I get weekends off sometimes.”
I chuckled. “Yes. It was ridiculous to think we wouldn’t visit. We’ll talk every day, and we won’t be afraid to tell one another how much we miss each other. We’ll make this work, because we want it to work. I’m not afraid to say that. I want this to work, Gracie Reynolds. You and me. We’re end-game.”
A smile spread across her gorgeous face. “Very smooth, Bear. Did you just say we’re ‘end-game’?”
“Damn straight.”
“We’ve always been end-game, haven’t we?” she said, a single tear streaking down her cheek.
