Abi floated through work on a cloud of happiness. No matter what complaints she heard, she dealt with them with a big old cheesy grin on her face. She hurried home and freshened up, but then she realized it was only five-thirty. Stone wasn’t going to be there until six. She unloaded the dishwasher, swept and vacuumed the main area, then gave up on being productive and just waited by the front door, peeking out the side window.

Six o’clock finally came, and Stone’s truck pulled up to her house. She grabbed her coat and ran out to meet him. He hurried up the sidewalk, and she flung herself against that beautiful chest. Stone grinned and wrapped her up in his arms, kissing her.

He pulled back and smiled. “Guess somebody had a good day?”

“All I thought about was you. You should’ve seen my smile.”

Grinning, he kissed her softly. “I painted an entire wall in the dining room before realizing I was using ceiling paint on the wall.”

“Oh, my goodness, that’s sweet.”

“No, you’re the sweet one.” He kissed her and murmured, “Mmm. Like candy.” Releasing her, he took her hand. “We’d better go eat before I have to burn my man card.”

Abi giggled, walking next to him. “I guess Nikola would be a little disgusted to hear you be all gushy.”

He opened her door and squeezed her hand. “Nah. Jeremy would be appalled, but Nikola would be proud of me. He’s told me since he first saw you at the grocery store that I was dumb as any American cowboy if I let you go.”

“I knew I liked him.” She climbed into his truck and pulled her phone out of her purse. “You mind forwarding his number?”

Stone growled low in his throat and took her phone, pushing it back into her purse. “Don’t even think about calling that pretty boy.”

Abi touched his face, liking the feel of his firm jaw under her fingertips. “You’re the prettiest boy I know.”

Stone took her hand and kissed it then quickly released her, shut the door, and jogged around to his side. He started the truck, but before he pulled away, he glanced at her. “Thank you, Abi. I didn’t know it was possible to feel this way.”

Though Abi was eating up each look, word, and touch Stone gave her, she was a little shocked that he could be so sentimental and sweet with her. He was light years from Stone Cold. Had he been like this with Virginia? No. She couldn’t let her thoughts go there. Couldn’t let herself compare.

“You’re surprised that you’re so enamored with me?” Abi winked and flipped her hair.

“No.” He shook his head, his eyes solemn. “I’ve been enamored with you for as long as I can remember.”

Abi sucked in a breath. Oh, be still my heart.

“I didn’t know that you could truly feel the same way about me. I didn’t know that I could be this happy.”

Tears sprang to her eyes and traced down her cheeks before she could stop them. Stone. The man she’d always loved was being a romantic sap, and she was eating it up. “You’re the luckiest guy I know. That’s for sure.”

Stone chuckled and tenderly brushed the wetness off her cheek. “Yes, I am.”

He pulled the truck into gear and drove toward the Redstone Shopping Area. Abi wondered if her crying had pushed past his emotional boundaries. He’d been Stone Cold for so long. Could he truly change seemingly overnight? And for her? She’d told him when they were skiing that they could just kiss and take the emotional stuff slowly, but he was the one who’d started it, right? She wasn’t pushing him too fast, and she wasn’t going to lose him again. She said a quick prayer for help.

They didn’t say anything as they drove, but he took her hand in his, and that was enough for right now. He escorted her out of his truck, and they walked toward the restaurant hand in hand. She was pretty certain her every dream had come true. She and Stone were finally together. It was the happiest she’d ever been.

The glass doors of Marty’s Ski and Board shop swung open from the inside, and a man strode out. A stocky blond man with piercing green eyes and a chiseled face that everyone had always said looked like Val Kilmer.

Abi stopped dead in her tracks. “Jace,” she whispered. Why was he here? Not now!

Stone’s head whipped up. He stared at Jace without moving. A muscle worked furiously in his jaw, but everything else about him had gone deadly still. His eyes that had been a warm blue moments ago went to that cold gray she dreaded.

Jace stopped on the sidewalk in front of them. His eyes swept from Stone to Abi then back again. “I was going to come see you,” he said to Abi. “I didn’t know about—” He looked pointedly at their joined hands. “You two? It makes sense. You always did have to have everything, didn’t you, Stone?”

Stone’s grip tightened on Abi’s hand until it was painful.

“Stone?” she said.

He broke his focus on Jace and relaxed his grip, turning to her. “I’m sorry. I promise I was going to tell you.”

Confusion traced through her. What did that mean?

“You were going to tell her what exactly—that you stole the love of my life?” Jace took a step closer, and though Stone was taller and more built than him, he didn’t seem intimidated. His fists were clenched like he was ready to throw down. “That you ruined my life and killed Virginia and my baby in the process?”

His baby? Abi stared at Jace, certain she’d misheard somehow. She knew Jace had cared for Virginia, but he’d left, and Virginia and Stone had gotten together almost immediately.

