“Are your eyes closed?” I asked, unable to keep from peeking over at her. At the incredible woman who rode in the front seat of my truck.

Just looking at her had every inch of me tightening.

In need.

In want.

In this mad kind of love.

She was beautiful.

So damned beautiful she was hard to look at. Rynna was the kind of beauty that shined and blinded and radiated. Inside and out. Flush with goodness and grace. That body still my greatest temptation.

Though, I had zero qualms about giving in.

“Yes. And you put this blindfold on me.” Rynna pointed at the strip of purple fabric, like I wasn’t already well aware it was there.

I suppressed a chuckle while she continued her little rant.

“Seriously, I’m not sure what you think I’m going to see because it’s pitch black in here.” Rynna almost whined, all of it done behind the most brilliant smile, the girl biting at her lip, totally failing at trying to keep her excitement contained. “And I’m pretty sure you’ve been driving in circles, trying to throw me off. Or get me sick. There’s that.”

But she was grinning so wide that I knew she was loving this every bit as much as me.

“Hold tight, baby. Your surprise is right around the corner.”

I eased the truck into a parking spot and killed the engine. I leaned across the cab, enjoying the way she inhaled sharply when I got close to her face, the way a shiver rolled down her spine when I leaned around her and gently untied the purple silk fabric from her eyes.

Slowly, I eased it back. The girl blinked, reoriented herself, needing time to grab on to her senses. Nothing made me happier than the fact when she did, she was looking directly at me.

I’d become her focal point. Just the same as she’d become mine.

“Hey,” she murmured, her expression soft.

“Hi, beautiful.” For a few seconds, we floated on the moment, just loving being together. Then I grinned and angled my head, urging her attention out the windshield.

She laughed. Laughed loud before she looked back at me like I’d lost my mind.

Truth was, the only thing I’d lost was my heart.

“You brought me to Pepper’s? After I was here all day, slaving away? Tell me we aren’t here for me to bake you a pie.” Every word that fell from her mouth was playful, filled with a tease.

A chuckle rumbled free. “Wouldn’t dream of it, baby. Come on.” I unlatched the door, hopped out, and jogged around to her side. I was already there, helping her down when she opened her door. I threaded our fingers, brought her hand to my lips, brushed them across her knuckles. “Tonight’s all about me taking care of you.”

Six months had passed since the fire.

This day could have been somber.

But no.

Rynna and I? We were celebrating.

I led her across the sidewalk to the door, and she giggled, struggling to keep up with my long strides in her heels. I was quick to insert my key, unlock it. I pulled it open a fraction and stood in the middle of it, turning around to face the girl who’d changed everything.

The one who’d knocked free all the bitter, broken pieces of my heart and found what was hiding underneath.

“This building, Rynna . . . this building has come to mean so much. That fire—” My throat grew thick and moisture gathered in Rynna’s eyes, her gaze so intent as she stared back at me. “You and I, we almost lost everything in that fire. This building. Your dreams. Frankie. Each other.” Each word that fell from my mouth came more intense with each one that passed.

That energy lapped, blazing to life. Inciting that never-ending desire.

“But from those ashes rose the greatest hope. My greatest joy.”

I’d never thought I’d truly love a woman again after I’d lost Sydney. But Rynna changed all of that. Rekindled places in me I’d thought had gone forever dormant. Even though I hadn’t told Ollie yet, I would. I was no longer afraid of him hating me, I was just worried that I’d bring him more pain.

But Rynna and I had also learned that keeping those kind of secrets only hurt us more in the end.

I gathered both her hands in mine, pulling her inside, quick to lock the door behind us.

It was dark, all except for the hurricane lamp I’d placed on a blanket on the floor in the middle of the room. Beside it was a bucket, chilling our champagne. It was all set up right where all the new booths would be installed next week. This afternoon, me and my crew had raced in after Rynna left and hung pictures on the walls.

They were pictures I’d had enlarged, all in black and white, and set in giant frames.

They were images of Rynna’s grandmother in this place, serving her pies, baking in the back, working the register, and making customers smile where they sat at the counter. The old pictures had been in a box in Rynna’s bedroom closet, waiting to be reclaimed. To be given a voice.

Overwhelmed, Rynna looked around. Tears glided down her cheeks, glistening in the faint electric light that danced in the lamp.

“Rex,” she whispered, biting down on her lip, trying not to cry. “This is amazing.”

I pulled her a little farther into the room. “Nothing has made me happier than giving this building back to you, Rynna. There’s been no greater honor than resurrecting each brick. And I’ve never been prouder than being at your side while you’ve brought this place back to life.”

Another two steps, and her chest was heaving while my heart was running wild, blood a thunder in my veins. “Six months ago, we could have lost it all, and instead, we were given everything. We were given another chance.”

I blinked at her. Overcome by emotion. By feeling. “You came into our lives, Rynna, and you made everything better. I was filled with so much fear and hate, and you taught me how to love again. You showed my daughter what it is really like to be loved by a mother. You gave us a joy unlike anything we’ve ever known. I see you with her—”

I gulped around immensity of it. Rynna and my little girl. The way it felt when Frankie called her Mommy. The way Rynna adored her with all her soul.

I squeezed Rynna’s hands. “I see you with her, and every single thing in my world is right. Because you and Frankie, the two of you are my world. My entire world, and I don’t ever want to be without you.”

I dropped to a knee and shock jetted from Rynna’s mouth.

Tears came in a free fall, the wet streaks doing nothing but illuminating that gorgeous face.

I pulled the ring from my pocket and held it up between us, my hand trembling while I offered this girl all of me. “Marry me, Rynna Dayne. I want to give you all my days. My heart and my life. Tell me, you’re always going to be mine.”

