After Jodi dropped the Moores off at their house, she went back home. She didn’t have any other clients for the rest of the day, so she planned to take a run, do some reading, and maybe stream a few episodes of Nashville with T.J., who was missing Vaughn while he was on an art-buying trip in New York.

As she pulled into her circular driveway, however, Ty’s big truck sat waiting, and she had to remember to breathe deep so she wouldn’t fall apart. Seeing him on the boardwalk today had been torture. All she could think about was the way his touch felt on her body, the tone his voice had when he murmured sexy words in her ear. Now the fear of him keeping her from Katie had faded, all seeing him evoked was memories of them together, and those were painful as hell.

She climbed out of the car and watched him warily where he stood leaning against the post of her porch, all long limbs and broad shoulders. It would really help if he were unattractive in some way. Maybe a receding hairline, or a gut hanging over the waistband of his jeans. But no. She sighed. He was the most beautiful man she’d ever laid eyes on, and that made it all so much harder.

“Hi,” he said, his voice low and rough, as she stepped onto the top step next to him.

“Hi. Is everything okay with Katie?”

He nodded. “Yeah, it’s all good, but I was hoping we could talk. Do you have a few minutes?”

Her heart raced, adrenaline shooting through her so her hand shook as she reached to put the key in the door. “Um, sure,” she said, fumbling with the lock. “Come on in.”

They made their way into the house, and she turned for the kitchen. “Do you want a cup of coffee?”

“Sure,” he answered, although he didn’t sound like he really cared. As she busied herself making the coffee, he rested against the doorframe, watching her silently. Once the machine was set to brew, she put her back against a countertop and crossed her arms, feeling defensive even though he hadn’t said a word.

“So, what’s up?” she asked, trying to sound carefree and casual, but failing miserably.

“I heard the story about what happened the day you forgot Katie,” he said softly, his eyes full of liquid heat.

Her heart squeezed in pain, and she nodded. “The Moores were the clients I told you about that day.”

He nodded, pushing off the doorframe and taking a step closer.

“What you did for them was amazing,” he continued, taking another step toward her. Her cheeks felt hot, and she had to catch her breath for a moment.

“I realized something the other night.” A step closer. “When we first met, before you got pregnant…” A step closer. “I was falling in love.” Her heart beat hard and fast as he came yet a step closer. “If Katie hadn’t come along…” He took one last step, standing in front of her now, liquid heat in his dark gaze.

“Katie complicated something that was so simple—you, me, the way we were feeling about one another—and it’s a complication we’ve been struggling with ever since. I haven’t handled that well. Over and over again, I’ve pushed when I should have stepped back, stepped away when I should have stuck.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and her breath hitched in her chest, everything stopping for a long second before heart and lungs started back up, pumping furiously, making her wonder if she’d survive this newest onslaught of emotion.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, leaning in just inches from her face, his warm breath fanning over her skin like thousands of tiny feathers. “I should have believed in you more—I should have believed in us more.” He rested his forehead against hers, his hands coming up to rest against the countertop on either side of her hips at the same time. He caged her in, and being trapped had never felt so good.

“I only started to believe in myself recently,” she whispered. “I couldn’t expect you to do something I couldn’t do for myself.”

“Yeah, but I’m pretty slow on the uptake.”

“And now?” she asked, her voice breathy and wary.

“Now,” he said, his lips brushing against her cheek while her neck arched in response. “Now I think I’d better make my move before someone a hell of a lot smarter than me steals you away. Because you are amazing. You’re smart, responsible, charming, and gorgeous. You’re a fantastic businesswoman, and the most caring person I’ve ever known. You’re patient, you’re thoughtful, and you have the biggest, most generous heart in the world.”

She sighed, touching him tentatively, her palms resting against his abs, fingertips barely stroking the muscles beneath his T-shirt.

He kissed her on the lips, once, twice, then one cheek, then the other, she felt her hips drift toward his, everything inside her becoming molten heat.

