Marcus woke to the sound of Trish Anders rhapsodizing about a sofa. He blindly patted his nightstand searching for the remote, regretting the day he’d set a timer up on the TV as a way to wake himself each morning. No one needed to be woken by Trish at six a.m.

Once he’d managed to turn the TV off, he rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. It was the same view he’d had every morning for the last two weeks. A blank white canvas where he could replay the disaster that was his relationship with Renee.

Over and over again he saw the look on her face as she ran from Derek’s office. Over and over again he saw her retreating form, running down the street away from him. Over and over again he saw her mother’s face as he stood at the front door to their house begging to see Renee.

“I’m sorry,” Anne had told him, her eyes full of sympathy. “She’s just not up to this right now. Maybe in a few months—when everything’s settled down.”

He threw a pillow at the wall and kicked the covers off as the phone vibrated next to him.

“What?” he barked out as he sat up and swiped the screen.

“Nice to see you’re in a better mood today,” Derek grunted.

“Sorry. Hello. What do you want?”

Derek chuckled. “That’s so much better. Maybe this will help. She’s got a job, and I’ve made sure that it includes the same health care coverage she had here.”

The air rushed out of Marcus’s lungs in relief. He stared at the door to his bedroom, trying to assemble the scattered emotions and thoughts parading through his mind.

He finally settled on the simplest phrase he could find. “Thank you.” His voice was gruff, but the words were genuine. “Where—” He cleared his throat. “Where is it? The job?”

“At my friend Teague’s law firm. Their receptionist is on maternity leave for the next six months. He’ll find something else for her in the firm once that gig’s up. She’s in a good place. I promised you I’d take care of her and it’s done. Her mom and David will have everything they need, and she’s safe. The whole family is safe.”

Marcus’s chest relaxed for the first time in two solid weeks. When Renee’s resignation had arrived via email the morning after Derek and Marcus’s fight, he’d had a tightness inside that he couldn’t seem to get rid of. Derek had pleaded with her not to quit, but she was humiliated, and blamed herself for their argument. No amount of begging would convince her to come back. And Marcus’s chest had tightened more. It was nice to know it wasn’t permanent. Now if only it would quit hurting as well.

“I appreciate it,” Marcus told his brother. “And I’m sorry. So sorry I made this mess.”

“I know,” Derek answered softly. “I know now that you’re crazy about her, and I’m sorry that it ended like it did.”

Marcus shrugged, an attempt to convince himself that this wasn’t a life-altering event, though his gut knew better.

“Life goes on.” He rubbed at his chest right over the place his heart laid.

“It does. But at least you don’t need to worry about this anymore. You up for a workout at Spar later on?”

“Maybe. I’ll call you.”

After hanging up with his brother, Marcus went to the bathroom and turned on the shower to slightly above scalding just as he had every other day since Renee left. But today, that tightness had left his chest, and he thought it might even have left room for something else. Something akin to hope.

---

In the two weeks since Renee had left Ambrose and Associates she’d cried. A lot. Then she’d woken up one morning and realized that the bills wouldn’t stop coming, her brother wouldn’t stop eating, and her mother still needed medicine. So, she’d gotten out of bed, turned on her computer, and discovered emails. Dozens of them. From virtually every friend and associate that Derek Ambrose had. And every single one of them contained a job offer. Apparently Derek Ambrose had accepted that Renee was no longer going to work for him, but he hadn’t accepted that he was no longer responsible for her well-being.

After talking it over with her mother, she’d decided that she couldn’t afford the luxury of being proud. Renee needed to work, and the work was there waiting for her. She’d felt somewhat mollified by choosing the six-month position in Teague Roberts’ office. At least that way she’d have time to secure another job on her own, without the involvement of either Ambrose man.

As she sat at the reception desk of Teague’s law firm, she watched him with a bevy of men in suits as they met in the conference room across from her desk. While she’d taken the job out of necessity, she couldn’t lie to herself that there hadn’t been an added benefit to working for such a close friend of Derek’s. Try hard as she might to pretend otherwise, she was learning that she’d leap on any chance to feel closer to Marcus, to glean some tiny bit of information about him. She found her eyes following Teague around the office all day, hoping to overhear him on a call with Derek, or see some piece of mail that might have passed through Derek’s hands first. Because for her, Derek was the closest she could come to Marcus. The closest she’d ever come to Marcus again. She sighed and turned to her computer screen. It was hopeless. She was hopeless.

“Renee.” She looked up when she heard the voice, knowing even as she did that it was going to reduce her small corner of peace to rubble in a hot second.

“Mr. Ambrose.” She swallowed—hard. “It’s lovely to see you.”

Derek gave her a quirky half smile. “It’s good to see you. Teague told me you’d taken the job. Is it working out all right?”

“Yes, it is. Mr. Roberts has been very nice.” She cast her eyes down to the monitor, unsure of what else to say.

He smiled, leaning a hip casually against her desk. But then his face turned serious.

