“No!” I couldn’t stop the strangled cry if I tried. It wells up from the depths of my heart and bursts out of me. I wipe at the stupid tears again. “No,” I say again, softer. “You don’t have to go. This is your home.”
“And yours?” he asks.
The pain, uncertainty, and regret in his beautiful eyes are killing me. I want to wrap my arms around him and promise him everything’s going to be okay, but I’m so scared.
Falling in love was the easy part. Fighting for love is harder than I ever imagined it could be. Because this fight isn’t about putting up my fists, it’s about letting down my walls and being vulnerable with this man who means so much to me. A man I now know without a doubt holds my heart in his hands.
He could break me. So easily.
Be he also makes me whole.
“George would miss you,” he adds.
My laugh comes out half-sob. “That was low.”
His lips hitch halfway up. “I’m a desperate man. I fucked it up with you. I know that. And I’m so sorry.”
I sniff. “Yeah. You did fuck up. Why did you do that?”
He sighs, but he doesn’t flinch in the face of my searching look. “I got a peek at what it might be like to lose you, and it scared the hell out of me. Shook me so hard I didn’t realize I was running scared until my brothers knocked some sense into me.” He swallows hard. “When I’m with you, everything feels so right, Cass. Like, for the first time in my life, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, doing exactly what I’m supposed to do. And that’s loving you, with everything in me.”
I press a fist to my chest, where my heart is threatening to pound a hole through my ribs.
“I’m not perfect,” he continues, his eyes shining, “and I can’t promise I won’t fuck up again, but if there’s any chance you could give me a second chance, I swear to you, I will bust my ass to be the man you deserve. If you want me to print my apology on the front page of the paper, I will.”
My lips quirk. “I think the whole town’s already heard it.”
He huffs, blinking as he nods. “Yeah. You’re probably right. But…anything else. Anything at all. You name it, baby, and I’ll do it. I just—I want to take back everything that happened this morning. I want to have never left our bed. I want to have been there for you when you needed me. Because you’re what matters most. And I’m just so damned sorry.”
I launch myself at him, because this isn’t a man who wants to hurt me.
This is my man.
Who’s as imperfect as I am, but who tries his best to be everything and more for the people he loves.
“Stop,” I say, wrapping him up tight in my arms. “Stop apologizing. I forgive you. And I love you. Just the way you are.”
He exhales a shaky breath and squeezes, his nose buried in my hair. “I love you, Cassie. I love you so much it hurts.”
“It’s not supposed to hurt,” I tell him.
“Hurting you hurts me.”
“I forgive you,” I whisper again. “And I’m sorry for not forgiving you sooner. But even when I was mad at you, I still loved you. I’ve always loved you, Romeo.”
“Ditto, Juliet.”
Cheers are erupting behind us, but I shut them out and hug Ryan with all my might.
He’s so much for so many people, but who takes care of him? I think that needs to be my job. And I think I’m going to kick ass at it.
He smiles at me with shiny eyes full of hope. “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you.”
“You’re you. That’s more than enough.”
A furry beast circles my legs and chitters at me. I look down at George, and he smiles back up at me.
Ryan brushes a thumb down my cheek. “Can I take you home?”
“In a minute.”
His brows furrow. “If you’re waiting for the sheriff, it’s safe to say he has his hands full with the real criminal now.”
A relief I didn’t know I needed sags through my body. Having the entire town on my side is one thing. Convincing law enforcement is also necessary to staying out of jail, however. “Really?”
Ryan grins at me. “George caught himself an arsonist.”
“Good boy,” I tell George. “I’m making you extra popcorn tonight, and I want you to tell me all about it.”
George doesn’t clap his hands, but his beady expression tells me he’s looking forward to being back where we belong. With popcorn. And Ryan. And each other, just like a real family.
“So, about home,” Ryan says, taking my hands in his.
I shake my head again. “Nope. This first.”
And before he can object—not that he would, I’m quite certain—I give the crowd what they want. I go up on tiptoe to press a kiss to his lips.
The quick kiss turns into a long kiss, and soon I’ve completely forgotten we’re in public.
George hasn’t, though.
