Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

It wasn’t easy going home after ten years, but I didn’t have much of a choice.

Dad had fallen off the ladder while fixing some rotten planks on the side of the barn. He was okay except for a broken leg and a dislocated shoulder. Mom could barely handle taking care of the animals on the farm; forget adding dealing with a barely-moving husband on top of it.

Besides, it was time.

I’d always wanted to leave my small hometown. I had big dreams. At eighteen, with a partial scholarship to play college football for Virginia State, I had my way out. I was one step closer to making my dreams a reality.

Never would have thought I’d end up fleeing outta there like my ass was on fire, running from something instead of toward my future.

Shit, I didn’t need to get pulled back into the past. I had a feeling I’d be facing a lot of things I left behind soon enough.

The road home hadn’t really changed. Coming from Ohio, there wasn’t much in the way of big cities or exciting stops. Miles and miles of nothing but fields and rundown gas stations. Farms and rest stops. A few truck stop diners, but nothing to really look at.

Ah, there was my exit. Moon Hill.

Middle of nothing North Carolina. Forty minutes outside of Charlotte but barely a blip on the map.

I sighed as I veered off the highway, expecting to see the three-stoplight town I’d left behind.

At first, it looked like the same town. The same tired three-pump gas station and garage was the welcome I’d expected. There was something about the motorcycle club-owned business that just sang home, though I’d never had much to do with the club. Some would say the Steel Paragons MC ran the town, but most would say they were the town and they kept it safe.

Feeling a little nostalgic, I kept going, letting my route take me down the main street. Yep, the mom-and-pop grocery store still stood, looking slightly busier than I was used to for a weekday afternoon. There wasn’t a moment of pondering as I slid into an open space on the side of the road. The diner was up ahead and I’d been thinking about a piece of Grandma Ruth’s apple pie since I knew I was coming home. She wasn’t my grandma, and I was pretty sure she wasn’t even alive anymore, but her name was just as famous as her pie around here. Some things you just never forgot. The diner and that pie had moved with me throughout my adolescence. First, it had been where my family ate a special dinner every Saturday night, which of course you always had to get dessert. Then later, when I’d become a teen, it had been the place where we hung out after school, spoiling our suppers with sweets and baskets of fries.

Damn, those were the good ol’ days.

I couldn’t help but get swept away in the memories. I’d been the popular jock in our high school. I’d played football most of my life and was good at it. So good I’d been drafted right after college. Shame I only got two years of glory before I tore my ACL.

My mood soured. I was nothing but a washed-up athlete, and the last thing I wanted to do was run into people I knew who hadn’t been able to escape this town, looking to share a moment of my long-gone fame.

Stepping out of the car, I did a slow spin, taking it all in.

Yeah, this place hadn’t changed much since I last saw it. There were a bunch of new shops that filled up the surrounding buildings, but they were still the same old, brick structures that had always been there. There was a crystal shop, which surprised me. Didn’t think people around here would be into something like that, but hey, I was happy things were changing. I made my way down the sidewalk, nearly tripping over a cute chalkboard sign a moment later.

Wine Between the Lines.

I snorted at the advertisement for the little shop’s book club and wine night.

Wait! I remembered my mom telling me about this place. Yeah, the cute bookstore-slash-coffee shop that opened about five years ago. My dad had started painting after I flew the coop— as he put it— and the owner of the shop had some of his work hanging up for sale. Mom also had some of her starch-stiff crochet coasters and Christmas ornaments for sale here. I wasn’t thinking as I pulled open the door, nearly flinching when the cluster of bells attached to it chimed with no rhythm. While I remembered my mom’s crochet things growing up, I’d only viewed my dad’s paintings through pictures sent in text messages. I figured this would be a good time to check it out. And maybe I was using it as an excuse to avoid facing my parents for a little bit longer too. I was still working on the guilt I held for not returning home sooner.

The scent of sugar and roasted coffee beans hit my nose right away. There was soft jazz playing, but other than that, the place was quiet.

On the left side were about four rows of dark-stained wood shelves, just high enough where my six-foot-three-inch self could get lost and go unseen. To the right was a little coffee shop, with a small counter, three tables, and a handful of couches and plush chairs.

“I’ll be right with you!”

Though I couldn’t see the person calling out from their crouched position behind the counter, I knew that voice well. That sweet, angelic sound was as familiar as it was haunting.

All the air left my lungs.

