Page 159 of He Loves Me Knot

She watched the bright blue sea, the foamy waves coming closer toward their feet. She really did love it here. Not that they could move here anytime soon, but she didn’t think she’d mind it if they did that eventually. She’d been promoted to Callum’s position after he’d resigned the year before. Then she’d moved in with him since her roommate situation wasn’t working out and fired Miranda, who had been, thankfully, discredited.

She smiled at the sense of satisfaction that still gave her.

Maybe the job did come with a bit of assholery. And shewastoo busy to consider moving anywhere for now. She was almost jealous of Callum’s freedom from the grind.

Almost.But not quite.

She focused her attention back on Callum, who’d grown quiet beside her. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“When did you know you loved me?”

He gave her a look likewhy are we doing this,and she poked him in the ribs.

“Probably when you passed out after eating that damn hot pepper. I knew then and there I’d never meet someone as stubborn as you, and I loved it.”

She burst out laughing. She’d come as close to pushing that memory to the furthest recesses of her mind as she could. “Come on, that’s not true. Tell me when.”

“You know when I started falling in love with you, Lid.”

“No, I don’t.” She stepped away and shrugged her shoulders innocently.

His expression softened, and he set his beer down in the sand. Then he reached for his pocket and took out his wallet. He dug out his license, then pulled something from behind it and held it out in the palm of his hand.

A quarter.

“I fell in love with a girl in a bookshop who asked me to flip for a guidebook.” He searched her gaze. “But I couldn’t have her. So I kept the memory of her instead.”

Just when I thought I couldn’t love him anymore.

“You kept the quarter?” She could hardly find the words.

“You left it on the floor where we were flipping it. I picked it up and tucked it away. Could never get rid of it.”

She reached toward it with fascination, and he closed his fingers around it. He tucked it away again. “This one is mine. Get your own lucky quarter. You got the guidebook.”

“You know it’s going to be your guidebook, too, once we’re married. The whole what’s mine is yours, marital property thing?”

He shrugged, then reached for her hands. “The guidebook was always supposed to be yours anyway. I was buying it as a welcome book for you.”

She shook her head. “All the crazy things we had happen to us. Hard to believe we spent two whole years missing the chance to be together.”

“Maybe. But I don’t think either of us were who we needed to be for each other during that time.” He held her chin, then kissed her. “We weren’t ready. Or I wasn’t, at any rate.”

That’s true.But he’d come around nicely since then.

Their toes sank deeper into the sand as a wave came up and lapped at their feet. She kissed him again. “I love you, Callum. I love us. I’m glad you finally found your way back home here—I’ll always think of Costa Rica as the place that brought us together.”

“I love you, too, beautiful.” He pulled her against him, steadying her upright as another stronger wave rushed against their shins. “I’m glad we’re here together. My roots will always be here, but you . . . you’re my home.”

“And you are mine, my love.”

She smiled, then kissed him with reckless abandon, ignoring the way they had sunk into the sand.

The tide must be coming in.

Maybe even a storm.

But they’d weathered storms before, alone and together . . .

If she’d learned one thing throughout the last twelve months, it was this:

Life wasn’t always easy, but when you had the right person by your side, when you weren’t trying to prove that you could handle everything alone, even the hard days couldn’t overwhelm or defeat you.

---