Three weeks has passed since I last saw Summer. After Walker took Jack into custody and questioned us, she disappeared, gone from Blue Bay in a flash. I only have myself to blame for that. Fucking asshole, I should have held my anger, shouldn’t have lashed out at her the way I did. But I was so fucking angry that she didn’t open up to me, trust me enough to tell me the kind of danger she was in. Now I’m angrier with myself.

I never pushed for answers and I played along with her fucking game, even calling her Jenna. I never should have done that. I should have gotten to the bottom of matters right from the start. Why didn’t I? Oh, maybe because I’m an asshole and waited thirteen long fucking years for Summer to came back into my life and would have done anything she asked to keep her in it.

I stand inside her cottage and glance around at the finished floors and repaired wall. I run my hand over the new plaster. All that’s needed is a fresh coat of paint. I step back, and Scout circles my feet. “I know, girl. I miss her, too.” I look around, mourn Summer’s absence, and work to ignore the hollow ache inside me. But the house feels fucking lonely without her.

I step into the kitchen and pour myself a cup of coffee. As I drink, my gaze goes to the sign I had Jared make when I thought Summer and I had a future together. It was my way of moving past the lies, but I never did give it to her.

A noise at the door heralds someone approach and I turn to see Gram. I love her, but I’m not really in the mood to talk to anyone. I’ve been pretty much holed up in the cottage since Summer left, finishing the work, despite the fact that she’d taken off for good.

“You did a great job,” Gram says as she examines the floor and the walls.

“Thanks,” I murmur feeling very little pride in the work.

She eyes me, and I brace myself. “Are you done sulking?”

“I’m not sulking.”

She waves her hand at me. “I know sulking when I see it, Sean.”

I push my hair off my face, every muscle in my body tense. “Gram . . .”

She holds her hand up to stop me and I go silent. “Haven’t you had enough loss, Sean?”

I set my coffee cup on the counter and fold my arms. “She left, Gram. It was her decision. I had nothing to do with it.”

“You don’t think.”

My mind takes that moment to race back to the cruel words I shot at her. I was so angry, so worried that Jack was going to hurt her and I wouldn’t be able to stop him. I fist my hands and press them against my eyes.

“I was scared,” I finally admit. “For the first time in my life I knew what real fear was.”

“I know, Sean. But I also know she loves you.” My hands fall, and Gram smiles.

“How do you know that?”

“She still looks at you today the same way she did all those years ago when you were racing through the streets and Officer Walker was chasing you.” Gram gives a small laugh. “You really did give that man a run for his money.”

True, I did. Walker locked Jack up, but he and his files were handed over to the NCIS, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, since it was a military case. The investigation is still ongoing, and after the news went national, and ran for days on CNN, Walker and I made an easy truce. News crews were here all week, but Walker ate that shit up. Me, well I just wanted to be left alone. Same as Summer. They camped out at her place, and she couldn’t come or go without a camera in her face.

It’s hard to believe Jack had been using Summer to find a ledger her father had hidden in the cottage. A ledger that identified all the men involved in using U.S. Navy ships to transport illegal cargo. Thank fuck the cops got to her friend Susie in time. Her house had been ransacked, Jack’s men had been hunting for her, but she was working the night shift at the hospital and they hadn’t gotten to her.

“Did you know right from the start Jenna was Summer?” I ask.

She nods. “Of course. But the big question is, why are you still here, Sean?”

I looked around the kitchen. “I started the job and I wanted to finish it,” I say, my stomach sinking, sick to think the place will be abandoned for another thirteen long years.

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.” She picks up Scout, gives her a good rub behind the ears.

“Yeah, I know.” What she’s really asking is why I’m still here in Blue Bay and not in SoCal fighting for the girl I love.

“What if she doesn’t—”

“Okay, come on, Sean. When have you ever given up without a fight?”

“Never,” I say. So why the fuck am I doing it now? My blood rushes faster and I ball my fingers as I curse myself. She’s the only girl I’ve ever loved, and I should have left a week ago. What if I’m too late? What if she’s already moved on without me? Urgency moves through me, and my breath comes in a burst. “I need to go.”

“I know.”

I step up to Gram, give her a kiss on the cheek, but when I turn, ready to jump in my truck, and do whatever the fuck I need to prove to Summer that we belong together—even drive to her place in a damn minivan—my feet come to a resounding halt.

No. Fucking. Way.

I stand there for a moment, too astonished to breathe. “Summer,” I finally say, my brain barely able to keep up as she brightens the doorway and lightens my dark mood.

“Sean,” she says, and behind me, I hear the patio doors opening, and closing, Gram leaving with Scout to give us our privacy.

“I was . . . just . . . on my way . . .”

Her look is tormented as she tears her gaze from mine. “Can I come in?”

“It’s your cottage,” I say, and wave my hand for her to enter. She steps in, her eyes wide, appreciative as she takes in the finished floor and wall. “Everything looks beautiful.” Her gaze goes to the sign Jared made. SUMMER WHEELER, CHIROPRACTOR.

“Can I get you a coffee?” I say for lack of anything else.

She gives me a small smile. “If that’s what you insist on calling it.” She follows me into the kitchen, and every nerve in my body is alive. I can’t believe she’s here. Did she come back because we had unfinished business? Or is she here to pack up her belongings and disappear for another thirteen long years?