“Oh!” she exclaimed as she popped up from behind the counter, her bright green eyes blinking at me. Her brown hair, a shade lighter than mine, was done up in a French braid that hung over her left shoulder.

It seemed that neither of us knew what to say, so we both kept staring. Kept blinking. I felt like I’d been hit with a semi-truck in the chest, while my brain seemed to have leaked out of my ears.

There she stood. Emma-Leigh Johnston.

The woman I’d once loved with everything in me.

The only woman to have ever broken my heart.

The very reason why I’d left this damn town and never looked back.

Welcome home, right?

“Conway?” She was the first to break the silence.

Those damn bells on the back of the door chimed again, and I whirled around with the intention of using the new customer as a distraction so I could slip away.

“Conway? Conway Banks? Oh, boy! I thought that was you!” The old man struggled to push the door back open. “Loralie! Come quick! I told you it was him.”

Mr. Faust held the door open with a shaky arm until his wife shuffled fully inside the shop. Now my only exit was blocked.

It looked like I had no choice but to bowl over some old people if I wanted to escape dealing with the pain of my past.

Sorry, Mr. Faust. I hope I don’t knock you down and break your good hip. If you still have one good one left, that is.

“How’s the knee doing? We watched all your games, son,” Mr. Faust went on. “The whole town was so proud of you. Shame about the knee, though. What have you been doing since?”

Sweat beaded along my hairline.

The only thing I wanted to get away from more than Emma-Leigh was any conversation where I was reminded of being the town’s golden boy who got out, only to have his dreams ripped away from him before he had a chance to realize what he had. Somehow, I didn’t think saying that I’d gone on to be a data manager for a growing tech company would have gotten me any proud pats on the back. Not that I could really say that since I’d given up my job to come home. But that was beside the point.

This was one of the things I dreaded coming back here. Everyone knew I was the broken town hero, and I wouldn’t be able to escape it.

Emma-Leigh cleared her throat behind me, so close now I could smell her perfume. It was the same damn wild honeysuckle scent she used to wear.

It felt too cliche to think, but…

Some things never changed.

“Conway, the box your dad wanted is in the back. Could you help me get it down?” I didn’t miss the slight tremble in her voice. I knew if I spoke, mine would be the same. When she touched me, I jumped before spinning around to face her. “This way.”

With a tilt of her head, she called me to follow behind her as she started walking. Blankly, I dutifully kept a foot behind her, practically running away from Mr. and Mrs. Faust and anyone else who might have seen me and come running to get the scoop for the best gossip.

The back room wasn’t much bigger than my bedroom at my parents’ house, or what I remembered of it.

She walked across the space and pushed open the back door. “Come on,” she urged me with a beckoning wave of her hand.

“Thanks,” I managed to mumble out as I brushed by her. The instant my feet were out of the building, I inhaled a deep breath as my head dropped back. My eyes were closed but I could feel the rays of the sun on my skin, grounding me. “Sorry.”

I turned to face her once again, hating myself for wishing I could fall into the comfort of what we once had and devastated that I couldn’t.

Her eyes lit up at the same moment her pointer finger went into the air. The door closed, but I didn’t want to hold on. I didn’t want to know why she’d disappeared or what she might reemerge with. I didn’t want to have to go back in there and deal with what they all had to say now that the town’s greatest failure was home.

So, I turned and ran down the back alley. I skidded around the corner when I hit the street and ran the entire block until I was safely tucked in my car.

I ran. Something I’d gotten so good at.

Dinner with my parents had been fine, if not a little suffocating, but in the best way. Getting set up in my old bedroom was… a little unnerving. They hadn’t changed it at all. I felt like I was seventeen all over again, and that wasn’t going to work.

But I figured that would be a problem for another day.

The house felt too small. The walls had begun to close in on me. It wasn’t long before I found myself chasing the setting sun, stumbling over the worn path that was still there, save for a few parts where the weeds and grass had taken over. Time sure was funny, and memories were even funnier. My feet stomped over that trail like I’d done it yesterday. Like I’d spent years weaving my way to that special spot and there hadn’t been a pause in time. I supposed the most mundane memories could turn out to be the ones that led to the most special parts of life.

The smell of dying magnolias filled the air, the telling sign that I was reaching the tree line and the end of the path. I breathed in the too sticky sweet and tart citrus scent, letting it pull memories from the dark corners of my mind. Things I’d tried to leave behind. People I’d tried to forget. My boots crunched over long thick leaves. Without thinking, my fingers reached out to brush over the bark of the Southern Magnolias as I stepped out of the tree line, and a million different emotions filled my chest.

