Page 97 of Secret Surrender (Harlow)

He shook his head. She didn’t want to admit to loving him. He even understood why. But she’d refused to deny their relationship in the wake of his arrest and gone out of her way to vouch for him. Now she stood here, in her roundabout way, begging him to persuade her to stay. She’d fought for him, and he’d be damned if he didn’t return the favor and fight for her right back.

“I’ve spent ten years being an outcast. If I have to, I can deal with people in this town not liking me.” He dared to press his forehead to hers, fulfilling his unspoken duty to persuade her. “There’s only one person’s opinion that matters all that much to me.”

She raised a brow, though her face took on an element of levity. “You know it’s not that simple. People’s opinions do matter. I still need to run a business in this town, much less live here.”

His lips curled into his first heartfelt smile in this whole encounter. “Fine, we start with a little market research, then take things from there.”

She narrowed her eyes at him again, rightfully skeptical of his obtuse reply, though the slightest grin lifted her cheeks and made her scowl more playful than critical. “What are you suggesting now?”

“You. I start with you.”

The low rumble of Dean’s voice crossed the thin space between them, his intimate tone melting yet more of her defenses, even as logic screamed at her to jump into her car and drive away. As much as she wanted to, as much as she tried, he held impossibly close, the warmth of his body a welcome comfort against the night’s cold wind.

He drew in and touched his nose to hers, flooring her with just how much she wanted him near. How much she wanted to stay.

Hope. A poisonous thing. Something she’d tossed aside a million times before, but not today. Why? Because this night, the moon and the stars, all reminded her of the other nights they’d shared, the good nights far outweighing the bad. And his words…

I was never anyone other than the man you met. The man you fell in love with.

She slammed her eyes shut at the haunting statement and hope once again prodded her, made her feel like maybe, just maybe, things would work out.

“I’ll start with you, Sarah.” His voice called for her to open her eyes, and she did, near drowning in his beautiful blue gaze as he spoke again. “I won’t stop giving you reasons to trust me until the day you wake up and realize you believe me. That everything about this last week is an old and tired memory, and the best choice you ever made was to stand with me while everyone in Harlow learns they can trust me, too.”

“I don’t know if—”

He dipped his chin and deepened his stare, a stare that demanded she take a moment to truly absorb his words rather than blindly react.

New water pooled in her eyes and she nodded, really weighing up what she might lose if she didn’t at least try to reroute her habitual tendency to shut down any type of potential disappointment. “You seem so confident you can pull this off.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t be.” He paused to wipe a fallen tear from her cheek, his gaze still holding hers, melting her doubt into a cool puddle at her feet. “But the way I see it, the rest of my life is one long chance to get it right.”

Her lip trembled, and she bit down on it to keep from devolving into more tears. That sentiment tweaked at the week she’d had, coupled with all her rejection and years alone, holding together a life no one else in her family wanted.

“What we have, it’s intense and uncontrollable.” She paused, trying to get her head around all the complexities before she committed to anything. “You know I don’t do so well with uncontrollable.”

“Yeah, I know.” His gaze bounced about her face, as though he sought a sign, any sign that she might say yes, those full lips of his holding an unrestrained smile. “But I’m clearly not so perfect either, so maybe we could cut each other some slack?”

A spontaneous laugh burst from her, and she shook in his hold. The adrenaline from tonight’s ordeal, and her nerves over what he asked, got to her. And then there was the prod of what she wanted. Him. “This is going to end so badly.”

He returned a quick nod and laughed too, the breeze ruffling at his dark hair. “Oh yeah, it really is. We’re two walking, talking disasters, and the people of this town are probably sharpening their pitchforks as we speak. But you were the one to make me okay with letting my old life go, remember? The price of change I was willing to pay. Though I never wanted you to pay, too. So, let me make it up to you. Let me help you let go, as well.”

For the longest time, she did nothing but frown back at him, his pupils wide and hope-filled, while she weighed up how to say no.

But then she imagined her life as it had been. Never having a place or person she belonged to, how close she’d felt to belonging with Dean—how the core of the man she’d begun to fall for really was still there. Always there…

She was strong and resilient Sarah Overton, wasn’t she? She could handle a little vulnerability—could handle unpredictability. She’d survived before. She’d survived tonight. But she wanted more from life now than just surviving. And when she separated Dean from his past, from the violence of this week, he’d given her more than she’d ever dreamed of.

“You know, if it weren’t for the sheriff, and even my pain-in-the-ass ex being on your side, making me feel like maybe I wasn’t totally out of my mind for caring about you…” She smiled, lifting her hands now and returning his embrace, her heart swelling, while his heat finally seeped into her cold and rattled bones. “I’d be more likely to run you over right now than say what I’m about to say…”

His pupils narrowed, an element of his enticing wickedness coming through. “And what’s that?”

“First, that while you’ve been quick to point out how much you think I love you, you’ve given a bunch of apologies and not nearly enough claims of your own love for me.” He moved to speak, but she shook her head, cutting him off. “Second, when I commit to trying something, it’s impossible for me to be half-hearted about it. So, if I do say yes to trying to make a relationship with you work, you have zero chances to mess up again, got it? You better damn well not let me down, or I swear to the devil herself, I will run you over.”

He let out a chuckle and caressed her face with an endearing level of firmness. “Shit, woman. I’ve had literal bullets flying at me tonight, and even those weren’t half as scary as you are right now.”

She tilted her chin down and stared up at him, holding back a chuckle while she warned him to let loose with the promises, or else…

“Dean…”

“Sarah…” A smile tugged at his lips, one he soon let run wild into a foolish grin. His dimples finally shone through, and that sweet expression caused her heart to do a quick double beat. “I love you.”

Everything within her stilled. As much as she’d told him to say it, those words nevertheless floored her, the entire world seeming to disappear.

Those words spilled forward. Free and easy. As though he’d kept them safe his entire life just for her. And maybe he had, because right then, in that moment, her tears spilled again. Happy tears. And he leaned in and sealed his words with a kiss, one that devoured her with force and significance, his hands pulling her in and crushing any last speck of doubt.

He pulled away, his smile softened, and this time when he spoke, emotion seemed to turn his voice into a rough whisper. “Sarah Overton, I love you.”

---