I had no walls with Tanner, and even though that was a little terrifying, I wanted him to fall in love with the woman I was now.
I put my palm against his cheek. “I adore you, too. You have no idea how grateful I am that you came back into my life.”
He didn’t say anything.
He simply lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me.
It was a thorough, tender embrace that touched my heart so much that it almost made me cry.
I’d been happy with my career in Seattle, but something had always been missing for me.
I’d longed for something, but I guess I’d never wanted to admit that I was longing for someone, and that person had always been Tanner.
For the first time in my life, I felt like there was absolutely nothing missing from my life and I was experiencing what it was really like to be truly happy.
Tanner
“Isee that you took my advice and made sure the entire town knows that you and Hannah are back together,” Devon said as we chatted at an impromptu barbecue my mother was hosting this afternoon. “Did you ever warn her about the matchmakers?”
It was getting a lot colder than it had been earlier in the fall, so we were barbecuing on my mother’s massive, covered patio that had infrared heaters, and my brothers and I had lit two firepits that sat on opposite ends of the patio.
Mom liked to entertain outdoors, and she made sure that cold weather didn’t keep her from having the barbecues she loved so much.
It was just friends and family.
Still, there was a decent crowd here.
My mother never did quiet, lightly attended events.
She’d just hosted Thanksgiving dinner not long ago with a ton of people attending, including all of my family, Hannah andher mother, Lauren, Reese, Silas, Charlie, and anyone else in town that had no family to go to on the holiday.
So, this impromptu barbecue had been a surprise, but my mother loved a good party, and she never went long without having another one.
It had been a few weeks since Hannah and I had returned from New York, and they’d been some of the happiest days of my life.
Her business had launched successfully, and she was over the moon about the interest she’d had in mobile services in Montana.
“No need to tell her about the matchmakers,” I informed him. “I’m making sure that everyone knows that she’s mine.”
“No doubt about that,” Devon said drily. “You two can’t keep your hands off each other.”
He was right.
When I wasn’t touching her, I was watching her.
She was on the other side of the patio at the moment chatting with my mom, her mother, Lauren, Anna, and Reese.
Silas and Charlie weren’t far away. They seemed to be in a lighthearted conversation. The two of them had been friends for years, and they liked to give each other a hard time.
“I noticed that there seems to be something happening on the acreage next to Mom’s ranch,” I said to Devon. “Any idea what’s happening there?”
I’d driven by that property today, and I’d noticed quite a few trucks coming and leaving from that location.
“You haven’t heard?” he said, sounding surprised.
I finally stopped watching Hannah and looked at Devon. “Heard what?”
“The wayward cousins are moving back to Crystal Fork,” he informed me. “The old house was demolished. They’re building homes there.”