There it was, the old abandoned farmhouse. It looked like it had a couple extra layers of dust coating the windows, but other than that, it was the same. Emma-Leigh always said this place would be standing long after we were gone. She also said that all the house needed was someone to love it again.

Thinking of that only made me sad since it was clear no one had bought it.

This had become our place.

We would spend the nights on the front porch since we weren’t brave enough to go inside. We had never even tried the handle to see if the door was locked. Some things were better left alone. I was never sure if it was fear of getting caught or the idea of ghosts that kept us out. But that porch… we found comfort and closeness on that porch. We had long talks on that porch. Lost our virginity to each other on that damn porch with the aggressive chirps of katydids as the background soundtrack— something I regretted and didn’t at the same time. She deserved better than to lose it on the hard, dirty wooden porch of an abandoned house, even if we were surrounded by lightning bugs and it was somewhat romantic.

I huffed out a laugh at the memory of that night as I walked up the three stairs, taking note of how the middle one rocked under my boot.

The sun had started to slip behind the tree line when I heard someone stomping their way through the tall weeds and grass from the other side of the house. As quietly as I could, I walked to the edge of the porch, cringing when my boots clomped a little too loudly. The railing had fallen away and something pinched in my heart. I peered around the side of the house and froze in place when I saw who was crossing the land and about to slip behind the house.

Emma-Leigh looked up, eyes growing wide when she saw me.

“Hey,” she said as if she was surprised to see me here. “I was just…”

Her words trailed off as she changed direction and walked closer to me. I held out my hand, helping her up the side of the porch.

“I should have figured I’d find you here,” she said with a nervous laugh.

“And what are you doing?” I asked, eyes narrowed as I took her in.

Her hair was now pulled into a high ponytail, her bangs swept to the side. She had a backpack slung across her left shoulder and her hands were currently twisting the strap like she wanted to strangle it.

With a jerk of her chin, she said, “I was heading to your place.” She rolled her eyes. “Your parents’ place.”

It took a minute for it all to click in.

“You were taking the trail?”

“Yep.”

“And you take it often,” I stated, dumbly filling in the obvious out loud. That would explain why it was still there.

Her cheeks flamed pink as she looked down.

“I eat dinner with your parents at least twice a month.”

If she walked there, then that meant she had to walk back.

“The hell?!” I roared. “There are snakes out here! You could hurt yourself and there wouldn’t be anyone around to help you.”

She laughed at me.

“That’s why I’ve got these.” She kicked out her foot, showing off her tan and teal cowboy boots. “I also got the lantern, and cell service is better than it used to be around here.”

My brow furrowed because I still didn’t like the thought of her being out here walking this path alone at night.

“And my parents let you do this?” I couldn’t believe it.

She sent me a withering look. That was something new.

“I’ve grown some since you left. I don’t let people push me around as much now. They gave up asking if I wanted a ride back home the second time.”

I blinked at her, loving the way her spine was straight and her chin was tilted like a dare. A dare I’d never take. Strength and maturity looked good on her, and I hated the way it sparked new things inside me.

“Well, dinner was a few hours ago, so I won’t assume that’s the reason you’re heading that way now.”

“I came to…” She let the pack slip off her shoulder. As it hit the ground, she pulled open the top flap and dug inside. She pulled out a small canvas and handed it to me. “This was what I was trying to give to you today when you ran away like an idiot.” She raised a brow at me, and unlike an idiot , I wisely kept my mouth shut. “It’s one of the original paintings your dad wanted to sell in the shop. I couldn’t, though, because I had this feeling it was meant for you. So, I saved it, hoping that one day…”

“You could give it to me?” I looked down at the painting.

The first one I’d seen in real life. I hated that the sun was nearly gone now and I couldn’t see it fully. But the blues and whites somehow glowed as they jumped off the canvas.

It was the field and the sky from my parents’ backyard, complete with the huge fire pit that we’d light nearly every night in the fall before the snow came.

I shuffled over to the window. I pulled out the bandana that I had shoved in my back pocket, a habit from being a farm boy and growing up raising goats and sheep. Once most of the dust and grime were wiped away, I set it down on the wooden frame of the window and took a step back to admire it.

