Page 93 of The One Who Saw Her: Boone

"More of this?" She wiggled against him, her breasts soft against his side, making a highly effective argument.

"More of you." He said it evenly and felt her go still beneath his arm.

He closed his eyes. Idiot. This was exactly why he didn't talk when he was sex-drunk—his mouth stopped running the filter his brain usually kept in place.

"Forget I said that."

"No." Her arms tightened around him. "Don't do that. I want more of you too. But I think I'm going to get that promotion."

He kept his face neutral and his grip easy. "Yeah? That's great." He meant it. He really did. But he also needed a second to absorb the pinch behind his sternum.

"Turns out the celebrity project is working better than anyone expected. My boss's boss wants to talk to me about managing the whole project." She lifted her head, and there was a brightness in her eyes that made it impossible to feel anything but glad for her, no matter what it cost him. "But I'm also working on something else. After helping Colter, I offered to help Spud find a date for the Bridlewood Sunflower Spectacular."

"I heard he led with the broken dick story."

"Beginner mistakes. But this one feels right, I can tell."

"Good luck," Boone said.

"It's going to be nearly impossible," she said confidently, like a woman who treated nearly impossible like a personal invitation. "But not entirely. And if I pull it off, it proves I can help anyone find love. Even small-town people." She paused. "People like the ones here."

He came up on one elbow and looked down at her. "What are you saying?"

"That maybe I'm done working for entitled assholes who take credit for everything I build." Her chin tilted up, and there was something resolute in it—something that looked a lot like a woman deciding her own terms for the first time in a while. "Maybe I want to work with real people."

Jesus.

If she meant that—if she actually did that—it would keep her here. Right here in Bridlewood. With him.

He worked very, very hard not to let that show on his face.

"But what about New York?" He held her gaze and kept his voice level. She needs to make this choice without your thumb on the scale. "That's a real opportunity, Vivi."

She looked up at him, eyes lit with something that was equal parts hope and uncertainty—the most honest he'd ever seen anyone look. "It is. There are still a hundred steps between here and it being mine, but fingers crossed."

"It's incredible." He leaned down and delivered the kind of kiss that said everything he'd decided not to say out loud. When he pulled back, he kept his forehead against hers for just a moment. "You're incredible."

"This weekend was incredible." She slid her thigh over his and pushed herself up to straddle him, the early morning light casting a glow over her naked body. She was something.

God, she was really something.

"Getting better by the minute," he said.

He brought her down into a kiss deep enough to say what he couldn't—and held back every word that would make her second-guess a dream she'd earned. Celebrity Project Manager. The kind of title a city built around her, the kind of opportunity Bridlewood could never offer, no matter how hard he wanted it to be otherwise.

He knew what she'd done these past weeks—watched her make everyone else's world steadier and brighter and more possible without ever being asked to. Watched her help put his family's ranch back together piece by piece. Watched her listen to Colter like he mattered and quietly nudge him toward a woman worth wanting. She poured herself into every person around her like it cost her nothing, when it had to cost her something.

It had wrecked him. Quietly, completely, without him seeing it coming.

And somewhere in the wreckage, he realized this was never just about fixing beams and painting walls. It was about becoming the kind of man who deserved a woman like Vivi—the kind of man who held on with both hands and let go when he had to.

He'd finally found the woman he wanted for keeps and there was a very large, very unresolved TBD sitting right in the middle of her travel plan.

CHAPTER 37

Vivi and Jo slid into a booth at the Tipsy Cow, the clatter of shot glasses being snacked against the bar top and the low hum of conversation wrapping around them. String lights cast a warm glow over the rustic wood, and the scent of spiced cider and fried appetizers made the space feel like a cocoon from the outside world.

"Are you happy you volunteered for the fair, or is it just another thing to stress over?” Jo leaned back and spun a straw between her fingers.