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“I know you do.”
“If it wasn’t for you and East, I would have already left again. And now this…what’s happening with us. I don’t know how not to be with you anymore. I knew that would happen, and now it has, but I don’t know how to be here either. I can’t do it, not forever.”
The thing is, I don’t think Morgan hates Birchbark. I think the situation with his family has made him feel like he does, has colored his impression of this place he grew up exploring, but I also know that what I think about his feelings doesn’t matter. I’m not him, and only he knows what he wants.
“Then I’ll go with you,” I say without looking at him. I take a drink of my coffee, then set the mug down.
“You can’t do that. I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t,” I counter.
“You love it here. Your business is here.”
I shrug. “I love you more. I said no to you last time. I can’t do that again. I should have gone with you the first time. I lost you once, Morgan. I can’t live through it a second time.”
“No.” He shakes his head, then holds my cheek and angles it toward him. “It’s not fair. I’m not worth that.”
Looking at him, no one would know he believes that but me. Morgan doesn’t think he’s worth loving. He blames himself for Ella, for his mom, for East…just like Rhett does. “You are to me. When you got back, you said I’m yours, but you don’t really believe it. I am, Morgan. I belong to you, and now you fucking belong to me too. There’s no going back. We’ll figure the rest of it out. I can go back and forth. I trust East to help with the shop. He’ll take care of it if he knows he’s doing it for me. We’ll figure it out,” I say again. Somehow, we will.
My parents…they’re not going to be happy. They’re not going to understand. But they’ll support my decision because that’s just how they are.
“I don’t deserve you.” He drops his forehead to mine. “I’m not a good man. Not really, but I want to be for you.”
“You are a good man…and I don’t need you to be anything other than mine.”
Morgan smashes our lips together, starts climbing onto me. I scoot back so there’s more room, lie flat on the deck, the wood against my back, while he straddles me, tongue in my mouth, like he owns it.
And he does.
“I gotta stay through the summer,” I tell him when Morgan lies beside me again, head in the crook of my arm. “I need to be with my parents, sort through the shop stuff. Talk to East, and I still think you need to spend more time with him too…East and Rhett.”
He must be blissed out because he doesn’t argue.
“But after that, if you wanna go, I’ll go, baby. It’ll be an adventure. I need to see what life is like outside the UP.” My chest is tight, but I ignore it.
“I love you,” he says against my skin. “We wasted so much fucking time.”
Yeah, we did, but there’s no changing that. “So we don’t waste any more. There’s just one thing…”
He pushes up onto his elbows and looks down at me. “What? Anything.” He grins, and damn, it’s full of happiness. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Morgan look so happy. I’ll do anything to keep making it happen.
“You’re gonna have to break up with that boyfriend of yours, and…I won’t share you. No one gets to touch what’s mine.”
The grin grows into a smile. “I broke up with him after our first kiss. And no one gets to touch what’s mine either.”
“Damn right,” I say, then lose myself when Morgan kisses me again.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Morgan
I lie on my back, Dusty leaning over me, head resting on his palm while he uses his other hand to play with my hair. The dock is warm against me. I’d stay out here all day if we could.
“What do you want to do today?” Dusty asks.
“Be with you,” I reply simply. He’s the only thing here that keeps me on level ground.
“Well, no shit. I’m not letting you out of my sight now. I’m gonna be your stalker so you can’t run away from me.”
