Page 96 of Wanting a Family Man

“I should be filming, yes.” He gave the back of his head a self-conscious scratch. “I was in Juno. Everything was in place to drop me inside the Arctic Circle, but I couldn’t get on the plane. I just couldn’t.” He swore, then made a face as his gaze tracked to the rapt teenagers. “I’m crew not cargo, Cloe. I don’t ask anyone to carry me. People needme, but I don’t need them. That’s how it’s always been. That’s the way I like it. It makes me feel good,” he added in a voice that edged toward bashful. He folded his arms, defensive. “But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be alone up there for weeks, unable to even text you. So I walked away. Again.”

“Oh, Trystan.” She stacked her hands over the spot where her heart took such a swoop, she thought it might have actually turned upside down in her chest.

“They wanted me to do a bunch of stupid shit anyway and I was going to do it for the money, butscrew it. I can make money other ways. I can shill outdoor equipment. I can work at Raven’s Cove. I can work for my brothers. I can make a documentary about what you said that time. How nature survives man. I actually really like that idea. I was thinking about it the whole way here.”

“Really?” A slow, trembling smile tugged at her lips.

“Yeah. There’s a ton of research I’d need to do first, but the point is, I can do a lot of things, Cloe. I built my way to the top once. I can do it again. It’s just a matter of focus and time. I thought I had to wait until I was back on top before I came after you, but I don’t want to wait. I don’t want to miss you. I love you.”

“You do?” Her heart was definitely doing somersaults in her chest. She swallowed the lump that was rising in her throat.

“So much. And I think you love me, too. Or you’re getting there?” He took her hands and dipped his head to look into her eyes.

Eyes that were misting with emotion.

“So much.” She nodded. Her lips were trembling too much to hold her smile. All of her was starting to shake.

“So, let’s make being together the important thing and figure out the rest as we go.”

“Be together where?”

“Here?” He shrugged. “We have to go home for the wedding, but you need time to get to know your family. I’d like to get to know them, too. Let’s live here until we decide we want something else.”

“You’re really prepared to live in one of the biggest cities in the world?” she asked skeptically. “For me?”

“They have nature parks here. And yes. I genuinely don’t care how I make a living or where I live as long as I’m with you. I kept trying to find the shortest distance to making a life worth offering to you, then realized I shouldaskyou what kind of life you want. And build itwithyou. I’m guessing it’s a lot like what I want so let’s get started making it happen.”

“Marriage?” she suggested, quickly adding, “I mean, that’s probably what I’ll want, eventually. And kids.”

“Both of those are on the table. The sooner the better, in my opinion.”

“’Scuse me,” the owner of the shop, Latrice, said. “Are you proposing to my girl here in the middle of my shop floor? Please tell me someone is filming this?” She looked to the teenagers.

“Please don’t film it,” Cloe said sharply. “That could be dangerous for me.”

“Honestly, I came in hoping she’d agree to go for dinner,” Trystan confided to Latrice. “I don’t have a ring on me so the proposal will have to wait.”

“I don’t need a ring,” Cloe assured him. “I just need you.” She stepped into his arms.

He caught her close, warm and steady, exactly as she had expected. And when his mouth covered hers, it was hot and hungry, but sweet. So tender and loving, her lashes grew wet.

A cheer went up around them.

*

They arrived inRaven’s Cove the night before Logan and Sophie’s wedding. Everyone got a tiny bit more drunk than they should have. It was Glenda’s fault. She volunteered to watch the kids so they could all go to the pub. Also, along with a bachelor and bachelorette party, it was an engagement party.

Cloe had insisted she didn’t need the piece of paper or the ring, but it was important to Trystan that they have both. It didn’t bother him that his mother hadn’t been married to his father, but he wanted Cloe to know that he intended to have one woman in his life, and she was that woman.

Also, he had a cousin who was both a Native artist and a goldsmith. Cloe’s ring was engraved with a depiction of a hummingbird—a living rainbow that signifies love and healing. It had a small diamond for its eye and she adored it. Their wedding bands were on order and would depict orcas for longevity and family.

Logan shredded Trystan without mercy for not having a “real job,” even though Trystan put up a video every week on his channel, reviewing some piece of equipment or other.Never Alonewas officially canceled, but the special with Storm had been a huge hit. Between both of those things, Trystan had enough income that he leased them a two-bedroom apartment not far from her father’s house.

Trystan worked from home all day, planning his docuseries while Cloe continued at the salon. She was also learning to use a camera, had set up his budget, and was planning to go with him when he began filming.

Trystan had the sense to herd the bunch of them home from the pub before they were all legless. Cloe slept with him in his old bedroom, which he found highly titillating. What was it about having to stay quiet that turned them on so hard?

When Storm woke them at six, he pulled on his boxers and walked through the bathroom to get her from her room. She had seen them both last night and had only played strange for a few minutes before she was back to proving Trystan was, in fact, her favorite.

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