“You think that’s all these two’ll say for the rest of dinner?” the guy introduced as Zeke asked.

“Shh,” Milly scolded. “I’m tryin’ to listen.”

“You look beautiful,” I continued, ignoring everyone around us.

She offered me a tiny, one-sided grin and a quiet, “Thanks.”

“This has got to be the most uncomfortable fuckin’ meal I ever been to,” Kal grumbled from the other end of the table.

“Shh!” Milly, along with Cassidy and Lana that time, chided.

I sucked at small talk. Richard had always been the smooth one, whereas I choked when it had to do with simple, mundane conversation. Deciding to bypass all pleasantries, I went for broke. “I miss you, Navie. I’m so sorry for hurting you. Please, take me back.”

She didn’t say anything. No one did. And I could have sworn everyone around me was holding their breath, just waiting to see how this little show played out. Tossing her napkin on the table, Navie stood from her chair and faced me full-on. “Let’s talk in private,” she said with a tilt of her chin in the direction of the kitchen. Standing up, I followed after her like a lost puppy as the dining room erupted in shouts of objections. I could have sworn I heard Kal grumble something about it being better than a soap-opera.

Hyper-awareness took over the moment the door shut firmly behind me, and all I could think about was how close I finally was to her, how badly I needed to touch her. But the way she stood at the far end of the room, pressed against the counter like she needed every available inch of space between us, kept me rooted in place.

“So…” I started, “that’s your family?”

“Yep.”

The one-word answers were killing me. I wanted her to yell at me, scream and cuss and rant—whatever she needed to do to get it all out. I just needed to hear her voice and not the monosyllabic bullshit I was getting. With a sigh, I ran a hand through my disheveled hair. “Navie—”

“Why’d you do it?” she asked, cutting me off and momentarily confusing me.

“Why did I do what?”

Those denim eyes glistened with unshed tears, knocking the wind out of me. “Why did you kiss her?”

“Oh, baby.” Her tears broke free and each one was like a punch in the gut. I couldn’t stay away from her any longer. I was across the kitchen in a flash, my hands cupping her cheeks, my thumbs trying to brush away her sadness. “I didn’t kiss her, Navie, I swear. She kissed me. She showed up at the apartment after you left to get coffee and pushed her way in, saying she needed to talk. She threw herself at me.”

“But… y-you were holding her like… just like this,” she stuttered, reaching up and wrapping her hands around my wrists where I held her face in my palms.

“I was trying to get her off me. She caught me off-guard for a moment, but I never kissed her back. Please, believe me. I would never do that to you.”

She lowered her head, taking her eyes from me and gave it a shake. “I thought…”

“Thought what?” I prompted.

When she spoke again, her voice was so quiet I almost couldn’t hear, but once what she said registered, a part of me wished I hadn’t. “I’ve never been good enough for anyone.”

“That’s not true,” I ground out, using her hair to tip her head back up so I could see her. “Baby, you can’t believe that—”

“None of my foster families kept me,” she continued, each word gutting me. “My own mom didn’t want me. The boy who asked me to prom only did it as a prank so he and his friends could make fun of me. I hardly had any friends growing up, and until I met Carson, I never had a family. When I saw you kissing her, I just thought—”

“That I was just like everyone else,” I finished for her, even though it killed me.

She nodded on a muffled sob and tried to drop her head again, but I wasn’t having it.

“Look at me,” I demanded. When her heartbroken gaze finally met mine, I spoke the words I knew were the God’s honest truth. “I’m in love with you.” Her mouth dropped open on a gasp, but I wasn’t finished. “When you ran away from me? That was the worst moment of my life.”

“But—”

“No buts. Nothing compared to the pain I felt when I thought I had lost you. Not what happened with Bree, not losing my brother, nothing. It hurt in a way I’m not sure I could survive. I have never, ever loved someone the way I love you. What I felt for Bree isn’t even a shadow of what I feel for you. Do you get that? For the first time in my life, I am completely in love with someone else. I can’t lose you, Navie. I can’t.”

“You love me?”

“My life didn’t start until I met you, and it can’t continue if you’re not in it. That’s how much I love you.”

Her voice broke on a sob, but when she responded with, “I love you, too,” I thought I had to be dreaming.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” she sniffled. “I love you, too. I have for a while, but I was just too terrified that I’d get hurt again to admit it.”

I pulled her to me for a tight hug, wanting to feel every inch of her against me. I’d never been hungry for someone’s touch the way I was for hers. I held on for dear life, afraid that if I let go, she’d disappear. I could have spent the rest of my life that way, but when she let out a wheeze and a, “Honey. Can’t. Breathe,” I forced myself to loosen my grip.

“I’ll never hurt you like that, baby. I’m sure there will be countless times in our life together when I’ll piss you off beyond belief, but if you’ll let me, I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for all the heartache you’ve ever felt.”

“That’s a really good promise.” She giggled.

Leaning down toward her upturned face, I pressed my lips against hers. “I thought so, too.”

“I could have done without the whole pissing me off beyond belief part, but other than that, it was a pretty damn good speech.”

I pulled back just enough to see her eyes as I chuckled. “You’re seriously criticizing my I love you speech right now?”

“I’m just saying.” She shrugged with a knowing smirk. “It could have been better. Maybe next time write something out ahead of time.”

“I flew my ass all the way to Texas, risked life and limb with your trigger-happy brother to profess my love to you, and you’re giving me shit about not writing out a heartfelt declaration beforehand?” Tipping my head to the ceiling, I lamented loudly, “Why me, Lord? Seriously!”

Navie’s happy laughter pulled my attention back down. “Just got lucky, I guess.”

“I’m ignoring you right now because I’m just so goddamned happy to see you again. It’s like I can finally fucking breathe.”

Navie snuggled into me, her arms wrapped around my waist tightly as we stood there, simply living in the moment. “Rowan?” she asked quietly.

I pressed my lips against her cheek. “Hmm?”

“You really stink.”

I planted another kiss against her lips and spoke, “You’re a pain in my ass, you know that?”

“What can I say?” she responded with a teasing grin. “You bring out the best in me.”

“For the love of God, will you stop that?” I smacked Rowan’s hand away from the jar of jam he was reaching for. He had already managed to pilfer two other jars from the table when I wasn’t looking and had devoured them both, eating ten dollars’ worth of potential profit.

If you had told me a few months back that I would be in a serious, committed relationship with Rowan Locklaine, I would have laughed in your face. If you’d have told me I would eventually be head over heels, crazy in love with the man, I would have suggested you get medical help.

But there I was, sitting at the farmer’s market in the town I’d grown up in, with him at my side, selling homemade preserves and breads to give Cassidy and Carson a break from work so they could spend time with their new son, Kallum, named after Cassidy’s Uncle Kal.