He chuckles. “Must not have been too bad if I still caught your eye.”
“You were staring at me so hard, I figured the least I could do was put you out of your misery.”
“Ah. Is that what you were doing when you threw your drinks at me? Putting me out of my misery?”
“I did not—”
His lips curve into a bright smile as he tilts his head slightly to the side, watching me.
“What?” I ask softly. Something about the way he’s looking at me, his pine-green eyes filled with so much light andlove, has my heart hammering in my chest and fire blazing through my veins.
Those three little words don’t feel so little as they dance on the tip of my tongue. They feel huge. Monumental. Like the moment they’re spoken, everything will change. But instead of being afraid of the change, I want to welcome it with open arms. I don’t want to have to makeplans to see him; I want him next to me in bed every night and every morning he’s not at work. He’s already proven himself to be not just an amazing partner but also an incredible father figure to Jake. He’s brought a comfort and stability into my life that I haven’t felt in years.
“Dance with me.” His words are gentle, but they aren’t a request this time. “Please, darlin’. I promise not to step on your toes.” He winks and steps to my side, offering me his hand. Sliding my hand into his, he leads us to the dance floor where the same instructor from months ago is calling out the steps to the couple’s dance about to begin.
I won’t admit it to his face, but he’s a much better dancer than I’ve given him credit for.
It’s distracting.
The way his dark jeans hug his muscular thighs and toned ass as he follows the steps, keeping his hands on me as much as the dance allows. Being back here with him feels like the final piece of the puzzle slipping into place. My pulse thrums as he confidently guides me through a spin, his eyes never once straying. My hand collides with his chest as he pulls me in, one hand wrapped around mine while his other lands on my waist. Green irises deeper than the tall trees surrounding our little town scan my face before dropping to my mouth. My tongue swipes across my lower lip as I tug it between my teeth, our gazes colliding.
Everything around us fades—the music, the chatter, the sound of chairs scraping against the wooden floor—until we are all that remains. All that matters. Pulling in a deep breath, I steady myself for the words I’m about to say. “I—”
“I love you,Tessa.”
A buzzing warmth fills my chest and spreads through me until not an inch of my body and soul is left untouched by the flames.
He loves me.
A smile cracks across my face as I say, “You beat me to it.”
“Not exactly the response I was hoping for, baby.”
Months ago, there was a dark hole in my heart that had been rooted in place for six years, where my love for another used to live until it was ripped away. There’s still a piece of it remaining, but the area surrounding the darkness has been filled with something new, something bright and colorful. Like a stained-glass window, you can see where each pane of colored glass has been fused. Even when it’s messy, the ending result is a work of art. Because lifeismessy. We don’t always get the happily ever after we spent our lives dreaming about, and sometimes, the path we’re forced to take isn’t the one we would have chosen.
But that doesn’t make the destination less worthwhile or less beautiful.
The love I feel for Logan Bennett isn’t diminished by the love I felt for my late husband. If anything, I feel blessed beyond measure that I’ve been granted the chance to love and be loved by two incredible men.
Chapter thirty-seven
Logan
ThelistofthingsI’m afraid of has never been long. When I was a kid, the list likely consisted of the typical shit like sharks, the dark, and clowns. The few fears I had were all things I learned not to be afraid of as I got older. Sharks live in the ocean and don’t hurt people on purpose. Monsters don’t magically appear under your bed or in the closet when the light goes out. Clowns are weird as fuck and still kind of creep me out, but I know that beneath the pounds of makeup is a human, not a demon with sharp teeth who eats children.
I’ve built a career around running into fires, something that plenty of people rightfully fear. Yet I can’t remember the last time I truly felt afraid. I wasn’t afraid when I made the decision to pack my bags, leave the city, and move to a small town where the only person I knew was my introverted brother. I wasn’t afraid during that first brush fire that burned through several acres and took us hours to control. The flames felt relentless, but in the back of my mind, I knew it wasn’t going to be the fire that burned the world to the ground. It might have taken us a while, but we got it handled. I wasn’t afraid during a recent call where an elderly couple’s home had gone up in flames due to a candle left burning.
But standing here, having just confessed my love to the woman of my dreams, I’m afraid. There’s no guarantee she feels the same way, evenwith her teasing comment about me beating her to it and being the first one to say the words. Waiting for her to repeat them to me in any capacity feels like fucking torture. I don’t know what I’ll do if she doesn’t feel the same way. Especially because it’s not just her I’ve fallen for. Her son feels like mine too. I would do anything to make him happy, to keep him safe.
The radiant smile painting her face as she gazes up at me gives me hope. The flecks of gold in her hazel eyes have the power to tilt my entire world off its axis. When the words “I love you, Logan” finally fall from her lips, the air whooshes from my lungs.
“Yeah?” I ask, my breath caught in my throat.
Tessa nods as her arms loop around my neck, fingers combing through the longer strands of my hair. “I do. I love you.”
A spark ignites in my chest at her confession. It burns until the embers burst free, blazing into a comforting heat. My arms encircle her waist, and she leans up on her tiptoes as I pull her body in tight against mine, pressing a kiss to her temple. She releases a deep sigh as she buries her face in the crook of my neck, relaxing into my embrace. I didn’t have a plan for how I was going to confess my love for her, but if I had, I think it would have gone pretty damn similar to this. No grand gestures, no fancy dinner dates, just the two of us wrapped up in the moment with each other.
“I can’t tell you how good it feels to hear you say that, baby. I’ve been wanting to tell you how I felt, but I was worried you weren’t ready yet. The last thing I’d ever want to do is scare you off or pressure you into something. You and Jake are everything to me,” I say. As much as I need her to know how I feel about her, I also need her to know how I feelabout her son. There is no Tessa without Jake. He’s a part of her just as he has become a part of me.
