His stomach started to go tight but he forced himself to calm as he strode up the front steps and knocked on the door.

She opened it a few moments later, and even in her white denim shorts and her simple black cotton halter top she was so damn beautiful it took his breath away.

“Hey, Jamie.” She smiled up at him, her long lashes shadowing her high cheekbones.

He took it all in—her corn silk hair bundled up in a messy bun, making him want to pull it all down and fist his hands in it. The soft pink blush of her mouth—a mouth that wanted to be kissed. Begged for it.

“Hey, sugar.”

Stepping in, he blinked at her, letting his eyes adjust to the bright light in the entryway before grabbing her face in both hands, cupping her delicate jaw. He spent a few seconds simply breathing her in, his lips inches from hers, then he pulled her closer and heard her quiet gasp. And that just did him in. He went hot all over as he leaned in and kissed her, losing himself in the softness of her lips, the scent of her all around him. Kissing her again, he brought her up on her toes, and her tongue was warm and sweet as it tangled with his. When she moaned, he wrapped her up in his arms and lifted her, kissing her long and hard, until he felt her smiling against his lips.

He set her on her feet without letting her go. “What’s that for, sugar?”

“Just happy to see you,” she said, her blue eyes shining, brilliant.

“I’m happy to see you too, sugar. Want to walk with me in the garden? I want to be out in the air with you. I want to be under the stars.”

She smiled and took his hand, leading him through the small house and out the back door. Madame curled around their legs as they moved onto the garden path. The scent of flowers was even stronger out here, mixed with the herbs Summer Grace grew. The magnolias were blooming and the fragrance of their creamy blossoms was pure heaven. He pulled her against his side, looping an arm around her slender shoulders, and felt her lean into him. She felt so damn good. Being with his girl out here beneath the night sky, the stars glowing in the heavens as if for them alone, felt damn good. Knowing she was his, knowing how he felt about her . . .

“So I got your text about Duff arriving. Did you get him all settled? I didn’t think I’d see you tonight.”

“He’s just fine. I left him sleeping like a baby. But we can talk about him later, okay, sweetheart? Right now I just want to be with you. Let’s take a walk around your pretty garden.”

He slipped his arm down to take her hand, and she nodded, a quizzical smile on her lovely face, but then her features relaxed and she leaned into him again as they moved slowly down the brick path. Madame crisscrossed her way back and forth in front of them like some sort of feline wraith in the dark, then finally wandered off to catch mice, or whatever mysterious things cats did in the night.

When they reached the back wall where the pair of magnolias grew, Jamie stopped and pulled Summer Grace into his arms. “Hey. Can you believe we’ve only been seeing each other for just under a month?”

“You’ve been counting the days?” she teased.

He turned her body into his, catching her gaze and catching her waist in his hands. “You know, recently I started to. I’ve started to think about a lot of things lately.”

She rested her hands on his chest, which was as high as she could reach, but he didn’t mind—he liked it. “Oh? Like what?”

“Like . . . like what would things have been like if we’d gotten together years ago?”

She laughed. “We’d probably have killed each other by now. I know I wasn’t mature enough back then to conduct a relationship.”

“Yeah, apparently me neither. But think about it. How many nights like this could we have had, you and me and Madame, maybe? How many times could we have hung out with Mick and Allie? You know, gone to dinner or camping.”

“We haven’t exactly done any of that, Jamie.”

“No, because I’ve wanted you all to myself. And we’ve needed time to figure this all out before we brought other people into it. But we could. We will, I hope.”

Her head tilted to one side as she asked, “Do you?”

“Yeah.” Why did he find his voice going rough? “I do want that. Don’t you?”

“Yes. But I’m the girl, so you’re supposed to say it first.”

He smiled down at her. “Then consider it said. There are a lot of things I want to do with you, and not all of them are sexual.”

She smacked his chest playfully, laughing. “Now that I find hard to believe.”

He caught her hand in his and held on tight. He said quietly, “I’m serious, Summer Grace.”

Her face suddenly sobered. “What are you saying, Jamie?”

He wondered if she could hear his heart hammering, his pulse racing in his veins, causing a roar in his ears, inside his head.

“What I’m saying is that I want all kinds of things with you. I want to hang out with Mick and Allie. I want to get in my ’Vette and take a road trip, maybe go down to the Florida Keys and lounge on the beach. I want to go to the zoo with you.”

“The zoo? I love the zoo.”

He smiled. “I know.”

“I’m kinda liking this scenario. What else?”

“I want us to talk to each other like we have a future together, and not just like we’re making plans for the next time we’ll see each other. I want us not to date or play with anyone else, and not just for health reasons. I want it to be about us, because we both want it. I want it to mean something. Because it already does.” He grabbed her shoulders and leaned down so he could look into her face—he felt like he had to. “I want it all because I love you, Summer Grace.”

“Oh, Jamie!” she said, and burst into tears.

“Wh—” His throat went tight with anxiety and he swallowed. “Sweetheart, what is it? Is it too soon to tell you that? Baby, what’s wrong? Fuck. Forgive me. Maybe I should have waited. Just . . .” He’d never felt so lost in his life. “Just tell me what the problem is.”

“The problem is nothing!” She sniffed, but she let the tears course down her flushed cheeks. “The problem is that I was going to tell you the same thing. Because I’ve been in love with you forever. And I really never thought I’d hear those words from you.”

He kissed her, just pulled her in tight and crushed his mouth to hers. Then he pulled back, peering into her face to make sure this was real. That she was real. But she was—real enough that she grabbed his cheeks and demanded another kiss. When their lips broke apart they stayed there for several long moments, their foreheads pressed together until he realized something.

“Summer Grace. Do you love me?” he asked.

“Of course I love you. Seriously, Jamie?”

“Serious as a hand grenade.”

She shook her head. “You are one dangerous man to mention a hand grenade in almost the same breath in which you tell me you love me for the first time.”

“Well, to be accurate, it was actually in the same breath in which you told me you loved me for the first time.”

“This is true.”

“I do love to be right.”

She laughed. “You’re the second person who’s said that to me this week. Wonder what it means?” Looping her arms around his waist, she buried her cheek against his chest.

He wrapped a hand up in her hair and held her there. “Maybe it means you hang out with unbelievable egomaniacs?”

“Probably,” she said, her voice muffled. “Must be the masochist in me.”

All he could do was shake his head. Then all he could do was kiss her, there in her little garden, under the dark Louisiana sky, with the stars shining down on them like coins of good fortune. He felt that good fortune down to his bones. Which also kicked off the old tapes in his head that were trying to tell him the sky was falling. But for now his girl loved him. For now he had Summer Grace—in his arms, in his life. And he planned to spend the foreseeable future drinking that in, maybe even until he was whole again.