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His eyes widened. “It wasn’t Earl?”
I shook my head. “Turns out, it really can’t work.”
It was his turn to shake his head. “Forget the dogs. It can totally work, and we’ve proved it. I want to know you. In bed… and airport bathroom… and out. Three days wasn’t enough.”
“I do, too. I’m sorry I turned down your offer to go with you. You asked me to have fun and I was triggered. When I was eighteen, my mom’s boyfriend wanted me to go with him for the night. To have sex. For fun. No relationship. We’d have sex and he’d go back to my mom. I… I–”
“Those assholes, this fucker you’re talking about and that little shit, Roger, won’t bother you again, I can promise you that. We can have any kind of boundaries or contract you want to make you feel safe. I–”
I covered his mouth with a finger. “No. A real relationship doesn’t need anything like that. We trust each other. We take care of each other.”
He nodded and I ran my fingers through his beard. “I haven’t let a woman in before. Not really,” he admitted. “My dad was a shitty example of bailing on a relationship. I remember Mom crying and it destroyed our family and then he made a new one and…” He closed his eyes for a second. “Then I was burned by Haven, Danny’s mom. I think we both have pretty skewed ideas about what a relationship really is.”
“Then we figure it out together?” I asked, my words laced with hope.
He nodded. “We figure it out together. Which means we have to be in the same place.”
“Not Scotland?” I wondered.
Suddenly, he looked weary, as if the idea of returning there was exhausting.
“I’ll go back for the Highland Games in May, and I want you to come with me.”
“I do want to see you in a kilt,” I admitted.
He grinned.
“My life’s in Hunter Valley, Daniel.” I needed him to know I wasn’t running off into the sunset with him. If he wanted to be with me, he had to be in Montana. I knew he wanted to travel, and we could do it together, but he had to stick.
He nodded, gravely. “Mine is, too.”
“You said your life wasn’t there any longer.”
“I was wrong.”
Hope flared in my chest along with newer, deeper feelings I had for him, “Do we go back then?” I asked.
He shifted and looked to the bank of monitors where it showed the list of departures. The flight numbers, the cities, and the flight times.
“How much time off do you have?”
So he hadn’t expected me to roam the world at his side.
“A week, for now.” I had plenty of time accrued, but there was only Ethan to fill in for me.
“A week’s good. I thought my life was waiting for me out in the world, that I gave up everything when I was twenty. It took me a solo trip to Scotland to realize my life, the one I pivoted to make, is pretty fucking amazing. I owe Danny an apology, but he will have to get over you and me.”
“He’s okay with it. With us. He… wants you happy.”
Daniel kissed me, soft and sweet. “I’m happy. With you.”
It felt like I was glowing from the inside out. Daniel was what a man should be. Devoted. Trustworthy. Sexy. Dirty talker.
“So where should we go?” I asked.
Daniel looked at the departures. “Anywhere you want, sweet girl, as long as we’re together.”
* * *