“I’ve missed you at my office. And I can’t tell you how sorry I am about everything that happened.”

She tried to smile back at him, but could feel that it came off wrong. More of a grimace than a smile. “No, I’m sorry Mr. Ambrose. I behaved incredibly unprofessionally, and worse than that, I came between you and your brother. I’ll never be able to forgive myself for that.”

He shook his head. “No. No, you didn’t. My problems with Marcus were of my own making. Please don’t take that on yourself. I was…” He cleared his throat, obviously unaccustomed to admissions like this one. “I was wrong. I treated my brother like he was a child, and he’s not. I underestimated him and I tried to control him. I’m sorry you got caught in the middle of that.”

She nodded, not answering, because she couldn’t summon words right then.

“He misses you,” Derek said softly. “I know you said you didn’t want to talk to him again, but the kid—” Derek gave himself a shake “—Marcus is suffering. He’s miserable, and I know if he could talk to you it would help.”

“I don’t know,” she answered, her nose and eyes burning as she struggled to push the emotion back inside. “I’m not sure I can do what he’s asking—get involved.” She looked up at her former boss, his features so like the man she was, to be honest about it, in love with. “I’m not sure there’s enough of me left to give anymore away.”

“I think you’re capable of more than you realize,” he told her with a small smile. “At least think about it. I’ve never seen him like this. If nothing else, maybe you could both get some closure.”

“Okay, I’ll think about it,” she answered.

He rapped his knuckles twice on her desk, grinned, and walked across the lobby to the conference room.

---

Renee thought about it. About Marcus, about his touch, his words, the way he looked at her. She thought about how he’d taken care of her after her brother’s accident, how he’d been so kind to her family. Then she thought about the look in his eyes that last day when she’d run out of Derek’s office. His stricken expression when she stood there looking at what had obviously been a brawl between him and his brother.

She thought about these things for nights, and days, and weeks. But still she couldn’t bring herself to call him. Her mother had finished chemo and was even talking about going back to work in January, David was getting caught up with school and he too would start back in January for his last semester of high school. He was already talking about attending Capital College and going into their photojournalism program. Alex had promised to give him a recommendation. Yes, her little brother still saw Alex—and by default Marcus—nearly every week. Each time he came home from spending an afternoon shadowing the WNN staff he told her that Marcus had asked about her. Each time she only smiled and nodded.

She looked at listings for other jobs, jobs not tied to the Ambrose brothers, but she didn’t apply for any. Instead she settled in at Teague’s law firm. It suited her need to feel closer to Marcus, so she stayed. She stayed at the job. She stayed stuck in a moment of panic, of fear that her mother would die, that her brother would have no one to look after him, that she would fail them both. She stayed terrified that if she spent one moment doing something for herself instead of for her family their world would collapse. She stayed away from Marcus even though it cut her to the very deepest part of her heart, because she was desperate to stay safe and in control, and Marcus was anything but.

One afternoon shortly before Christmas Elise stopped by the law firm.

“Have you done your shopping?” she asked as she waved a Christmas cookie in front of Renee’s face.

Renee swatted the cookie-hand away. “Stop that, you know I’m not allowed to eat at the front desk. And I’ve started the shopping, but not finished it yet.”

“Well, you need to get a move on. I expect my gift on Christmas.”

Renee snorted. “What makes you think you’re getting something?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Because I’m your BFF and I’m also irresistibly charming. And to make your job easier I have it all picked out.”

Renee laughed so hard she coughed. “You’re kidding me, right? Who does that? Picks out their own gift?”

Elise sniffed and tried to look wounded. “So now you’re going to make fun of me? After I went to all the trouble to find the perfect gift for you to get me?”

“Oh for heaven’s sake. Fine. Where is this perfect gift and what is it?”

Elise’s pained expression morphed to wicked delight immediately. She clapped her hands together and hopped up and down. “Oh yay! You’ll get it for me? You’re perfect. All you have to do is go to the fountain that’s at City Core outside the Ferragamo store.”

“So what you want is in Ferragamo? You know I don’t have enough money to buy you a real gift from there, right?”

Elise gave her an enigmatic smile. “Did I say to go into the Ferragamo store? No, I said to go to the fountain right outside the store.”

Renee looked at her best friend like she’d finally lost her mind. “Okaaay. I’m buying you what? Water from the fountain?”

Elise laughed. “Go over there as soon as you’re off work today. You’ll know what I want for my gift the minute you see it. I promise.”

Renee sighed. It wasn’t how she’d planned spending her free time after work, but Elise had earned her bestie status many times over and if she wanted some strange gift from a vending wagon at the trendy City Core shopping district, then that’s what she’d get.

---

Two hours later Renee made her way through the after work crowds trying to squeeze in last minute shopping before the holiday. City Core was draped in tiny white lights, and there was a hot chocolate cart on every corner. She stopped to drop a handful of change in the Salvation Army bucket as she reached the fountain where Elise had instructed her to look. Turning in a circle she saw nothing but water, people and holiday lights. A Christmas tree filled the far corner of the plaza area, but there were no vending booths, no buskers standing around with tiny paintings or ethnic jewelry. What in the world could Elise have meant? Frustrated, Renee dug through her purse for her phone to text her vague friend.