My dad might not have been the next… oh, whoever the hell was famous for painting landscapes; art had never been my thing. He might not have had the talent of a well-known painter, but he had some magic. There was something there that just made you want to crawl inside and look around. To know what it was like to be immersed in that world, even if you had lived in it before.

Emma-Leigh’s steps were hesitant as she shuffled up beside me. Her arm brushed mine and I went stiff without even meaning to. When she took an obvious enough step away from me, I tried to play it off like I hadn’t noticed as I ignored the warring feelings inside.

“Maybe part of me didn’t want to sell it because I missed the nights under the stars with your family and mine. Drinking cider and living the simple life,” she said. “And I missed you.”

But she’d been the one to…

If she were any other woman, I’d be wonderin’ what kind of game she was playing, but that wasn’t Emma-Leigh.

It was hard to shake off the thoughts of that night so long ago when she ruined us .

She was the one I’d spent years planning my life with, a future with. The one I was supposed to escape this town with. College. An apartment together. I’d be the big star and she’d be… Well, she had always said she’d figure out what she wanted to do later. Hell, I always told her she didn’t need to do anything. I’d be happy takin’ care of her. But that wasn’t her. I supposed I should have realized that long before I let her break my heart.

Yeah, I could push the memory away, but some of the resentment and anger stayed.

The air crackled between us as I turned to face her and then she mirrored me. I stared so hard into her eyes that I swore I could see her soul.

“You married?” I asked, moving my gaze to the surrounding land because I was sure someone had snatched her up the moment I was out of the picture.

“No,” she answered. She had that tone that said she was smiling on the inside. Like there was something I wasn’t clued in on.

“Boyfriend?”

“Nope,” she answered with a slight smirk and a shake of her head that I caught out of the corner of my eye.

My brow raised as I cocked my head.

“Haven’t had one in ten years,” she said, shocking the shit out of me.

What the hell did that mean? I wanted to read into it but was smart enough to play it cool and get more information. Besides, I was supposed to be mad at her for what she did to me. I needed more answers than the world could provide in a handful of hours, but I decided that I was going to wring as many out of this night as I could.

We had drifted closer. The toes of her boots were pressed against mine.

This moment was years in the making. It would be an explosion.

And I hoped to hell I’d survive it.

Her body was against mine. As her lips parted to suck in her next breath, I claimed her mouth, swallowing down her little squeak of surprise. My fingers were in her hair, holding her to me.

I never wanted to let her go.

But I was also still hurt and mad.

Ten years of this shit, just building and building. There were a lot of pent-up emotions that broke free with that kiss.

Her hands fisted my tee shirt, pulling it in a way that told me she wanted me closer. But we couldn’t get any closer.

She tasted the same. Tasted like life and everything good in the world. She tasted sweet and sinful at the same time.

She tasted like home.

Like mine.

I broke the kiss to stare into her eyes. This would only fuck me up more. She wasn’t my home. She wasn’t mine.

“Conway?” she asked, blinking.

I turned her around before I could let her mess with my head anymore. She didn’t protest when I pushed her against the closest support beam. I was a little surprised when it held steady. Her hands wrapped around the sides of the post as if she needed something to ground her.

“Yes,” she breathed out. “Please.”

I leaned in and bit her shoulder to shut her up. The bill of my hat got knocked back, and when it gave up its hold, I let it fall to the floor.

I had her jeans around her ankles and her ass pulled out in seconds. I worked my belt loose and opened my pants, trying my hardest to ignore how shaky my hands were. My cock was hard in my hand as I stroked it. I was out of my mind as I reached for my wallet and used my teeth to snatch out a condom. I tore it open and reluctantly released my cock to slip it on.

This was either a really good idea or one that would destroy me.

I lined myself up and slid in with one thrust. Her gasp was music to my ears.

I might not have been a saint these last ten years, but no one had ever compared to her. No one fit me like a glove the way she did.

“Conway,” she said, back bowing more as she raised up on her toes.

“No,” I growled. “You don’t get to do that.” I thrust into her hard, pulling out slowly just to fuck with her. “You don’t get to want me after all these years. You don’t get to miss me after what you did.”

Her head turned and I could just make out the profile of her face in the moonlight. Her bottom lip was trapped between her teeth as she locked eyes with me and nodded once.

So, I took her green light and ran with it.

I fucked her. Fucked her with all the anger and hurt I’d been storing up for years. Fucked her like she was all those other women I’d tried to forget her with. Fucked her like I wanted to leave my damn mark on her, so permanent it would be stained into her soul.