I pour her a cup, put a splash of milk in it and hand it to her. She takes a sip and when she winces my heart soars with the love I feel for her.

“I . . .” we both begin at the same time.

“You go first,” I say. She nods, pulls something from her purse, and hands it to me. “What’s this?”

“The permit for the Cassidy house.”

I try to swallow past the lump in my throat. “Is this why you came back? To give me this.”

“Yes,” she says and I turn from her. I look out the kitchen window, take a deep breath. “But it’s not the only reason.”

I spin back around. “No?”

She walks up to me, and holds her hand out. “I’m Summer Wheeler,” she says. “I’m a chiropractor.” He gaze goes to the sign. “But I guess you already know all that.”

My hand swallows hers whole as I take it into mine. “Sean Owens,” I say. “Motocross racer turned handyman.”

“Handyman, huh?”

“Yeah.”

She takes my hands and the clean scent of her soap washes over me. “So you’re good with your hands.”

Need gathers in the pit of my stomach as she touches me. “I am.”

“Confident, I like that.”

I stare at her, take in the vulnerability in her eye and my heart squeezes so tight in my chest, my throat closes over. “Summer, what are we doing?”

“We’re starting again, Sean. The way we should have started a month ago.”

I brush my thumb over her cheek. My heart crashing so hard in my chest, it rings in my ears. “Why didn’t you tell me how much trouble you were in? You know I protect what’s mine.”

“I didn’t know I was yours,” she says quietly.

I shake my head, and briefly pinch my eyes shut. “How could you not know that?”

“I wanted it so much, Sean. I wanted you. Your family. I wanted it all. But I was scared. I was too scared to tell you anything because Jack’s contacts ran deep. He and his army friends are a brotherhood, and I didn’t want anything to happen to you or your family. I could never live with myself if anyone of you got hurt because of me.”

I take in the shadows under her eyes. She doesn’t look to be sleeping any better than me. “You were protecting . . . me?”

“Yes.”

As all the pieces come together, I nod. “Okay,” I say. “I get it, but you do realize I can protect myself right, and I come with my own army.”

She gives me a wobbly smile. “Yes. I realize that now.”

“Why did you leave?”

“You were so angry, Sean. I wasn’t sure you wanted me to stay.”

I grip my hair and pull it. Fuck. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get so angry, but I was scared, Summer. I’d never been that scared in my fucking life.”

“I was scared, too. Still am.”

I pull her to me, and glance over her shoulder expecting to see someone holding a gun over us. “Why?”

“I’m scared I ruined things between us. You see, Sean. I’ve loved you since I was twelve years old.”

I nearly sob from happiness. “I’ve loved you just as long, Summer.”

“I never should have thought I could trick you into believing I was someone else.”

“It might have been thirteen years, but the second I set eyes on you I knew who you were.”

“Same, but it hasn’t been thirteen years for me.”

“No?”

“Dad and I watched all your races. We were so proud of our Blue Bay boy.”

My head rears back. “Your dad . . . proud of me?” I scoff and wave my finger between us. “I’m not sure he’d be so happy about this.”

“I thing you might be wrong about that. I think he knew how protective you were of me and might have sent me here on purpose.”

While I’m not too sure about that, there’s a question I need to ask, even though I’m not sure I want to hear the answer. “How long are you here?”

“Seeing as you went through all the trouble to make a sign for me. The least I could do is stay and open my practice. Besides you won’t go to a doctor and you need someone to help you work all the kinks out,” she says, her voice playful, so mischievous my insides warms, aching to take her to the bedroom and show her just how much I like that idea.

“There you go using that word ‘kink’ again. Don’t toy with me, Summer. There will be consequences.” She grins like she likes that idea and my heart soars with the love I have for her. But I wipe all playfulness away and sober. “Only one problem, though.”

She angels her head, take in the seriousness on my face. “A problem?” she asks, and takes a tentative step back, like she’s worried she really did make a mess of things. “What kind of problem?”

“As far as I’m concerned, we need to toss that sign in the garbage.”

She gulps and I hear her throat. “Sean, I thought—”

“It has your name wrong.”

“I know I never should have said I was Jenna—”

“Summer,” I say, stopping her. “It has your last name wrong.”

She still looks confused, until I drop down onto one knee. Her eyes go wide and her mouth drops open forming that perfect “O” that I love so much.

“It should say Summer Owens.”

“Sean—”

“Marry me, Summer. Make me the happiest man in the world.”

She takes deep gulping breaths, tears pooling in her eyes. “Say yes.”

“Yes,” she cries out, and I climb to my feet, gather her into my arms and carry her down the hall.

“Now there are only two things left.”

“What?” she asks as she wraps her arms around me to hang on. And she’d better fucking hang on because we only get one shot at this life, and ours is going to be a ride to remember. “The cottage is finished, and it’s time to for us to christen it.”

She giggles, and presses her mouth to mine. I kiss her with all the love inside me. I set her on the bed and tug off my T-shirt. Her eyes roam over my scars, ones that have healed from her love and her touch, then her eyes go wide. “Wait, you said two things.”

“That’s right. We need to work on giving Gram that little great-granddaughter she wants.”

Summer’s smile nearly brings tears to my fucking eyes. She reaches out to me, pulls me to her warm body. “I love you Sean.”

“I love you, too, Summer,” I say as I close my lips over hers. “I always have.”