He climbs Ryan like a tree, wedging his fluffy butt between us before any clothes are in danger of falling off.
We break apart, laughing. “Okay, okay,” Ryan says to George. “We’ll get a room.”
All of Happy Cat explodes in cheers behind us, and I realize I’ve found something I’ll never have in San Francisco.
I don’t just have a true love, I have the love of a whole community.
But Ryan is my favorite. My very, very favorite.
That’s true even before the photos of Steve being led into the sheriff’s office in handcuffs break on InstaChat a few hours later. But when I hear how my man and my trash panda saved the day, I have no doubt I’m the luckiest woman in Georgia.
“You guys,” I say, giggling as the comments and sheep emojis pile up on the InstaChat post. “You did so good.”
Ryan kisses my temple, drawing me closer on the bed. As close as two people with a giant raccoon in their laps can get, anyway. But George insists on holding the tablet, even though he hasn’t yet figured out how to work the screen. But with this brilliant little critter, I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.
“We would’ve done anything for you,” Ryan tells me. “We’ll always do anything for you.”
I lift a brow at him. “Anything?”
“Anything.”
“Even put matching handlebars on your bike?”
He tips his head back and laughs, and I soak in the music of my favorite sound in the entire world.
“For you? Absolutely.” He kisses me again, and I smile against his lips.
Because there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Ryan either.
And I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life showing him.
Thirty-Two
Ryan
One Month Later…
* * *
Karaoke night at the Wild Hog has been pre-empted tonight by something better: the party for the formal launch of Cassie’s new gaming app for Sunshine Toys.
Jace announced the party on InstaChat last week, and the event got so many RSVPs that he had to issue tickets. Since Steve ended up behind bars for a laundry list of offenses, including multiple counts of arson, Cassie’s been pretty popular around here.
And the factory is gaining popularity too, at least to a degree.
Now, as I wade through the crowd with two lemonades in hand, looking for Cassie, it’s all good vibes. Friends and neighbors shout greetings and congratulations, as if I’m the one who’s done something special, when really, it’s all my girl.
She came up with the plan to save Savannah’s factory.
She charmed half the people who are still opposed to the factory into putting up with it just to keep her sweet self around.
And she’s made me feel like a new man.
Until she came home, I had no idea what I was missing. No idea this kind of love was even possible. I don’t know what I’ll do if she ever changes her mind and decides to head back to San Francisco.
Other than follow her.
We haven’t talked again about her work situation, but I know she can’t work remotely forever. And she’s been conducting interviews for a general manager for the factory in Savannah’s absence, since it appears her sister isn’t coming back from the UK anytime soon. And while Cassie’s much more comfortable now with the factory’s products, her first love is still game design.
I finally locate her playing Ms. Pac-Man, which is where I should’ve looked in the first place. “Hey, you.”
She tilts her cheek to take a kiss.
“Hold on…one more…and got it!” She pumps a fist in the air and spins to grab my face and pull me down for a long smacker on the lips. I lift the lemonades out of the way and smile into her kiss. She’s in a tee shirt she designed specifically to promote the new Love Your Inner Sunshine app.
Hers is blue with the Sunshine logo hugging a cute brunette in glasses and a bouncy ponytail.
Mine’s black.
Jace and Blake both went for gray, and Ruthie May’s running around in a purple version.
Cassie’s eyes are bright and happy when she lets me go. “I beat my own high score,” she informs me.
“You’re supposed to be getting ready to make a speech.”
She wrinkles her nose. “You know there’s a reason I hide behind a computer screen as often as possible.”
“Yeah, and I also know you can do this. Here.” I hand her one sweating mason jar. “Liquid courage.”
“Is it the courage part or the lemonade part that makes this so delicious?”
“Both.”
We clink jars and each take a healthy gulp. She wraps an arm around my waist and leans her head against my heart. “Did I tell you initial projections suggest we’ll triple sales within a week?”
“That’s amazing. You’re amazing.”
“Nah. I’m just a girl who wants the world to get more comfortable with orgasms through gaming.”
“Cassie! Cassie! They’re waiting on your speech, hon.” Ruthie May swats at my arm. “Let go, Ryan. You can take her home tonight. The rest of us get her for a couple hours.”