A tiny cry erupted from her, and she stood there staring down at me for the longest time, the smile lighting her mouth soft and soggy and so goddamned sweet. “And you . . . you gave me everything, Rex Gunner. My dreams. My hopes. A little girl to call my own. You and Frankie, you are the parts of me I hadn’t known I was missing. Both of you, you are my heart and my life. And I promise you, I will always be yours.”

Overcome by emotion, blinking back my own tears, I slid that ring on her finger, and Rynna dropped to her knees on the blanket in front of me. Those eyes searched me, flitting all over my face. “I knew today was a special day, and I’ve been saving you a surprise of my own.”

I cupped her face, tracing my thumb along the curve of her jaw. Just needing to touch her. “You’ve got a surprise for me, huh? Not sure I need anything but what you’ve already given me.”

Her eyes fluttered, and her head dropped, and she set both her hands on her belly. Then she peeked up at me with a timid smile, wearing eternity on her face.

My eternity.

My forever.

My second chance.

I pressed my hands over hers, hardly able to speak. “You telling me I’m lucky enough that you’re going to make me a daddy again, too?”

Quickly, she nodded. “I know, I know it’s soon, but you and I, we haven’t exactly been careful all this time . . . and . . . and . . . oh God, Rex, I’m so happy. This baby makes me so happy.”

She was rambling. Nervous. Excited.

Wondering how I’d react.

Crazy thing was, we’d never had this conversation, but all along I’d been taking that chance with her.

I dropped my forehead to hers, her hair wound through my fingers, our noses touching as I murmured, “Nothing could make me happier than growing this family with you. I’m so happy, Rynna. So goddamned happy. You’re my second chance, Rynna, and I’m not afraid of what this life will bring.”

Little Thief.

She’d stolen my heart.

And I was going to give her everything.

I paused just outside the swinging kitchen door—a fresh cherry pie in my hands—staring out into the dining room.

Every person I loved was there for the grand re-opening of Pepper’s Pies.

There for me. Because of this legacy. A private party just for my family and friends.

My husband.

My sweet daughter, Frankie Leigh.

The woman I’d come to adore, to claim as my own, Rex’s mother, Jenny. She was such an important fixture in our lives, there to give me advice and an encouraging word when I needed one, or simply being a friend at other times. Fun and caring with that wild streak I was sure she’d never outgrow. Loving us unconditionally, in her own perfect way.

Ollie and Kale, Nikki and Lillith and Brody were all there, laughing where they stood by a few tables we’d pushed together in the middle. Seth Long, the officer who’d worked to put Janel and Aaron away, and a few of the guys from RG Construction I’d gotten to know were there, too.

Macy had flown out just for the celebration, and she mixed in just fine, laughing at something Kale had to say, which was probably something entirely inappropriate.

And I swore, as I looked around, my gramma was there, too. Her spirit always so strong. Her presence so profound.

Forever guiding me with the whisper of her encouraging words. Comfort covered me, a warmth that lit me from head to toe, her voice a murmur in my ear.

“Someday you’ll understand what I’m talkin’ about. Someday you’ll know what it’s like to be in love . . . You know you’re in love when their happiness counts more than yours. The key is your happiness meaning most to them, too. Put those two together? That’s magic, Rynna. That’s what real love is. It’s two people giving all they have.”

Magic.

That’s what Rex and I were. Two people giving it all we had.

We both loved the other first, their happiness before our own. Approaching our relationship that way? That happiness could only grow as it was poured out in the day to day, amplified in the little things and strengthened when life threw obstacles in our way.

Frankie suddenly looked my direction, wearing that grin on her face that always managed to touch my soul, the word falling from her mouth making my spirit thrum with joy. “Mommy!”

“Yes, baby?”

“Is that a Pepper’s Pie?”

“Of course it’s a Pepper’s Pie. I made your favorite kind.”

“Dids you know my Gramma C’rine used to make me all the Pepper’s Pies?” she turned and continued to ramble at Macy, who seemed to be her new best friend. “She used to works here, too, but now my mommy does and she makes me pies and they’re soes good, and my daddy eats them all, all, all gone and I have to race him to even get a piece.”

“No!” Macy said in mock horror.

Heart so full, I wound around the counter, heading their direction. My man shifted, like he felt me approaching.

Those sage eyes pinning me.

Capturing me.

So beautiful.

That coarse, rough exterior with the most beautiful, giving heart underneath.

He no longer kept it hidden.

He’d welcomed me into it.

Wholly.

No questions blocking our path.

Rex took the pie from my hands and placed it on the table, turning to me wearing that sexy smile riding the edge of his full, full lips. The one that tipped my tummy and sent that attraction rushing free. Then his hands were on my stomach, over our son, his love pouring from him in shattering waves. “I love you, Rynna Gunner,” he murmured.

“I love you so much,” I told him.

Our gazes tangled for a moment, before he swiveled me, tucked me to his side. He lifted his glass just the same as he lifted his voice over the perfect clatter of voices. “I think a toast is in order.”

Everyone turned their attention to us. Their smiles so bright, brimming with the bonds of friendship and family.

Rex glanced at me, then back to them. “To Gramma Dayne. For the woman who loved this restaurant, but loved the people of Gingham Lakes so much more. To her courageous, gracious heart. I’m not sure where I’d be right now if it wasn’t for her.”

He lifted his glass higher.

Toward the heavens.

“You’ll always be a part of Pepper’s Pies. More so, you’ll always be a part of our lives.”

It was a chorus of cheers.

Cheers to Gramma Corinne.

To the woman who’d given us her all.

For her love and her inspiration.

All moments matter. We just rarely know how important they are until the chance to act on them has already passed.

Because of her I’d acted. I’d taken the chance.

The chance on love.

The chance of forever.

And I was never looking back.

The End

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