“I think you might be looking for me?” rumbled a deep, silky voice that she recognized instantly.

Her head shot up and she stood, frozen, as she looked into the eyes she’d dreamed about every night for weeks.

She swallowed, her heart racing as a slow smile spread across his face. He was dressed casually, in a long-sleeved Henley and dark jeans. The scruff on his face was a day or two old, and his hair was tousled by the chilled breeze that blew through the mall. He was gorgeous, and she was speechless.

“Hi,” he said, giving her a sweet smile that nearly knocked her off of her feet.

“Hi,” she answered, her voice ridiculously breathy. She tried to calm down so she could speak like a grown up. “What are you doing here?”

He reached out and lifted one of her hands in his, running his thumb across the back of her fingers and sending sparks of heat up her arm.

“I’m looking for you.”

“Why?”

“You know why,” he answered in a low voice.

She shook her head. No. She didn’t know.

The crowds around them faded, the noises receding to nothing more than a white haze behind the words that he spoke to her.

“The fight with my brother—that wasn’t your fault.”

She furrowed her brow, trying to decipher where he was going with this.

“He told me you felt guilty about it. It wasn’t your fault. Derek’s been like a father to me, and I’ve acted like a child with him. I was being a child that day. I should have told him up front that I was going to date you. I should have made it clear that he didn’t have the authority to control our personal lives. I didn’t man up. Instead I snuck around trying to convince you to do something you weren’t comfortable with. I was an ass.”

Her eyes stung and she looked away from his gaze, the intensity of it too much. He put a finger under her chin and coaxed her eyes back to his.

“I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry that I didn’t handle that better, and I’m especially sorry that it threatened your family’s security. I hope you know neither Derek nor I would have ever let you go without anything. We would have never let you walk away without caring for your family. We may be idiots, but we still know right from wrong.”

Renee lost her battle and tears slipped from the corners of her eyes.

Marcus rushed on as though he were frantic to finish before she collapsed in a damp heap.

“But even though I made so many mistakes, it didn’t change the way I feel. Renee, I’m crazy about you. Everything I said to you that day is still true. I’ve never felt this way about anyone and I’m miserable without you. From the first moment I laid eyes on you I knew my world had changed. You make me want things I’ve never wanted before. But I only want them with you.”

He tugged on her hand and led her to the fountain where he sat with her on the edge surrounding the water. He faced her, brushing away the tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. “I’m in love with you, Renee Erikson. Will you please be mine?”

Renee’s sobs came so hard and fast that she couldn’t have stopped them if she’d wanted to. But she really didn’t want to. All of the fear and stress and loneliness came pouring out of her at once, and it was such a relief she simply succumbed. She buried her head in the space between Marcus’s shoulder and his neck and she let it all go.

“Oh baby,” Marcus crooned. “I’m so sorry.”

She hiccupped and sobbed some more as he stroked her hair and held her. When the waterworks finally began to subside she pulled back, suddenly embarrassed at the outburst. She could only imagine what she looked like by now—mascara rubbed all over her face, nose red, snot everywhere.

“I’m s-sorry,” she stuttered, wiping frantically at her face.

Marcus chuckled and lifted the hem of his shirt, dabbing her face with it. Once he had her dried off he took her cheeks in between his palms. “You have nothing to be sorry for. You are so strong and so brave. I don’t want you to have to do this by yourself anymore. Let me be your guy and I promise it’ll be better. We’ll do this together. You and me.”

She took a deep breath, and for the first time since she’d found out about her mom’s illness she exhaled. Really, truly exhaled.

“Renee?” Marcus asked, watching her with worry.

She gave him a small smile. “I’m okay,” she said. She nodded to herself. She really was. She was okay. It was all okay. Her mother was going to be okay, David was going to be okay, she and Marcus were going to be okay.

“We’re okay,” she said as she caressed his prickly cheek. “We love each other and we’re going to be okay.”

Marcus’s eyes sparkled and his grin was the broadest she’d ever seen. “Say that again,” he whispered.

“We love each other—”

His mouth descended on hers without a second’s hesitation. She opened to him immediately and he kissed her deep and hard. His breath came fast and hers kept pace.

She pulled back to look at him.

“God I missed you,” he said, stroking her lips with his thumb.

“I missed you too.” She kissed him softly. “Did Elise tell you I’d be here today?”

“Guilty,” he said, still grinning to beat the band.

“I’ll have to talk to her about that.”

He scowled at her.

“To thank her.” She laughed, and his brow smoothed.

“Can I take you home now?” he asked.

“Only if you promise to take me home to your place,” she answered.

“It’s a guarantee,” he growled as he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder shouting to people as he went, “It’s okay. We’re in love!”