Stone’s lips tightened. “You deserted Virginia. What did you expect me to do?”

“I didn’t expect you to marry her two weeks later! You always had to step in and be the hero.”

Stone shook his head. “Did you expect her to wait who knows how long for you and raise a baby alone while you went off to make some big career for yourself?”

“She told me she would wait, but then you talked her into marrying you.” Jace’s lips curled into a snarl. “And then you killed her.”

Stone swallowed and looked away. “You’re right, I did.”

Abi gasped. “What are you two talking about?” she demanded.

Jace looked her way again before he glared back at Stone. “Did you lie to her too? Act like you’re some champion who saved Virginia?” He drummed his clenched fist against his leg. “I’d be very careful, Abi. Virginia was miserable with him, and you will be too. Stone Cold doesn’t care about anyone but himself.” He stalked past them, looking back once to give Abi a disbelieving shake of his head.

Abi’s insides felt cold, and her brain was whirling with questions. She knew Jace had loved Virginia, but had she really promised to wait for him and then fallen for and married Stone two weeks later? And how in the world could Stone feel like he’d killed their friend? Virginia hit black ice and slid off a cliff for heaven’s sake.

Stone touched her arm. “I’ll take you home,” he said quietly, turning and walking back toward his truck.

For possibly the only time in her life, Abi was too confused to know how to say something light and bring Stone’s grin back. Stone got her door and shut it. Then he climbed in and drove back to her house. Her stomach was in knots as she stared at his rigid jawline and the coldness in his gray-blue eyes. Stone Cold. Would he revert back again? One day of heaven and now it was gone. She felt like a little girl who’d been promised Disneyland with nonstop churros and iced lemonade and instead had been locked in a dirty basement with moldy bread and water.

Stone stopped in front of her house a few minutes later, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

“Do you want to go inside and talk?” she asked.

He shook his head shortly.

“Stone.” Abi grasped his arm. “You promised me we’d talk. What is going on?”

He glanced at her, blinked, and looked down at the steering wheel again. “Jace is right. I made Virginia miserable, and I’d do the same thing to you.”

“Stop, Stone. Just stop it. Jace is an idiot who deserted all of us. Let’s talk about this. I want to be with you, and nothing Jace said has changed that.”

Stone clamped his lips together and pushed out a breath through his nose. “Abi, do you know why I married Virginia?”

“Because she was beautiful and sweet, she was having your baby, and you loved her?” Abi missed her friend and regretted that she’d been so jealous of her and Stone being together that she had withdrawn from both of them during their short marriage and the end of Virginia’s life.

“She was beautiful and sweet, but …” He shook his head like he was going to clam up, but at least, he stayed focused on her. “Jace was telling the truth.”

“About what? You didn’t kill Virginia.”

He exhaled, and his eyes seemed to go a shade grayer. “I didn’t push her off the cliff, but I basically drove her there.”

“Oh, Stone.” She wanted to reach out to him, but she didn’t know how to comfort him right now. He was so rigid and cold. He was shutting her out, and she didn’t know if she could pry her way back in.

“Our marriage wasn’t good. We didn’t love each other and we were both miserable.” He clenched the steering wheel. “Jace was right. It wasn’t my place to step in and be the hero. I should’ve tried to support Virginia as a friend, not as a husband and surrogate father to her baby.”

“What are you talking about?” She shrank back. Jace had claimed the baby was his, but she couldn’t believe that. Of course the baby was Stone’s. Virginia had told Abi it was.

Stone didn’t say anything. Finally, Abi asked, “Jace was the one who got Virginia pregnant?”

Stone nodded, his face the picture of misery and regret. “He’d committed to the military, and he left the day she found out she was pregnant.”

So Jace had taken advantage of Virginia and then ditched her. Abi thought she and Virginia had been the best of friends. Obviously she was wrong. Virginia hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her anything. In fact, she’d outright lied to her.

Abi shook her head, still praying this wasn’t true. “No. Virginia loved you. She married you.”

“She and Jace were together several times, but she told me he didn’t want the baby and wasn’t coming back. Maybe he’s telling the truth that he asked her to wait. I don’t know. She begged me to take care of her and the baby, said her dad would kill her if he found out she’d been immoral. I felt so bad for her Abi.” He passed a hand over his face. “I couldn’t tell her no. We went to Vegas two weeks later.”

Abi thought it was honorable, in a twisted sort of way, that Stone had stepped up and taken Jace’s place, had been there for Virginia. But there were so many other ways they could’ve gone about it. Why all the secrecy? Why did Virginia marry Stone if she loved Jace? Abi knew Virginia’s dad was a hard man and Jace must’ve broken her heart in pieces. Also, Virginia was one of the few who knew how good Stone was heart and soul. She didn’t blame her friend for turning to Stone, but in a way, she felt like Stone had been taken advantage of as surely as Virginia had.

