He had Zeke on a leash beside him, held a suitcase in his hand, and he was the best damn thing she’d ever seen.

“Rhett,” she said, wanting to run to him, to kiss him, to apologize, and tell him she never, ever meant it.

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah, of course,” she said, stepping back. As she did, she realized he’d never been to her place in the city. They always met at concerts or bars or restaurants. He’d never been in her space. He looked impossibly big in it as he strode into her living room, just as Maddy’s head popped out of the blanket fort.

“Rhett! Hi!” she said, her eyes sparkling. “I was just leaving!”

“Maddy—” Nat protested, not sure if she wanted her friend to leave or not. What happened if they were alone again? Would she be able to resist him?

Space… you need space to get your head right so you can go back to resisting him.

“I’m just gonna grab Peaches,” Maddy said, scooping up her cat and placing him in the carrier she’d brought. “And we’re gonna go! Bye, you two!” Maddy trilled, trotting out before Nat could stop her. The door shut with a resounding click, and Nat crouched down, scratching Zeke’s head as she tried to think about what to say.

“You left me divorce papers, but you didn’t sign them,” he said.

She hadn’t been able to bring herself to sign them. It had felt so final. But she couldn’t tell him that.

“What’s with the suitcase?’ she asked instead, rising to her feet as Zeke began to sniff around, exploring.

“I made a decision,” Rhett said, walking farther into her living room, looking around. “I like your place,” he said. He stroked a hand along the back of her 1950s couch. “It’s very you.”

“Thank you,” she said, confusion mounting in her. “Look, Rhett—”

“Aren’t you going to ask me what my decision is?”

There was a strange light in his eyes. An intense sort of burning that was doing all sorts of things to her body. She could feel her breath quicken.

“What’s your decision?” she asked.

“I’ve decided to stop,” he said.

“Stop what?”

“Stop resisting,” he said. “Ever since I met you, ever since that first day I walked into your office, I’ve been resisting the pull I feel toward you. I almost gave in, you know, in New York. Before Eleanor called me to tell me she wanted to invest in River Run, I was minutes away from leaving the airport and coming and finding you. Because that one kiss, it shook me in ways I never thought possible. You were a force of nature then and now and always. And I am done leaving you, and I am done letting you leave me.”

“Rhett…” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

“I love you,” he said, and finally hearing it from him was the most precious give she’d ever been given. She felt frozen to the floor as the words echoed in the room. “I am in love with you. I’ve been in love with you for years. I’m never not going to love you, Nat. You are it. You’re my one. My wife. You are the best part of my day. Talking to you, laughing with you, knowing that I get to see you. I don’t want to live without that… without you.”

She pressed her hand against his heart, her fingers curling, like she could cradle it within her palm. Tears trickled down her cheeks as emotion swamped her. “I can’t make you change for me,” she whispered. “And I’m not sure I can change.”

“Well, lucky for you, you’re not making me change,” he said. “I’m offering. Because I love you. Because I have the freedom to. And because right now, you’re at a place in your career where you have less freedom and more places to climb. So my job is to support you through it, just like you supported me through all of River Run’s problems.”

She looked up at him, unable to believe it. Could he really be offering her what she thought he was? Could he really be that selfless, that good?

“Look,” he said. “I know in the movies it’s always the girl who shows up on the guy’s steps, like, a thousand miles from where she lived at the start of the film. In the movies, she’s the one who gives up everything and changes her life. But this isn’t the movies, Nat. And I am a grown-ass man with a multi-million dollar business. I can delegate more. I can commute a few times a week. I can be here some of the time and you can be with me in the mountains some of the time, and if we want, if we try, we can make this work. You are worth it, Nat. We are worth it. We can build a beautiful life. A rich one full of you and me and the best of both our worlds. If you want to.”

If she wanted to? Of course she wanted to. But could it work?

He was offering her the world. Her dream that she hadn’t even dared to dream. He was offering her himself, all of himself, his heart, his body, his mind, his devotion, his time, and his effort.

Her heart was so full with love for him, she could barely speak around the feeling.

“Say something, Nat,” he said, his eyes so earnest, so worried she’d say no.

She couldn’t say no. She could never say no. She was his one, and he was hers.

“We’re gonna have to get a house with a yard if we want to keep Zeke,” she said, embracing hope, embracing change, embracing the beautiful possibility of the future and them and what they could build.

His face opened into the most beautiful, joyous smile. He whooped, grabbing her into his arms and spinning her off her feet, their lips meeting in the kind of kiss that was all delight and triumph and finally.

“So, you love me?” he asked when they finally parted, his hand still wound in her hair, Zeke barking excitedly at their feet.

She pressed her forehead against his. “I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone,” she whispered.

He lifted up her left hand, his finger tracing the ring on her finger. “And you’ll keep wearing this?” he asked.

She kissed him, her fingers twining with his.

“As long as I get to get you one to wear, too,” she said.

He smiled, kissing her again. “I’ll never take it off. I’ll wear it always.”

And he did. And so did she.

Always.

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