Page 50 of Last Chance for Her Rancher Boss

“I have to hear it. To get the whole experience, you know?”

This was good, right? Nash was so prepared for everything to keep falling apart that he was honestly kind of surprised that she was still standing here in front of him — that she hadn’t vanished into thin air.

“Mom?” Meg called, looking over at Rebecca, who was still fascinated by the horses. “Me and Nash are going to go look at the buildings now that they’re finished.”

Rebecca flapped a hand in their direction, dismissing them as she held her phone at various angles, taking pictures of the horses. Nash figured that Meg’s mom intended to give them all the time in the world to talk in private. He felt a flash of warmth for the woman, which was just as surprising as everything else that had happened lately.

“It looks great,” Meg said as she entered the small building where his “guests” had booked to stay.

“It’s all pretty much the same since you saw it last,” he said with a shrug. “Just the little extras.”

“Yeah, but details make all the difference.”

She stopped wandering around and looked at him. There was a small smile on her face, and Nash desperately hoped that he wasn’t imagining it.

“I love you,” he said.

Nash didn’t know which of them was more shocked. He hadn’t been planning on saying it. He’d just been thinking it, and the words had leapt out of his mouth. Meg was staring at him with her eyes wide and unblinking.

“Uh—”

Before she could say anything else, before the moment escaped him, Nash let the rest of the words he needed to say be said. He wasn’t going to waste maybe the last chance he’d ever get…

“I do,” he said, with all of the conviction he could muster. “I love you. I think I always have. And I was such an idiot for pushing you away for some stupid sense of obligation that was all in my own head. And I’m sorry. I’ll always be sorry, because you’re the only one who should have the final say in what happens in your life. And I’m sorry that it cost us ten years together because we’ll never get that time back. But I hope… I really, really hope that you believe me when I say that I never want you to leave again.”

The only reason Nash stopped was because he needed to take a breath.

Meg was still staring at him, but she was blinking again, some of the shock wearing off.

“I don’t want to leave,” she said simply. “Is it… I mean… is it all too much, too soon?”

Nash shrugged and said what he really thought.

“Maybe. But so what if it is? Who cares? I mean, your mom tricked you here so we could talk. Will was jumping up and down about us being together. Maybe we’ve just got to jump in?”

“So I just move in? Just like that?”

She was smiling as she said it, taking a step closer.

“You kind of already have,” he said, smiling wider as she moved even closer. “We’ve already been living together.”

“The separate bedrooms thing would have to change.”

“Oh definitely.”

Meg stopped in front of him, her smile fading as her expression turned thoughtful and serious. She rested a hand on his chest, and Nash was sure she would be able to feel the thrum of his heartbeat beneath her fingers.

“I can’t hold a grudge against you for something you did as a kid. Especially when I know how sorry you are. Hanging onto all of that would only waste more time, and I’m sosickof wasting time.”

So was Nash. Screw it. He wasn’t going to waste another second.

He put his hands on her shoulders, his fingers cradling the curves, and pulled Meg even closer to him. He kissed her, his lips touching hers, and it felt like coming home. For a fraction of a second, he was terrified that she would pull away and say that this was all a mistake. But then she leaned into him, her body rising as she went up on her tiptoes, her arms wrapping around his neck.

He was never going to let go of her ever again, not when he had a decade’s worth of love to make up for.

EPILOGUE

ONE YEAR LATER: MEG

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