“The day she died,” Stone said, almost like now he was talking he had to share all, “she was driving out of control because she was furious at me. She had said, ‘You’re so cold. I should call you Stone Cold. I hate being married to you. The only time you smile is when you talk about the baby or you see Abi.’ Instead of trying to make it better, I got defensive and accused her of still loving Jace. She didn’t deny it. She took off in her car and died.” He faced the steering wheel again, wrapping his fingers around it. “Jace was right that I made her miserable. I can’t do that to you too, Abi.”

“You’re not cold to me, Stone.”

He gave her a weak smile and then stared out the windshield at her front porch.

Abi wanted to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault that Virginia wasn’t happy or that she’d died far too young, but she was still a few steps behind, trying to process the first set of issues. Jace had been a class-one jerk and had not only gotten Virginia pregnant but had also abandoned her and his own child.

Abi looked at the man she loved and thought she knew so well. Stone had picked up the pieces. It was so like him. He’d always been the responsible one, but instead of being grateful that he’d been there for Virginia, irrational anger moved through Abi. How could every one of her closest friends have lied to her? Was she not worthy of their secret? Did they not trust her?

“How could you keep something like this from me?” She finally managed to ask.

Stone’s grip tightened on the wheel, his knuckles turning white. “I swore to Virginia that I would never tell anyone, but she was the one who told everyone I was the father of her baby. Jace was the only other person who knew the truth and he was gone. He’s right, though. I was young and dumb and thought I was being some hero stepping up to take care of my friend’s responsibility.” He shook his head. “But I wasn’t a hero. I was as bad if not worse than Jace. I wanted to be a father to baby Abigail so much, but I was too immature to be a father or a husband.”

Normally, Abi would tell Stone that he was good enough. She’d try to get him out of his funk, but right now, she was too ticked off. “Seven years. Yes, Virginia told me the initial lie, but she has been gone for seven years. I’ve been here for you, been your friend no matter if you were depressed, angry, cold, whatever. I never gave up on you. Yet you’ve never even given us a chance. You’ve kept all this locked away from me for seven years!” Her voice rose as her anger increased. Maybe it was irrational, but she still felt she had a right to know and understand why. “I realize you promised Virginia and appreciate that you would stand by your promise, but would Virginia want you to be miserable and alone like you’ve been?”

Stone pursed his lips. “I don’t know.”

Silence reigned for too long, and Abi shouldn’t have said it but she had to know. “I don’t understand why you couldn’t tell me. You know I’d never go blabbing it around. Did you think I wouldn’t understand? That I wouldn’t believe you?”

He looked miserable, but his jaw tightened. He said, “Do you have any clue how hard it was for me not to tell you? How badly I wanted to share and be with you?” He shook his head and looked away. “But I couldn’t do it. So many times I’ve wanted to, but I couldn’t break that promise.”

Abi folded her arms across her chest. The cab of the truck was too hot and stifling her. “I’m … I don’t know what to think, Stone. I love your integrity, that you kept your promise to Virginia, but it hurts because …” She shouldn’t say it, but if they were going to be together she wasn’t going to hide how she truly felt. “While keeping Virginia’s secret, you basically lied to me and proved that you and I can’t have a relationship.”

His head whipped up, and he stared intently at her, but in true Stone fashion, he said nothing.

“I understand why you didn’t tell me, but at the same time, my heart is breaking that you couldn’t have found a way.” She was so confused inside she couldn’t get the words out right. She loved him and loved that he’d stood behind his promise, but deep inside, she wanted to come first to him. That meant he couldn’t keep things from her, especially something as important as this. She pushed out a heavy breath. “I don’t even know how to explain, but I’ve asked you repeatedly to talk to me, to open up. I trusted you, Stone. I thought I loved you!” As soon as the last sentence was out, her heart thumped painfully against her chest. Stone’s eyes were so cold she couldn’t get one glimpse into how he was feeling. She did love him, but he didn’t love or trust her enough. He’d held a piece of himself back from her for this long. Did he truly love her? Everything was a selfish mess in her brain.

He just sat there, staring at her with those gray eyes until she couldn’t stand it one more second. “Say something!”

He shook his head and looked away.

Her voice lowered. Despite the heat in the cab of the truck, she suddenly felt colder than Stone’s gaze. “I’m done, Stone. If you can’t explain to me why, if you can’t talk to me about something this important, I am done.” She drew in a ragged breath and touched his arm, her voice dropping to a begging plea. “Please say something!”

Stone focused in on her and finally murmured, “I’m sorry.”

Abi heard the strangled scream rip from her throat. She knew she yanked the door open and hurtled herself out of his truck and ran to her house, but it was like an out of body experience. She’d ripped herself from Stone, and she didn’t know if anything could heal a wound this gaping.