Page 127 of Once Upon a Fall

My arms go around him, my hands on his back, meeting him kiss for kiss, as he holds me close to him.

His hand moves up to my face, cradling my cheek tenderly, and I melt into him as he deepens the kiss.

Well, this went much better than I hoped it would.

Dean loves me. Dean loves me.

The thought feels almost too big to have, and I smile against his mouth because I don’t know what else to do with it.

He told me he loves me while I’m wearing pink overalls and probably smelling like cleaning solution.

I can’t even bring myself to care.

His lips move to my cheek, trailing kisses down to my neck until he reaches the place just below my ear, where he lingers long enough to make me wish he’d never stop.

But then my brain catches up with my body, and I’m hit with a bunch of unanswered questions. Things that we definitely still need to discuss.

“Wait,” I say, pulling my head away from his amazing lips. I hate to do it.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, his brows furrowed.

“We love each other,” I say.

“Yes,” he says, leaning in to kiss me again.

“But I live here and you live . . . other places.”

I can’t keep kissing him when I still don’t know if this can go anywhere. It will only make it harder if we figure out it can’t work.

He tucks some hair behind my ear, his eyes searching my face.

“I’m keeping the farm.”

“What?” I ask, not sure I heard him right.

“I’m not selling it.”

“But you said it was already sold.”

“I said sort of.”

I shake my head. “What does that even mean?”

He sighs. “I thought my grandma left me the farm to keep it out of my mom’s current husband’s hands. But that’s not what happened. My grandparents made the will twenty years ago, long before he was ever around. They always intended for me to have it.”

“Okay?” I ask, still not quite following.

“It means I was wrong about why she left it to me. She wasn’t asking me to protect it for my mom. She was giving it to me.” He pauses. “And once I understood that, I couldn’t sell it. So, I’m keeping the farm.”

“But you said it sort of sold.”

He nods. “I already promised the money to my mom, and I couldn’t go back on that. So, essentially, I’m buying the farm myself. I’ll make monthly payments to her instead of giving her one lump sum. She still gets what I promised her, and I keep the farm.”

“You’re keeping the farm,” I repeat, saying the words out loud, but feeling nervous that somehow I missed something and got this all wrong.

“I’m keeping the farm.”

“And what are you going to do with it?”