Her eyes are so wide they’re almost covered by her bangs, and she does that adorable thing where she blows them out of her face, her mouth opening and closing like she has no idea what to say to all this. Not that I blame her. It makes me feel suddenly awkward and embarrassed, like maybe I’ve put her in a weird position. Which I have, probably. I definitely didn’t think this through before I rushed to the airport, that’s for sure. Hell, I didn’t even pack the right clothes for this place. I don’t even own clothes for California.

“I can go,” I start, already backing away. “I can give you time to think about this, and if you don’t feel the same way, I promise that’s okay. I just needed to tell you. I couldn’t leave things like they were when you left. I couldn’t let you just be out there somewhere thinking it didn’t kill me to watch you go. Because it did, Tess. It killed me. But what killed me more was knowing I didn’t run after you. That I didn’t tell you I would go anywhere, do anything—as long as I get to be with you.”

“Don’t you dare,” she says, taking a step forward.

I pause. “Which part?”

“Leave,” she says, her fingers reaching out to grab at my shirt. “Don’t you dare leave.”

“You don’t…you don’t want me to leave?”

“After that?” Her lips turn up in a grin. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Then I’m going to need you to say something, Tess,” I tell her pitifully, “because I’m kind of losing my mind here.”

Her lips part as if she’s going to speak, but then there’s another wide grin, and she’s pulling me to her, her lips crashing into mine as I feel myself melt into her.

“You got on a plane for me,” she whispers against my mouth.

I nod. “I hated it. Hate flying. Felt like I was going to fall out of the sky at any moment.”

“And they wouldn’t even let you whittle on board.”

Her voice is teasing, but I notice she still hasn’t said anything.

“If this is your way of letting me down easy, could you just—”

“Hunter,” she says.

I swallow. “Yeah?”

“I love you too.”

I feel relief course through me, like all the adrenaline is leaving my system in one fell swoop. I breathe a little easier, stand a little taller, because the woman who holds my entire universe in her tiny little Fixit hands loves me.

“You do?”

“If you weren’t here right now, I’d have been back in Denver by tomorrow.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Not even a little.”

“You mean I didn’t have to fly?”

“It’s so romantic that you did though. I still can’t believe you’re here. In California.” She looks me up and down. “Wearing that.”

“I don’t exactly have beachwear.” I grin down at her, feeling lighter than I have in years. “You really would have come back?”

“I was literally coming to the decision when you knocked on the door,” she tells me. “You see, someone a lot smarter than me told me that it’s the things we don’t say that haunt us forever, and I realized…I didn’t go to Colorado looking for anything. But I showed up, and suddenly my whole world was turned upside down. I had just lost my sense of self when I arrived at your…dingy little lodge,” she says with a laugh. She reaches up to cup my cheeks. “But then there you were…This surly, stubborn, taciturn giant who frowned like it was his job. There was nothing at all that could have hinted you would turn out to be everything I didn’t know I wanted. You’re kind and steadfast, and you think about everyone else around you even when you pretend that you don’t.”

Her thumb strokes at my beard, and I cover her hand with mine.

“I’ve spent my whole life taking care of other people, so I know exactly what it looks like to put everyone else’s needs before yours. But with you…for the first time in a long time…I saw what it looked like to let someone take care of me for a change. And I didn’t realize how badly I needed that. I had no idea how desperate I was for someone to take the reins so I could breathe until I met you.” Her smile reaches her eyes, which look slightly wet now. “You see…I wasn’t looking for anything when I came to you, but I found you just the same. And as it turns out…you’re everything I never knew I needed.”

“Tess…”

“So of course I was going to come back to you. I was going to march up to that lodge and make sure you knew that you were stuck with me now. That for as long as you’d let me, I was going to take care of you right back.”

I feel a lump forming in my throat that is increasingly hard to swallow past, all of it feeling too good to be true, like at any moment I’ll wake up and realize it’s all been a dream. With that in mind, I lower my mouth to hers, kissing at her lips softly as I revel in her scent and taste, committing them to memory.

“I do want to take care of you,” I murmur. “Whatever that looks like. Forever.”

She giggles prettily, rising on her toes to let me sweep her up in my arms. I lift her from the ground and spin her as exhilaration fills me because I never could have anticipated this. Not in a thousand years. I never could have known upon meeting this tiny, fiery woman that she would be everything to me. That she would reach into me where all the cracks still reside, slipping past them and making herself at home to heal them from the inside out.

Because I can feel it. That this is what she’s doing. Healing me.

And I can feel that it’s only the beginning.

I’m kissing her furiously now, wrapped up in her soft scent and her warm mouth, so I don’t hear it at first—the quiet Ahem from the doorway.

I jerk up to see a man only a few inches shorter than me, graying at the temples, with eyes that are big and brown and very familiar.

“Dad,” Tess says sheepishly. “This is—”

“Hunter Barrett,” I say stiltedly, thrusting out my hand even as I keep one arm wrapped around her.

I can’t seem to let go of her now that I have her.

“Neil Covington,” Tess’s dad says, reaching to shake my hand. “I’ve heard a bit about you.”

I cock an eyebrow down at Tess. “Have you?”

“Oh,” Neil laughs. “Just a bit.”

I clear my throat, putting a minimal bit of distance between Tess and me, feeling my neck heat as I realize what all her father must have just seen.

“I’m sorry to barge in like this,” I say. “You see…”

Neil waves me off. “You had some things that needed to be said?”

“I…” My lips twitch. “Yes. A lot of things.”

His eyes shift between the two of us, his grin widening. “Boy. Your mama really is going to have an ass whooping waiting for you, kiddo.”

“You’re probably right,” she chuckles. She looks sheepish now too. “And I still have more to explain.”

Neil whistles under his breath. “Whew. Well. You’d both better come inside. I got coffee made.”

“That sounds great,” I say tightly, still thinking about mauling his daughter.

I watch him turn back inside, then look down at Tess, who gives me an impish grin. “We have more to talk about too, I guess.”

“You got the show.”

Her brow furrows. “How did you know?”

“Didn’t for sure,” I say with a shrug. “But I knew you would.”

“I know it will be…hard. For us. But—”

“It won’t be,” I tell her.

“But I have to—”

“You don’t get it,” I laugh, pulling her in closer. “You’re kind of stuck with me now, Miss Fixit.”

She beams back at me. “Is that right?”

“Afraid so. I told you. I’m with you. Whatever that looks like.”

“They want me to start right away,” she says forlornly.

I shake my head. “I’m due for a getaway.”

“But what about the lodge?”

“It’ll be there.” I raise her hand to my mouth and kiss the back of it. “And like I said, you’re not the only contractor out there. The place will get fixed one way or another. I promise, the work you’ve done won’t go to waste.”