“Ugh, this physically hurts.”
“I know. We just have to get used to it. It’ll get easier.”
Would it? What if it never did and they slowly started to resent living so far apart? What if she wasn’t enough to hold his interest, and he eventually found someone closer?
“Hey.” He caught her chin, turning her face to look into her eyes. “I’m not Bran. Don’t put me in the same category as that prick.”
“Sorry. I wasn’t. Just shuffling through my usual paranoia and doubts.”
He kissed her. “You’re the only woman I want, Perrin.”
He walked her onto the jet and waited as she got situated. “Your magic pill.” He dropped a little tablet into her hand and uncapped a bottle of water.
She swallowed it down against the lump forming in her throat. “Thanks.”
“I’ll wait until you take off.”
She nodded, blinking back tears and the urge to have a tantrum, insisting she didn’t want to go. One last kiss and he was gone.
She watched him cross the tarmac and get into his car. As promised, he waited and the captain made a quick announcement, welcoming her and reviewing the weather and their ETA.
She gripped the armrests of the seat as the engine started, her gaze seeking Gage but unable to see past the glare of his windshield. As the plane began to move, her eyes blinked rapidly. Her belly whooshed and a tear fell.
The jet rattled as it raced down the runway, hurtling faster and faster as she sank into her seat and squeezed her eyes shut. Then something shifted and her stomach swilled.
Something was wrong. Oh, God, did they blow a propeller? Was the engine on fire?
Panicked, she waited for any sign of the flight attendant or word from the captain. Her gaze darted to the light. Should she get up? Did this jet come with one of those neck floaties? Like that would help.
“Hello? Is everything all right?” Should she unbuckle?
“Just a slight delay, Miss Harris. Please stay buckled and seated.”
Her breathing turned shallow. What sort of a delay? Was the plane okay? Maybe she should get off.
A hydraulic gage gave way and the door opened. “What’s happening?” She was in a complete panic and drenched in sweat. “Why isn’t anyone answer—”
“Because you can’t leave.” Gage appeared, his chest lifting with each panted breath as he filled the aisle.
“Gage!”
His legs ate up the distance between them and he dropped to his knees. “Don’t go. Or go, but let me come with you.”
“What?”
“I know this is fast. My divorce is barely final and we don’t know each other completely, but I know this is right, Perrin. I love you. Not the idea of you or the look of you but all of you. I love that you’re deathly afraid of heights and flying, but you’ll push yourself to stand a hundred stories in the air and fly fifteen hundred miles just to tell me you love me. I love that you can change a tire better than me and that you only decorate in white, as if it might somehow calm you down. I love that you’d do absolutely anything for your sister and how passionate you are about your bar. I love it all, and the thought of missing a single moment of your life now that I’ve finally found you, terrifies the shit out of me. I don’t want to do long distance. I want to be such a part of your life people start blending our names into some weird compound word like Garrin or Page.”
She was dripping tears. “I don’t want to do long distance either!” She mopped her face clean but they kept coming. “But you live here, and I have to get back to Jasper Falls.”
“I work here. But most weeks I’m traveling out of state on business anyway. I can do the small-town thing. I’m actually eager to try it.”
“Does this mean you’re going to build a store there?”
“No. But I want to help you expand your bar. I’ll be there with my big hammer when there’s a stubborn nail and you need a good bang.”
She snorted, hurling herself at him hard enough that they toppled to the floor. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He kissed her deeply. “Are we crazy for doing this?”
“I don’t care. It would feel crazy to not have you there when I start my day tomorrow.”
“I agree.” He brushed her hair out of her eyes and kissed away her tears. “It’s too soon for a proposal, right?”
She smiled against his throat and laughed. “That should probably wait until next month, just so we don’t shock too many people.”
“Next month it is.”
They flew back to Jasper Falls and spent the night in her loft. The following morning, Gage started insisting they find a place to build her a house sized for normal human beings, instead of the gnome attic she lived in.