I internally wince and scratch my head. “Yeah… um… Casey doesn’t exactly know the details about the ranch. She thinks I’m just an unemployed mechanic with a bright business idea.”

Nix’s jaw drops. “Dude… you can’t keep shit like that from her if you’re trying to build something here.”

“It’s like lying,” Emily affirms. “And why would you care if she knows that? It’s a good thing, right?”

“Casey’s a little jaded when it comes to rich men,” I say bluntly. “The guy that fucked her head up was rich and entitled, and she does not look kindly on men like that now. Kind of lumps them in a category.”

“You’re rich dude,” Nix confirms with a grave nod. “But you are not entitled. Surely, she sees that.”

I shrug my shoulders helplessly. “I suppose she sees that because all she’s seen is Tenn Jennings… a mechanic. And to clarify… I’m not rich. My father is.”

“You have a trust fund,” Nix points out in reminder. “It’s what you’re going to use to front this business.”

“I know,” I grumble as I start to head back to the side door that leads back to the office. “I know I have to figure out a way to tell her this shit. It’s just… we get so caught up in other things that it never seems to be the right time.”

“I’m thinking you’re talking about some really smokin’ hot sex, right?” Nix starts to say, but then Emily backhands him in the stomach, causing him to bend over and grunt.

“Quit asking him about his sex life, you perv,” she huffs, and then looks at me as I hold open the door for her to walk through. “Take it from me… a woman… we do not like secrets. You need to out yourself sooner rather than later, Tenn.”

“I’ll take that under advisement,” I tell Emily with a nod of my head.

And I will. I just have to figure out whether or not I trust Goldie to accept this about me. Is she in deep enough with me that it won’t matter? Or will this cause her to get skittish on me again? Possibly cause her to bolt? Worse… will it diminish the trust she’s put in me so far?

I wish I knew the answer to those questions. The painful and obvious thing to draw from that is the reason I don’t know the answers is because I guess I don’t trust that Casey is feeling the same things I am. While she has admitted to falling for me, I still have no clue what that really means. For a woman that gave so very little to the men in her life, that could mean something as little as just liking the fantastic sex. Truly… it could not mean much at all in Casey’s world.

Sucks to have doubts, but there you go.

I am not deterred, however.

When I told Casey the other night that I wasn’t going to let her go, I meant it. I’m sticking around, and I am going to take whatever she chooses to give me. Then I’m going to keep at her, chipping away at her walls until every last fear and reservation has been obliterated. Will it take days? Weeks? Months?

Fuck… it could take a lifetime, but I’m not going anywhere.

Nix, Emily, and I walk into The Last Call. My original thought had been to grab Casey and go somewhere for dinner, but then I thought… why not just stay here? They have great food and great beer, plus one fantastic view of the ocean from the back deck. So I texted Casey and suggested it, and she texted back that she’d have Hunter reserve us a prime table outside.

As we walk through the growing crowd, I can see Casey’s already gone from behind the bar, so I head straight out to the deck with Nix and Emily following me. We had a productive afternoon. Grabbed a bite to eat at a local restaurant, introducing my friends to the East Coast treasure of fried seafood that I’ve become quite addicted to. Then we went back to Casey’s house and sat at her kitchen table, ironing out details.

“So what do you think?” I’d asked him… but cut my gaze over to Emily, as I knew she was part of this as well.

“We’re interested,” he said, referencing both he and Emily. “We’ve been talking about it since you came up to visit, and it could be a great way to supplement my income since my work is all commission based and requests for metal art are few and far between. What would you need from us?”

“Well, we need to work up a formal business plan,” I mused as I got up from the table and foraged around in one of Casey’s drawers until I found a small pad of paper and a pen. “The building list price is $220,000, and we’ll need to put down twenty percent at least. We’ll need some start-up supplies and a budget for advertising, most of which would probably be in a website build. Some money to front shipping costs since you’ll do the metal work up in New Jersey and ship the parts down to me. I’m thinking… maybe $75,000 on the low end, $100,000 on the high end. Fifty-fifty partnership.”

Nix whistled through his teeth. “That’s some serious cashola. I don’t have fifty grand laying around.”

“I do,” I told him bluntly. “I’ll front the entire cost and we can work out a way for me to recoup those from first sales over a period of time. Or dude… listen, if you don’t want in as a business partner, I’ll contract with you exclusively and pay you on commission.”

Nix shook his head. “No, I want in as a partner. It’s a great opportunity and if you’re willing to help me front the buy in, I’ll take it.”

“Nix,” Emily said hesitantly. “My dad will give us the money.”

Before the words even finished leaving those lips, Nix was shaking his head. “No way. We’re doing this on our own.”

Emily merely smiled in understanding and then turned to me. “I think we should do it. The goal should be for us to iron out the framework for a business plan before we leave on Sunday.”

“Awesome,” I said with a bright smile, sticking my hand across the table toward Nix. “Partners.”

“Partners, man,” he said gruffly as he shook my hand.

So yeah… the wheels are in motion. We have so much to do, and I doubt this will get launched at least for a few months, but we have an initial game plan. And I can’t wait to tell Casey about it, because today is the day that I made the one-hundred percent commitment to stay here in Nags Head.

With Casey.

And I hope she looks forward to it somewhat.

Speaking of the woman who captured my heart, I see her as soon as I push through the glass door that leads out onto the deck. She’s sitting at one of the tables closest to the ocean, her back to me as she stares out at the water that is turning pink from the sun setting behind us in the west. Her long hair hangs over the back of her chair, and she has her flip-flopped feet propped up on one of the companion chairs.

I walk over to her, come up right behind her, and lean my head over until she sees me. She tilts her head way back and gives me a beautiful, upside-down smile. I, in turn, give her a fast, upside-down kiss.

“Hey beautiful,” I tell her when I pull my lips free.

Casey pushes to her feet as I step back from her chair. She walks around and stands beside me so I can put my arm around her waist as Nix and Emily walk up. Leaning over to kiss her on the side of her head, I say, “Goldie… this is my buddy, Nix, and his fiancée, Emily.”

Casey leans forward to shake each of their hands. “I’m so glad to meet you both.”

With greetings out of the way, we go ahead and take seats around the circular table with Casey to my left and Emily to my right, putting Nix in between both women as well. A waitress comes over, takes our drink orders, and gives us some menus.

We engage in plenty of chitchat while we decide what we want to eat, and take a moment to enjoy the colored water as the sun fades behind us while we sip at frosty beers.

“It’s so beautiful here,” Emily murmurs as she gives Casey a smile. “You are so lucky to live in a place like this.”