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“This!” I gestured between us.

“Alexis—”

I shook my head. “No. We talked about this. You knew this wasn’t going to be a relationship. You knew this wasn’t going to last. I get the job tomorrow. It ends after that, so why throw that word around? What is the point?”

He blinked at me. “The point is that I’m in love with you.”

My jaw set. “No.”

I got off the bed and started putting my clothes on.

“Are you leaving?” he asked, disbelief in his voice.

“Yes.”

“Because I told you I love you—”

“No. Because you think you do. And you shouldn’t.” I pulled on my yoga pants. “I should have ended this months ago. I should have gone with my gut.” I pulled a shirt over my tangled wet hair.

Daniel was off the bed, jumping into jeans. “Alexis…”

I grabbed my bag and walked out of the room.

“Alexis!”

I ignored him.

I came out into the sunlight to my car, and Daniel followed close on my heels. “Hey!”

“Daniel, this discussion is over.”

“We haven’t even had a discussion. How can it be over?” he said to my back.

I chirped off my alarm.

“Stop!” He grabbed my wrist.

I whirled on him and yanked my arm down. “No! You knew this was a temporary situation. You knew this wasn’t going to have a happy ending.”

He dragged a hand through his hair. “Look, I didn’t plan this either, but it’s happening now, and I can’t pretend that it’s not.”

“It’s not. Our lives don’t work,” I said. “They don’t work together.”

He shook his head. “How do you know? You’ve never even tried to make them work. You won’t let me meet your friends or your family. I can’t know where you live. Give me a chance. Let me try. I can come to you. I can do everything.”

I shook my head. “And how are you going to do everything, Daniel? When you have to be here to run this house.”

“I won’t buy it. I’ll move to Minneapolis to be near you.”

My heart broke. The declaration pushed the air right out of my lungs.

“I’ll get an apartment if you don’t want to live with me,” he said. “I’ll get a job over there.”

I let out a puff of air. “Daniel, you can’t leave Wakan. They need you. You love it here—”

“I love you more. If you think I want any of this without you in it, you don’t know anything about me.” His golden-green eyes held mine. “I can’t lose you. I won’t. The job doesn’t have to end what we have. I won’t let it.”

I stood there, anguished. “It’s not even the job, Daniel. That’s just the logistics. It’s my life. My life isn’t compatible with your life.”