But no matter how much I wanted this to punish her, I could feel her getting wetter and wetter. The scent of it filled the air.

My girl was a mess for me.

But, fuck, she wasn’t my girl.

Not anymore.

My head was a train wreck as I watched my cock plunge in and out of her. Her sweet ass jiggled with every thrust.

“Emma-Leigh,” I said, my fingers holding her hips so tight I knew I’d leave bruises on her pale skin.

Sex had never been like this with her. Before, we’d been young and I’d been afraid to hurt her. However, with the way she was smirking at me and moving back to fuck herself on my cock, I could only guess that she wasn’t as fragile as I’d once thought she was.

“Conway, please,” she begged before a long moan slipped out.

My hand left her hip and I found her swollen clit easily. I rubbed it, causing her to moan louder. It was just us out there. I was torn between not wanting her to get off and needing this to be about both of us. In the end, I just didn’t have it in me to be a dick, no matter how much she’d hurt me.

“That’s it,” I said as I felt her tighten around me, her body shaking with the effort of trying not to come. “Give it to me. Show me how good I make you come. Let your body feel how there’s only me. How I was made for you and you were made for me.”

“Oh! Conway!” she cried. Her hand left the beam and then her fingers were tangling in my hair. She pulled me closer, and I took the opportunity to latch onto the exposed skin behind her ear. She always loved it when I licked and nipped her there. “Yes! There. I’m…”

Nothing came after. Just her moaning and coming on my cock. I thrust through her orgasm, drawing it out even as my balls were ready to explode. Then I came, hard, planting myself deep inside of her as I filled up the condom with ten year’s worth of pent-up aggression, anger, and hurt. Ten year’s worth of never being satisfied. Ten year’s worth of missing her and feeling incomplete.

Dressed and dazed, we sat on the top step as the sweat dried on our skin. Her battery-powered lantern wasn’t the only thing filling the space between us. We both stared out at the dark, empty field ahead of us.

It was time for talking now that we’d gotten… whatever the fuck that was out of the way.

I blew out a long breath.

“Why did you come back?” Emma-Leigh asked, breaking the silence. She didn’t turn to face me.

“Family,” I simply said with a small nod. As if she didn’t know.

Was that the full truth? Well, I wasn’t quite ready to figure that out. Sure, all it took was Ma asking me to come back because she needed help for me to pack my shit and leave. For me to give up my decent-paying job. For me to drive through three states back to the one place I’d been avoiding for years. But I had a feeling if I looked deeper, the answer wouldn’t be that simple.

She looked at me as if she could see the things I couldn’t. There was that cutting gaze that I knew all too well. Damn, I found myself feeling empty for not having had it in my life for the last ten years. She could cut through my bullshit even when I wasn’t aware that I was bullshittin’.

“It was time,” I said, mostly to fill the silence. I shrugged and moved my gaze away from her sharp, knowing eyes. Damn, even after all these years, it seemed like I couldn’t hide anything from her.

“It was time?” She sounded like she wasn’t buyin’ that shit either.

“What do you want me to say, Emma-Leigh?” I huffed and yanked off my hat so I could run my fingers through my hair. My stomach twisted into knots as I jumped up and started pacing the dry dirt in front of the house. Ten years of hurt and confusion was finally floating to the surface like a dead body in the lake. I didn’t want to do this, but it looked like I wasn’t able to stop it. “I wasn’t like you!”

“What is that supposed to mean?” She hopped up and stared down at me from the landing with pain and anger in her eyes.

“It means that I couldn’t just cut off my arm and go on like life was the same.” I gave her my back. “After years of loving me, of sayin’ we were it forever and that you’d always be by my side, you tell me you don’t love me anymore. What kind of sense does that make? Like it was some kind of switch you could flip.”

The pent-up hurt ran like lava through my veins. I tilted my face up to the star-studded sky. I couldn’t be around her. Couldn’t bring up the pain after I’d spent so long stuffing it down and keeping it there. Yet, I was tired of running. Tired of avoiding.

“You destroyed me,” I admitted. “You’d always been my anchor, my fence post. And once you took that away, I was just fuckin’ lost.” I turned to face her, letting her see the devastation she caused me. The way she ruined me.

“I’m not married,” she said, and I blinked at her, wondering what was the point.

“Yeah, we already established that,” I said, trying to smile and keep my tone light.

