Page 94 of Call It Home

“I still have to go to Virginia. It might be a while, maybe a year or more. It’s going to be crazy and busy, but I’ll come home every chance I get. Can you handle that?”

I managed a small smile. “I think with you I can handle anything.”

He only stood still for a beat before he pressed his mouth against mine, and the rain, the contest, the hotel—everything—disappeared with the sensation of warmth he created with his lips. I didn’t care that we were on a public street where anyone could see us. His fingers flexed against my ass, then pulled me even closer. It was sweet. Tender. Powerful.

His mouth never left mine as his fingers moved to cup my face before he slowed the kiss, taking tiny little nips as he finally pulled back.

Drops of rain ran down his face. “What does this mean?” he asked, leaning his forehead into mine.

I grinned at him. “Do you want the long answer or the short answer?”

He smiled. “With you? I want it all.” His lips took mine again for several seconds until another clap of thunder sounded, closer than the last.

“We’re not going to get anywhere if we both get electrocuted,” I said. I grabbed his hand and turned to walk back to my house, but he didn’t move. “Mac?”

“I need to know. Does this mean you’ll wait while I get something figured out? I love you, but I owe this to him.”

“Then I guess I owe him, too, big guy.”

This time, when I tugged, he followed.

* * *

Later that night, I lay curled up in his arms. We’d probably been a little rude kicking everyone out of my house rather than letting them ride out the storm, but they all left with snickers. Well, everyone except Beverly Seymour, who complained it would ruin her hairdo, and Sterling, who squawked like we’d set him out in the rain.

I didn’t care. I only cared about the man who’d lovingly stripped me of my wet clothes and toweled me off before making slow, sweet love to me. While the fierceness of the storm raged outside, there was a new, unshakable peace between us.

“So, what happens now?” I asked.

He paused his drawing little circles on my arm where it lay across his chest. “I have to go back tomorrow. I need to find a new real estate agent.”

“What happened to the other one?”

“She’s very put out with me and doesn’t want to work with me anymore.”

“Why?”

His laughter rumbled under my ear. “Well, I’ve been back and forth on buying the land. I said, no, then yes, then no again.”

“What do you mean? I thought that was the reason you left here.”

“After I learned about it initially, I set up something with the agent to go see it. I held off doing anything because there was a certain woman here,” he squeezed me and kissed the top of my head, “that I was growing very attached to, despite her propensity to be bossy and to sign me up for things behind my back.”

I grinned. “She sounds like a nuisance.”

“She is.”

I slapped his chest, giggling. He laughed, too, then tilted my head up for a kiss.

“Anyway, I knew I couldn’t do it. The land was great, but it had sat vacant for years. The house needed a lot of work to be truly livable, not to mention it’s almost three hours away. At the time, I thought Trey still had two more years to serve, so I thought I had more time to figure out and find something different. So, I turned down the property.”

I sat up. “You did? You turned it down because of me?”

He nodded.

I snuggled in closer, thinking about this new bit of information. He’d tried to make me a priority.

“Then, just a couple of weeks later, Trey told me his lawyer had his request for an early parole hearing approved. That changed things completely. On top of that, when I got in my truck to come home after that visit, I had a message from Jared. When I called him back, he offered me a nice amount for the table design. Everything was coming together that I’d worked so long for.” He grunted. “Except if also felt like a giant fuck you from the universe that I could never have everything I wanted because it meant having to leave you.”

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