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“I think I can see the Milky Way!”
“You’re going to get a crick in your neck. I’ve got a better idea.”
They walked through the center of town and Shane led her to his truck, then pulled a blanket from the back and spread it over the bed. “Come on,” he whispered, scooting her up onto the tailgate before he joined her.
“Look,” she whispered, eyes sparkling and wide in the moonlight.
“I know.” He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. “It’s amazing.” He wanted to keep watching her, but he lay beside her and looked up at the sky. Crickets chirped a chorus around them and distant aspen leaves rustled in the breeze, the dry sound of them a hint that winter was coming. He could almost smell the snow on the air. He breathed deep and let himself relax.
“This is everything I want, Shane.”
He smiled at her words. “Yeah?”
“It’s so beautiful here. The night and the stars and the mountains. It feels right. And…you feel right.”
His smile faded.
“It feels like home. Like I’ve always been here and yet everything feels possible, still. Everything.”
Everything did feel possible. All those things he never thought he’d have. Shane propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at her. He touched her cheek and watched her eyes close.
“I think I love you, Shane.”
His heart skipped a beat and then another. He had to part his lips to draw a careful breath. They hadn’t discussed love again. Not since that day. They’d wanted to take it slow, but now the force of it hit him like a train at full speed.
He slid a thumb over her full bottom lip then pressed his mouth to the same spot. “I know I love you, Merry,” he murmured against her skin.
“Yeah?” she asked, and he heard the tears in her voice before he saw them slip down her temples.
“Yeah.” He kissed her mouth again. Then her chin. Her jaw.
“Thanks for bringing me here,” she whispered. “To Providence. To Jackson.”
“I didn’t bring you here.” He tasted her throat.
“You did. If not for you, they never would’ve hired me. I never would’ve had all this beauty.”
“Well, then.” He slid a hand along her thigh, bringing her skirt along with it. “I should thank you for bringing me yourself. For bringing me…everything.”
When he touched her, she gasped, her back arching.
“Shh. Look up at the stars. I want to see them in your eyes when you come.”
“But what if someone comes back? What if…?” Her protest ended on a sigh as he stroked her.
“There’s no one here but us, Merry.” He eased her panties down and freed himself, then moved between her thighs and slid into her slowly. So slowly that they both sighed when he was finally as deep as he could get. “It’s just you and me and everything we never thought we’d have.”
“I love you,” she breathed, and he came with those words in his ears and her quiet cry of release still echoing to the sky. This was the man he wanted to be. Forever.
* * * * *