“I want you, Jodi Morgan. I want you today and tomorrow, and a decade from now. I want you in our lives permanently. I want you on the days you get so wrapped up in your clients that you forget Katie at school. I want her to know if her mother has a lapse like that, it’s only because she cared so much, she couldn’t leave another human being in need. I want you on the days you stand on my aunt’s deck and tell me to get over myself because you know who you are, you worked your ass off to get here, and you’re not going to doubt that, no matter how many times I do. I want you.” Then he pressed against her from lips to toes, and he kissed her, long, hard, with total abandon.

And Jodi kissed him back, her heart bursting out of the chains that had held it for so long. Because in spite of the restrictions she’d put on it all these years, her heart had grown and thrived, becoming stronger each day, blossoming into something that had room not only for Katie, but for Ty and herself as well.

“I love you,” he whispered as his lips traveled along her jaw, his teeth nipping at her tender skin. “I love you so much. And I’m so sorry. Please say you’ll be mine.”

There was no doubt then, no hesitation on her part, no words of caution. She simply said what her newly freed heart told her. “Yes. A thousand times yes. I love you, Ty. I’ve always loved you. And I’ve always loved Katie. I just didn’t know how to let myself.”

Then words faded as breaths and murmurs grew. Clothes were shed, and before long, Ty had turned Jodi to face the counter as he wrapped one arm around her waist, the other braced against the countertop. He bit softly into the muscle that ran from her shoulder as she arched her back and pressed her ass into his erection.

“Are you ready, gorgeous?” he asked, his voice like sandpaper in her ears, the vibrations traveling all the way to her core.

“So ready,” she answered. Then he slid into her, one hot inch at a time, both of them gasping for air. As he began to pump in and out, her hips shifted in rhythm, back and forth, creating the most electrifying friction she’d ever felt. There was nothing in the world but heat and slick skin. Ty’s chest hairs against her back, his breath in her ear. His fingers drifted across her nipples. His palm cupped the weight of her breasts. She reached behind her head and wrapped her arms around his neck, making her back arch and changing the angle of penetration.

“Jesus,” he gritted out. “You’re so tight, so hot.”

“Faster,” she gasped, and he complied until they were both crying out in bliss, her core contracting around his thickness over and over until she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to hold herself up any longer.

But he was there, his strong arm around her waist, being strong for both of them, like he always had. Ty had taken the most frightening moment in her life and turned it into her greatest joy. He’d built a family and saved a place for her even though he had no idea she’d ever come back to them.

“God, I love you,” he murmured, sliding out of her and turning her so he could look at her face.

Her heart beat out its agreement. “I love you too.” She placed her palm along his cheek, her gratitude overwhelming her for a moment.

“Don’t cry,” he whispered. “No more tears. Only smiles. No more pain. Only joy.”

“Okay.” She nodded emphatically. “Okay.”

Then he scooped her up and walked her to the bedroom where they lay, simply touching one another, just reveling in the freedom that finally reaching this place gave them.

“You know you have to move, right?” he asked after a few minutes.

“What?” She leaned up on one elbow to see his face.

“You can’t keep living in this house?”

“Why not?” She searched his eyes for some hint, but all she saw was devotion and heat.

“Because you need to be with your family. We’re all at the ranch.”

Then her face felt like it might split in two, her smile was so wide.

“Ty Jenkins, are you asking me to move in with you?”

“Yes, ma’am, I am,” he said in his best cowboy drawl. “And if you play your cards right, I’ll ask you marry me sometime soon too.”

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Do you think Katie will be okay with that?”

He caressed her cheek. “I think she’d be ecstatic.”

As they melted into each once again, Jodi couldn’t help but think about that fateful day all those years ago when a plastic stick had turned pink and she’d thought her life as she knew it was over. She’d been right, but when one thing ended, other things began. Like the detritus pushed in and pulled out by the ocean, life was constantly turning over, reconfiguring, shifting in the sand. If you looked at parts of it, you could see loss, death, hopelessness. But if you looked at the total, you’d also see renewal, birth, and hope. You’d see an opportunity where once there had only been doubt. You’d see love where once there had only been fear. It might have taken her five years to see the big picture, but Jodi had learned from her mistakes, she’d fought to get back to where she belonged, and she’d won the love she so rightly deserved.