“Just so you know… Don’t regret what I fuckin’ did and would do it again if I had to.”
She nodded. “I wouldn’t expect anything less of you.”
“So, what does this mean, Fallon? I don’t got much to offer you. Me. My club. Hell, my mother.” He released a dry, stilted laugh at that last one. “That’s it. Ain’t enough for you.”
“Why don’t you let me make that decision, Whip? And did I ever indicate that it wasn’t enough? That I was looking for more? I had more. I walked away from all of that to have a simpler life. I walked away to find my happy, something all that money I worked for can’t buy. What I need is simple and I found it.”
Holy fuck, she was killing him. “What are you sayin’, Fallon?”
“When I gave up everything I had, it showed me that I don’t need a lot, Whip. After driving away from Mansfield that night, I realized I had finally found my happy. With you. That’s why when you lied to me it ripped my heart out.”
“And now?”
“And now? I’m standing here. Again, with you.”
He stared at her as he processed what she just said. “You wanna be with me?”
“Yes, but I still want to see the world. Only now I want to see it with you. I want you to join me on that journey. Not to find happiness but to finish discovering myself.”
He wasn’t sure what to think. He wanted to be relieved but while he’d love to see the world with her, it wasn’t that easy. “Got responsibilities here, babe. Can’t afford to just hit the road. Got a job, my mother,” he swept his hand out, indicating the farm, “my family. Just can’t up and leave like that. Not sure if I wanna, either.”
As soon as her expression closed and she stepped back, he grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. “Don’t want you to ever regret givin’ up your dream just to be with me, Fallon. Want you to be happy, too. If that means you need to go explore for a while, then do it. As long as you come back to me, I’m good with it. If I can swing goin’ on a few of your adventures, I’ll go. If I can’t, then,” he shrugged one shoulder, “just promise to come back to me afterward.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You won’t care?”
He tucked a chunk of her blonde hair behind her ear and traced his fingertips along her delicate jawline. “Promised you I ain’t gonna lie, so… Yeah, I’m gonna care. Also gonna worry every fuckin’ second you’re away from me. But ain’t gonna tell you no ‘cause you just told me yes. To me that’s a gift I ain’t gonna return. One thing I learned from bein’ around my brothers and their ol’ ladies is compromise is important. Also learned that what works for one couple don’t work for another. We gotta do what’s gonna work for us. If that means you do a bit of travelin’, then you do it. Just know, I’ll always be here waitin’ for you when you return.”
She planted a hand between his cut and onto his chest. “You’ll be my home.”
He grinned at her and pressed his hand over hers, holding it there. “Yeah, babe, I’ll be your home. And you’ll be my forever.”
He snagged her wrist and pulled her into him, taking her mouth until they were both panting and desperate to make up for the week and a half they were apart. Ten days that seemed like an eternity.
“Just gonna ask for one thing,” he murmured against her lips, his dick now throbbing and pressing painfully against his zipper.
“What?”
“Want you to stick around for a little while before you head back out. Need to get my fill of you, so I can survive the time between the second you leave ‘til the second you come back to me.”
She smiled up at him, her blue eyes soft. Fuck, she was beautiful.
“I can do that.”
Thank fuck she was able to forgive him for his fuck-up.
“How ‘bout we start now.” He lifted his open palm.
Her eyebrows pinned together as she stared at it. “What?”
“Need the key to your sled.”
“Why?”
“Couldn’t feel how hard I was for you?”
“Yes, but…”
“Been dreamin’ about havin’ a threesome with you, me and Agnes and what a perfect way to celebrate you comin’ home.”
“Home,” she repeated, her voice as soft as her expression.
He shrugged. “Ain’t the sayin’ ‘home is where the heart is?’”
“That’s true. But an actual home also has a roof.”
He smirked. “We’ll figure it out. ‘Cause rumor has it that my woman knows how to make dough rise.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “I don’t know how to make bread.”
“Yeah, you do. The kinda bread you don’t eat.”
She grabbed his shirt at his gut and pulled him until they were toe to toe. “Oh, I see. You want to be a kept man, huh?”