Katie fell asleep in perfect peace and happiness—the kind of satisfaction she’d almost never felt.

When Logan had showed up at her bedroom door and admitted he wanted her, everything had been perfectly clear.

He was what she wanted too. And telling herself she didn’t want a relationship was ridiculous when she loved him so much and she could be with him this way.

But she woke up at about three in the morning with an ache of anxiety in her chest. It was almost completely dark in the room, and Logan was sleeping beside her. She could hear his steady breathing, and she loved the sound of it.

She wondered what it would be like to wake up beside him every night.

For some reason that thought just tightened the anxiety in her chest even more painfully.

It wasn’t supposed to feel like this. She was supposed to be overwhelmed with joy.

Why was she still so scared?

She got up to go to the bathroom, and then she picked up her phone in an automatic gesture. Noticing she had a voice message, she took the phone into the bathroom, cracked the door so the light wouldn’t wake Logan up, and listened.

It was her client Marla. She was in tears again.

The message was four-and-a-half-minutes long and as heartbreaking as anything Katie had ever heard. She stared down at the phone afterward, frozen with the vision of herself thirty years from now, broken this way by Logan.

Logan wasn’t like Marla’s husband. He was as good a man as she’d ever known.

But Marla had probably though the same thing about her husband when they’d first gotten together.

And Katie couldn’t stand it.

She just couldn’t stand it.

She slumped to the floor of the bathroom, leaning against the side of the tub, her phone still in her hand.

Logan found her that way a minute later when he pushed open the cracked door. He’d pulled on his boxers but wasn’t wearing anything else.

“Katie?” he asked hoarsely, stepping into the bathroom, his expression becoming urgent as he processed her position. “Katie, baby, what is it?”

Katie was shaking. She could barely make herself speak. “I… I don’t know if I can do this.”

Logan knew exactly what she meant. He knew as soon as the words were said. She watched the transformation of his expression.

He’d been so incredibly happy earlier, during their lovemaking and afterward. She’d been able to see exactly how happy he’d been.

And now she was taking it away without warning.

For a moment she thought he might actually turn around and leave the bathroom. She was rejecting him, after he’d totally opened himself up to her, stripped himself naked, given himself to her completely.

If he’d left her then, if he’d walked away, that might have been it. They might never have been able to work things out between them—even to maintain their old friendship. Both of them would have been hurt too much.

He didn’t leave though. He squared his shoulders and took a step closer to her. “I know you can do this, Katie, if it’s what you want.”

“It is what I want,” she admitted, tears starting to stream down her cheeks. “I want to be with you so much. But I’m still so scared. Why am I still scared?”

Her crying affected him dramatically. He knelt down to the tile floor beside her. “It’s okay to still be scared.”

“No, it isn’t. You’re… you’re too good for me to still be scared. It’s not right. It’s not fair to you.”

He adjusted his position so he was leaning against the tub, and then he pulled her over onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her. “You’ve spent years scared of relationships, Katie. All you see is broken ones. Even when you were a kid, with your parents. It wouldn’t be normal or… or human for you to miraculously put all that aside, just because we want to be together now. You’re allowed to be scared. You’re allowed.”

For some reason his quiet words transformed the painful ache in her heart.

Maybe he was right.

Maybe it wasn’t a sign of her complete incapability of being part of a healthy relationship.

Maybe it was just being human.

Maybe it was okay that she was still so anxious about this.

“I don’t care if you’re scared, baby,” Logan murmured, stroking her loose hair, holding her like she was the most important thing in his world. “It’s not a betrayal. You can be as scared as you want. As long as you… you want to be with me this way. As long as you want me.”

“I do.” She pulled back so she could meet his eyes. “I do, Logan. I didn’t know until today—somehow I just didn’t know until now—but you’re exactly what I want.”

He exhaled loudly, and she realized she’d said exactly the right thing. He pressed a kiss against her mouth. “So if you get scared, just tell me, and we’ll work it out together. Okay?”

“Okay.”

They were silent for a minute, just holding each other. Then Logan murmured, “I love you, Katie. You know that, right? I love you as more than my friend. I love you as my… my everything. And once I make a commitment, I never let it go. I’m in this all the way. Forever. You never have to worry about my feelings changing.”

It was the same thing his mother had told her in the story about his dog when they were weeding the garden earlier, and Katie knew it was true.

Logan wasn’t going to break his word. His heart would never change.

She’d always trusted him in everything else. She could trust him in this too.

She’d relaxed in his arms, and she realized the ache in her chest had eased too.

“Why are you smiling?” Logan asked.

“Because I’m not scared anymore.”

Now he was smiling too. “Good. I’m not scared either.”

“So maybe we should get up off this floor then. It’s kind of cold and hard. Will you take me back to bed?”

And that was exactly what Logan did.

***

Katie woke up incredibly happy the following morning.

She didn’t believe in miracles, but that was how the sunrise felt.

Despite their late night, she and Logan managed to get up in time to walk on the beach to watch the sunrise over the water in a splendor of golds and reds. Katie was practically giddy as she slowly processed everything that had happened the previous day.

It felt like her life, her heart, had been made new, but it hadn’t all happened in one weekend. It had happened over months and years of knowing and falling in love with Logan. Their relationship wasn’t based on temporary desire or feeling.

It was based on real love, real commitment.

And she somehow knew this morning that it could last.

It would last.

When they returned to the house, Sandra and Jason were up and drinking coffee in the kitchen.

Katie and Logan were holding hands as they walked in to join them, and clearly no further explanations had to be made about the change in their relationship.

Sandra’s eyes were soft and pleased as she smiled at them. “Are you hungry? I can make some breakfast.”

“Breakfast sounds great. Thanks.” Logan pulled out a stool for Katie, and then he sat down beside her at the kitchen bar.

Their conversation was light and friendly, and no one mentioned that Logan kept reaching out to rub Katie’s back or stroke her thigh.

It was like he couldn’t keep his hands off her, and Katie didn’t mind at all.

“I’m sorry you have to leave so soon,” Sandra said as they were finishing up. “When do you think you can come back for a visit?”

“We’ll get back as soon as we can,” Logan said.

“I have some vacation time coming up,” Katie added. “Maybe we can visit for longer next time.”

“Perfect.” Sandra was beaming. “And of course you’ll have to have the wedding here.”

“Mom,” Logan muttered.

“Sandra,” Jason said at exactly the same time.

Katie just laughed.

Something had definitely changed because the thought of marrying Logan didn’t scare her—at least not at this moment.

In fact, she really liked the idea of it.