We checked into the old ntation-turned-boutique hotel, just outside of Lafayette.

    ording to Gage, it had aplicated history and wfoot tubs.

    White columns stretched up like they were holding the sky together, and the floorboards creaked with every step like they had stories they weren’t quite done telling.

    Our room had a four-poster bed, gorgeous antiques, and a handmade quilt.

    I sat on the edge of the bed, my dress riding up my thighs, feet aching, hair already falling out of the updo I’d attempted.

    I kicked off my heels and sighed. “I can’t believe your cousin got married in cowboy boots to a man who wore a Saints jersey under his suit.”

    Gageughed.

    He’d been doing it a lot, and I loved hearing it and him. The man I was meeting now was open like he’d never been before. Seeing him with his family was revealing, telling me he was someone who could connect with his whole heart when not afraid.

    “I can’t believe Lisette’s mama didn’t throw a shoe at him,” he chuckled.

    He looked good in his rolled-up sleeves and post-wedding glow.

    “Today was…” I paused, not trusting the lump in my throat. “It was good. Better than good. You, with your family—I saw pieces of you I didn’t even know existed.”

    He stepped closer.

    He brushed my hair back with one of those gentle touches he didn’t use often, but alwaysnded like a prayer.

    “It’s always been there.” His eyes gentled as he looked at me. “I just didn’t know how to give it to you.”

    He was giving it to me now. So, I stood up and kissed him.

    Not tentative.

    Not testing.

    Not a maybe.

    A kiss that said, “I’ve wanted this. I’ve missed this. I’m still scared, but I’m not walking away.”

    We undressed each other slowly, like theyers weren’t just fabric but everything we had to show one another.

    I pulled him down with me, into the cotton-soft bed, dissipating the weight of everything we’d carried between us.

    Gage’s mouth traced fire across my skin like he was worshiping me.

    His lips at my neck made me shiver.

    His tongue at my corbone made me gasp.

    And when he took my nipple into his mouth, slow and greedy, I arched up into him like my body had been waiting for this exact moment to remember how to breathe.

    His hands knew me—knew the path down my stomach, over my hips, to the ce that hadn’t stopped aching since thest time he touched it.

    I didn’t say please.

    Not at first.

    But when he hovered over me, mouth hot, breath teasing, eyes burning like he knew exactly what I needed and nned to take his damn time giving it to me—I begged.

    “Please.”

    He grinned cockily before burying his face between my legs.

    It wasn’t gentle.

    It wasn’t pretty.

    It was everything.

    Tongue and lips and fingers worked me into a raw, shaking, stars-exploding orgasm.

    By the time he let mee, I was sobbing softly, hands in his hair, heart in my throat.

    He kissed his way back up my body like he was retracing his steps.

    “Baby,” he breathed, kissing me, letting me taste myself.

    He raised his head, his eyes glittering with arousal.

    “Hey,” I whispered, smiling.

    He brushed his thumb over my lips. “I want this, Naomi. All of it. Do you?”

    I did. I really did. But I….

    He saw my hesitation, and his eyes went moist. “I need you to know—I don’t want it to be a rush back into what we had. I want it to be…right…this time because it’s gonna be a long time.”

    Forever.

    My throat went tight. “You think I’ll regret it?”

    “I think I’ve hurt you,” he murmured, brushing his lips against mine. “And I don’t want this to be about covering that up.”

    “I…it feels wrong that I got off and you?—”

    He kissed me again, long, slow, like he was anchoring me in ce.

    “There’s no blueprint here, baby. No trade-offs. No terms. Just love. And real love”—he brushed his thumb across my jaw—“doesn’t need load-bearing walls. It holds itself up.”

    “I had a really good orgasm,” I admitted.

    He grinned. “I’m d.”

    “You don’t mind?”

    “That I got to taste the best pussy on the?”

    I punched him gently on his shoulder.

    “No, baby. I don’t mind at all. I want you. I want inside you. But I want you…whole. Not just the body—but the heart and the soul and everything else you’ve got to give.”

    Well, that does it.

    Tears began to roll down my cheeks. He licked each one, as if he were taking my pain inside him.

    “I’ll always wipe your tears, baby,” he vowed.

    He rolled me with him so hey on his back. I curled into his chest where his heart beat like a promise.

    “I’m not unsure,” I whispered against his skin. “I’m just scared.”

    He kissed the top of my head. “Me, too.”

    “Why are you scared?”

    “’Cause I love you, and I don’t think I could stand to lose you.”

    I knew how that felt, and I wanted to tell him he wouldn’t lose me, but I wasn’t ready tomit.

    Wow!

    Now, I was the one who was afraid—and that made me understand him better. It was debilitating, this fear, and even though I wanted to ride through it, I couldn’t.

    Is this how Gage had felt when I told him I loved him?

    Is that why he ran? Not because he didn’t feel it, but because he did—so much it scared the hell out of him.

    I didn’t want to run anymore. I didn’t want to be afraid. But I couldn’t rush my healing. And the good news, he didn’t expect that either.

    “Goodnight, Gage.” I kissed his chest and let myself rx against him, feel the joy of being naked and exposed in all the ways that mattered with him.

    We slept peacefully, the ghosts of the past giving us the night off.