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Of course, I love her. I always have. But this? Now? I love her so much differently than I’ve loved a single other person in my life. A truck, a hotel, a snow-covered runaway lane, it doesn’t matter—she’s home. She’s the air I breathe and that fucking terrifies me. Because no matter how fiercely I love someone, I know they always leave.
His thumb rasps across my cheek, and his voice cracks. “Just tell me how to make you happy.”
Love u harvey
But every time I close my eyes, I see Sloane. She’s dancing or carefully rubbing a clay facial on my face. Sometimes I see Sloane scaring other girls away from me in a random bar. Other times she’s swimming in a mountain lake. I see Sloane on stage. The color of the lines on the ice? Remind me of her eyes. When I put too much cream in my coffee the other morning? Her hair. When I use my favorite bodywash? The way she leans into me and sucks in a huge breath. Sloane is everywhere.
“Would you make that gamble?” “Over and over again.” I love hockey, but it’s not even close to how I love Sloane. Two weeks off of hockey compared to a few days without Sloane proved two things to me: I can live without hockey but I can’t live without Sloane.
“No, Sunny. I shouldn’t be scared. You’re the least scary thing in my life. You’re not just tattooed on my skin. You’re branded on my heart. Woven into the fiber of my being. The most constant and reassuring person in my life. When I close my eyes, I see you. When you’re away from me, I dream about you. When I need someone to lean on, you are always there for me. God. You’ve loved me when I haven’t even been able to love myself.” My hands squeeze her cheeks and tears seep out over them. But she’s smiling up at me like I hung the moon.
My heart cracks at her admission, and she presses in closer. Like she knows she fits there. Like she knows she belongs there. Filling in all the cracks where I break.
ZAYUUUUMMM
“Yeah. From our house in Chestnut Springs. You’ll need a safe car to get into the city for work. And you need your freedom to go wherever you want. Do whatever you want.”
Everything aches—my heart, my throat, my chest—so I do the only thing that I can think of to make it hurt less. “I love you, Sloane Winthrop. I always have. I love you so damn hard I don’t even know what to do with it. You’re my person. And I think I’m yours too.” “You have always been my person,” she chokes out. “I love you so much.”
“I need a kiss first,” I say, trying to keep my expression neutral. Because I know he’ll never turn me down. I’ve learned that where Jasper Gervais is concerned, he’ll do absolutely anything to keep me happy. Including kissing me in the middle of a family hockey game just because I asked. So I’m not surprised when his glove hand comes to the side of my face and his mouth drops onto mine without a single moment of hesitation. I’m not surprised when I hear everyone hooting and hollering as we kiss on that little piece of ice in the middle of the ranch.
We’re not up in the box. We’ve taken over almost an entire row of the stadium behind home net. Filled it with Eatons. Filled it with family. Maybe not the family he was born into but the one that wanted him the most. The one that will do anything for him.
And just like that, the boy with the lanky limbs, the caramel hair, and the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen is mine. Forever.
“Been raising cattle my entire life. I know the meaning. I know there’s nature. And that there’s nurture.”
“Don’t much care if I had a role in making you. I know in my heart I had a role in making you who you are today. And I’m damn proud of you, Jasper. Not sure I’ve told you that enough over the years.”
“I . . . Well, I know you’ve struggled. I know you’ve struggled with what’s in your heart. With feeling like you belong. And I’m just so dang happy that you found a place to belong with Sloane. But I also want you to know that you belong here. At the ranch with us.”
i love harvey
I stare at the piece of paper, feeling like the little broken boy who showed up on this ranch that day all those years ago. He had no idea how much love he’d have one day. No idea that the people who really loved him would never leave him. They’re all right here.