My feet shuffled closer to the porch, closer to her.

“I never…” She shook her head. “I couldn’t get over you either.”

“Well, it’s a shitty time to tell me that,” I said, kicking at the dirt in front of the steps. “Coulda saved a lot of heartache if you?—”

“I stand by what I did,” she said, her voice as firm as her gaze. “I had to.”

“What do you mean?” I nearly growled. I was getting worked up again.

Maybe I needed to walk away. Let sleeping dogs lie and all that. Get in my car and drive my ass back out of this town. I could hire someone to help my parents with the animals. I didn’t need to be here.

“I never wanted to leave,” she said softly. “In my heart, this town is my home. I didn’t want to leave it.”

“Then why didn’t you just say that instead of telling me that you didn’t love me and you were breaking up with me for…” I clenched my jaw and seethed the name through my teeth. “Chad Rutledge.”

She had the nerve to bark out a laugh.

“Come on, that was the worst lie ever. I hated Chad.” She rolled her eyes. “I still hate him.”

“Still a pompous, better-than-you asshole?”

“Yes. You have no idea the amount of crap he gave me when I tried to open my shop. He wouldn’t give me the permits even though I had everything in order.”

This wasn’t the first time I wanted to track him down and beat his ass.

“But why?” I asked, confused as hell.

“Because if I told you I wanted to stay, you would have stayed too.”

My face fell. She was right. I would have given up everything to be with her.

“And,” she went on like she knew I needed to hear it all, “you would have ended up hating me.” I opened my mouth to argue, but she stopped the words from coming out with a sharp look. “Love wouldn’t have been enough. I saw the light in your eyes when you knew you were getting out of this town. You had your ticket. You were ready to run and never look back.”

“That’s not completely true,” I said, giving her an incredulous look. “I’d never forget my roots. Might have moved on, but this place will always be my home.”

Maybe I’d felt it before, but I hadn’t realized how true it was until I said it out loud.

She dropped down a step, letting out a huff that said I wasn’t listening. But that was the thing, I knew what that sound meant, which meant that I was paying attention. I had been since we were young. I knew things about her that no one would know because I fuckin’ knew her.

“Fine,” I conceded. “I would have stayed.”

“Thank you,” she said with a small smile that said I was finally seeing the full picture. “You needed to go. I needed to stay. I did the only thing I could think of that would get you to go. I loved you. I didn’t want to crush your dreams.”

“So, you crushed my heart instead?!”

She rolled her eyes at me. Nearly thirty and I still acted like a petulant teen. Yeah, I was well aware of it. But I figured I deserved this moment. I’d been holding it in for so long.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, brushing her bangs to the side so I could see her eyes and the truth in those words. “At the time, I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“And now?” I couldn’t help but ask.

Her cheeks puffed as she blew out a long stream of air.

“I feel like that’s a loaded question. I don’t think I’ll ever have an answer for it.” She shrugged and worked her way down to the last step one slow foot at a time. Now she was right in front of me. Even with the added height of the step, she still only came up to my nose. I tried not to chuckle. I always loved how she was so much shorter than me. “But I can tell you that I’m really happy you’re home.”

Home.

That word struck me. Not like a slap to the face like I thought it would. No, there was something settling about it that nearly had me taking a step back.

“Are you home, Conway?” she asked. I could feel all the air standing still between us as she waited for my answer.

My arms fell around her waist naturally. I didn’t fuckin’ fight it. The glow from the lantern was low, but I still saw the way her lips curled up into a happy smile.

Nothin’ ever felt so right as having her against me. Then and now.

“Yeah,” I breathed out. The tension I’d been holding since I left outta this town ten years ago floated away in the cool autumn breeze. I was done fighting it. This was my home. She was my home. “I’m home.”

She leaned in and kissed me, throwing her arms around my neck.

We still had stuff to talk about, but I knew this was the beginning of our second chance. I wouldn’t let either of us stubbornly mess it up again. I swore that to her and the universe as I kissed her back with everything I had in me.

When the kiss came to an end, I stared down at her. I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face if I wanted to.

I grabbed her hand as I walked up the stairs. I held her as I grabbed my dad’s panting off the window sill and put it carefully back in her bag, then slung it over my shoulder. Her laugh floated like music through the night air as I dragged her back to the stairs and picked up the lantern.

“What are you doin’?” she asked as I nicely pulled her down the stairs and started leading the way back to the path that brought me here.

