Page 69 of Along Comes Trouble

“Are you really going to leave Brookside ?”

I nod. Lower my eyes and blush .

Colton sighs. “I came here…” He shakes his head. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. If you’ve moved on, it doesn’t matter why I’m here .”

“Moved on?” I bite off the words. “Moved on ?” His statement is so preposterous, I choke on a laugh so bitter it draws a fresh round of tears. “I have so not moved on.” I scoot to the end of the couch and drop my head in my hands .

“Then why are you leaving ?”

“Because I can’t be here without you. You’re in everything. You’re everywhere. Every single thing I do reminds me of you and it hurts, Colton. It hurts .” I press my hands to my stomach. “It’s been three months and I still crave you as much as I did this winter. More even. You got in my system and I can’t get you out and I just sit here and my head spins, wondering if I could change or if you could change of if I’ve already changed …”

“Tessa…”

I hold out my hand. “No. You’re here and I have so much to say on this topic and I might have just hung up on the one chance I had to get out of here with my heart still somewhat intact, so would you please shut up and let me speak? I love you. Like, I love you so much, I can’t imagine ever loving anyone else. And if I can never love anyone else, I can’t imagine having kids with anyone else. The only person I want to share something that special with is you and you don’t want to have kids. And you have very good reasons for that. I don’t fault you in the least. But…” I stand and pace because I can’t be still while this much emotion courses through me. “I knew you were trouble the moment I met you. I knew it. But I also knew you were special. So I took a chance. And now everything I saw in my future is ruined because if I can’t have it with you, I don’t want it. And you don’t want it either.” I turn my back to him and drop my head in my hands, too worn out for tears .

“Tess…” Colton grips my shoulders and I melt at his touch. He spins me around and lifts my chin. “I’m in the same boat. I feel the same way. You came into my life and everything changed. Everything. The other day, I saw Bailey and Liam. She has this adorable little baby bump and, man…if I thought Liam adored her before, you should see the way he looks at her now .”

I swallow back the lump in my throat. I know that look. I’ve seen it in men who think the sight of his woman carrying his child is nothing short of a miracle. I want someone…no…I want Colton to look at me that way. I close my eyes and nod, because I don’t know what he expects me to say .

“There’s a connection between us, Tess. Something special. Something I’ve never experienced before and something I don’t think many people actually get to experience. And seeing Liam and Bailey, they are sharing something so powerful. They’ve created life. The love they feel for each other joined together and now there’s a new soul that will look like them and talk like them and struggle like them. It’s so damn scary and yet they’re so damn happy…” Colton runs his thumb along my cheekbone before he retrieves the blueprints for his house. He unfolds the paper. “Here? This wall in the living room?” He jabs a finger at the plans. “It’s nothing but built in bookshelves. A library. For you. And here? This spare room? It won’t be spare forever. Maybe someday, it could be a nursery .”

I place a hand on my heart and gasp for air. “What ?”

“I want to build this house for us. I never want to be without you ever again. I want to build a future together, one that makes the both of us happy .”

“But you don’t want kids .”

“I didn’t. But with you?” He nods. “I’m not saying I’m ready to start now and I’m not saying the idea doesn’t scare me to death, but I am saying I can see myself wanting that with you. I want to fill up that damn house with our pictures. Our history. That farm has so much me in it and my legacy should be more than a dead spot in the grass where my trailer used to sit. If there were generations of second born Carmichaels ahead of me, struggling to figure out where they fit in this damn family, then there will be generations after me as well. Our house? Maybe that’s their legacy .”

Colton draws me in and kisses me, his hands strong and sure against my back. While my body trembles against his, while my heart sings with joy and my lips quiver, he holds me up. My knees go weak and I grip his back to keep from falling .

“Move in with me?” His lips brush mine as he speaks. He doesn’t wait for a reply before he kisses me again, savagely, desperately .

I nod. “Yes,” I whisper and then lose myself to his touch .

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