Mist blanketed the cemetery as the priest said the final prayer to lay Heath to rest. My heart broke as my father wiped his eyes with a handkerchief. He’d finally been seen by a specialist who determined that he wasn’t suffering from dementia due to early-onset Alzheimer’s, but due to a toxic cocktail of the drugs he’d been taking. It had been another blow to realize that only Heath had the ability to switch out the pills in one of his arthritis prescriptions to cause it.

As my brother’s ashes were now being interred, we couldn’t ask him why, but had to assume that it was because my father must have asked too many questions and Heath had needed them to stop.

As much as I wanted to assign a noble motive to what Heath had done, this was the final nail in that coffin. He couldn’t be exonerated, and I would have to live with that knowledge. But Rhett and I made a deal—we wouldn’t assume responsibility for actions that weren’t our own, and even though it was difficult to adhere to, I was trying.

Rhett’s arm tightened around my shoulders as the priest said the final amen for the service.

I’d held Esme as we both cried what seemed like a million tears for Erik. Nothing would ever be the same without him, and Esme had been apologetic when she handed me her resignation. She couldn’t be in the office without him. It hurt too much, and I didn’t blame her. I’d offered her the capital she needed to start her own company, no strings attached, and she was still considering my offer. We’d said good-bye to Jan the next day in a small service as well.

Too many funerals in too short a time. Too much loss, heartache, and regret.

It was time to start fresh. But how?

Rhett pushed my father’s wheelchair beside me, and assisted him into the van that would take him back to the rehab center. He was scheduled to move home in a couple of weeks, but he’d surprised me by saying he’d rather check out a senior-living community because his house was too empty and quiet after the hustle and bustle of his current place.

If my brother weren’t already laid to rest, I would kill him for what he did to Dad.

Stop. Right there. We’re letting things go.

It was easier said than done, obviously.

Forgiveness was a process, or so I was told, and I was still working on it.

---

Two hours later, we were finally home again. It wasn’t technically “home” yet, though.

“Who did you say owns the house?” Rhett asked when I got off the phone with the leasing agency.

“Some guy named Lachlan Mount.” The name rang a bell, but I couldn’t remember why.

Rhett spun around in the kitchen and stared at me. “You’re fucking kidding me right now.”

I shook my head. “No. That’s what they said. They said he’d consider selling for the right price. They told me to make an offer.”

“No. Not a chance. We’re packing our shit and leaving.” His tone was implacable.

“Excuse me?”

“This guy is fucking everywhere. Has his hands in everything. He’s Carver’s fucking boss. Owns the security agency you used, and at least half the city. We are not living in a house he’s probably still got wired with his own surveillance.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Then we rip it all out and start over. This is where I fell in love with the real Rhett Hennessy, and I want to stay.”

Rhett froze. “What did you say?”

“I want to stay.” I felt strongly about it, and I wasn’t going to let whoever owned this house run us off.

“Before that. You said this is where you fell in love with me . . .”

“Yeah, I did. So there. If you’ve got a problem with living here, then we have a problem.”

His face softened. “You love me.”

“You’re just figuring this out?”

“You’ve never said it before.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but then I realized he was right. I hadn’t. To me, it was a given, something that went without saying. An irrefutable fact that was simply accepted as being true. It never occurred to me that I had to put it into words for him.

“Neither have you.”

“I thought it was obvious.”

“Then I guess we’re even.”

He closed the distance between us and pulled me against him. “I fucking love you, Ariel Sampson.”

“I love you too.”

A voice came from the entryway. “Then I suspect you should probably marry the girl before she changes her mind.”

We both spun around. No alarms had sounded. The hinges hadn’t even squeaked, and yet somehow a man in a dark suit exuding power laced with menace stood there.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Mount?”

He barely gave me a lazy shrug before crossing the floor. “Came to give the place another look before I decide whether I want to let it go.”

So, this was the guy.

“You weren’t invited,” I said, pleased my voice was steady.

The smile that twisted his lips fell into the category of ruthless. “I don’t require an invitation.”

“It might be your house, but I’m the one with a valid lease, and therefore I say you do.”

His eyes narrowed on me before shifting his attention to Hennessy. “Good luck with this one. You’re going to need it.” And then he turned and strode away.

As soon as the door shut behind him, I spun to face Rhett.

“You sure you want this house?” he asked.

I gave him my most mulish expression. “I’m not going to let him scare us away.”

“Then I guess we better make him an offer. He did have one good idea, though.” Rhett winked at me, and my heart stuttered in my chest.

Is he talking about . . .

Before I could finish that thought, Rhett’s fingers tangled into my hair and his lips met mine.

Everything else fell away as I lost myself in his kiss.

Whatever else happened, as long as I could end every day like this, I would be just fine.