“I’m gonna sneak you into my parents’ house just like old times,” I told her and tossed a wink over my shoulder.

I led the way, keeping my eyes peeled for danger, especially for those damn timber rattlesnakes.

And she followed behind me with no resistance.

It was nearly midnight by the time we crawled into my tiny double bed. She was wearing one of my old tees that I found in the bottom drawer of my dresser and a pair of my thick socks. I was wearing boxers and a tee. The damn bed creaked and groaned with every little shift of our bodies, and Emma-Leigh thought it was the funniest thing, giggling like a teenager.

Funny how that hadn’t changed either. I couldn’t stop smiling.

“You need a new bed,” she said as she snuggled up against my side.

“Yeah.” I paused, thinking about all the things I needed. “Actually, I need my own house.” Yeah, that was a better solution.

There was a long pause and I wondered if I’d said something wrong.

“I bought the farmhouse,” she admitted in a low whisper.

“What?” I whispered back, shock apparent in my tone. “ The farmhouse? The one we were just at?”

“Yeah. I had to. It’s our place. But I haven’t touched it yet.” She let out a huffed laugh. “I can’t even go inside. It doesn’t feel right without you there.”

Shit, that got me in the gut. She’d really been holding on to us as long as I had. I wished I’d been smart enough to see it back then.

I wasn’t gonna go there. We’d had too many years of being apart. Of regret and hurt. Now we’d found our way back to each other, I wasn’t going to let the past ruin us or repeat itself for our future.

“Maybe…” her voice trailed off as she rolled onto her stomach and propped up on her elbows. Her eyes were a little wet and unsure. “Maybe we could fix it up together?”

A damn smile split my face. I’d never heard a better idea than that.

“I think I like the sound of that,” I told her as I used my finger to swipe her bangs to the side.

“And maybe… I can court you while we fix it up?”

“Court me?” I barked out a laugh. “Still reading those historical romances, I see.” Her cheeks turned pink, and I couldn’t help but brush my thumb over the apple of one of them. I hadn’t realized how much I missed the little things about her, like how easily she blushed. “Well, I’m going to court you back.”

“Oh, yeah?” Her brows went up.

“I’m gonna court you so hard,” I teased, pulling her down for a kiss before we could get more ridiculous. Not that what I’d said had been a joke or a lie. I was going to wine, dine, and woo her the way she deserved. The way the younger me hadn’t been able to give her.

“I never stopped loving you,” I finally admitted. “I don’t think I even let myself try to get over you.”

“I never stopped loving you,” she said back. I pressed my finger against her lips when she opened her mouth to say more.

“No more going back,” I said, keeping my finger still. “No more.”

She nodded. Good, she was listening to me. I wouldn’t have this shit weighing us down.

“Are we done talking now?” she asked as she moved to straddle me. She ripped the shirt over her head and tossed it behind her without a care. I didn’t even try to hide the way her tits stole my attention.

“I think so, yeah.”

I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her squeal of surprise away.

We shed our clothes between panting breaths and desperate touches and frantic kisses, no longer caring how much noise the bed made underneath us.

My parents weren’t stupid. They had to know this explosion would happen the moment I came home. And I hoped between my mom’s two glasses of wine at dinner and my dad’s CPAP machine, all the noise would be lost on them anyway.

This time when I slid inside her, I did it bare knowing we were both safe and protected. Sure, I wanted to put a baby in her belly, but it wasn’t time. We’d get there one day. Which meant that things would only get better from here on out.

She rode me slow and I kissed her deeply.

There was nothing but us in this moment. Nothing but the love from the past and the promise of a future.

“Emma-Leigh,” I said as I rolled her over and held myself up on my forearms. I kissed her again. “I love you.”

Her hands were on my face. Her pussy squeezed me every time I tried to leave her as if she wouldn’t let me.

“I love you,” she told me back, her eyes shining with happiness.

We came together, our tongues as entwined as our limbs. Every part of our bodies that could be touching were. We couldn’t have been more connected if we tried.

I collapsed, rolling over so I wouldn’t crush her. I wished I could have stayed inside her while we slept. She easily slotted herself against my side, her head going to my chest. Her hand was over my heart as if she could capture the beat. I smiled as I put my hand over hers.

I fell asleep in my old childhood bedroom holding on to the woman who was always meant to be my future.

Coming back here might have been hard, but it was worth it.

Because I was finally home.

The End