Page 112 of Valor

“Scaring me?” I ask, arching a brow. “Lawson, you know I’m not a woman who scares easily. Have you met my brothers?”

He chuckles. “Fair enough.” Bending over, he sets my shoes gently on the ground beside us, then straightens again. “I’ve felt this way about you my entire life. I never dreamed you would feel the same, which is why I never acted on it. I married Kleo because I thought she and I could be happy. After she left—” He trails off and takes a deep breath. “It took me a long time to realize that the marriage failing was not my fault. Not entirely, anyway.”

“Not at all,” I tell him. “What she did was wrong, Gibson. She cheated, not you.”

“I know. Even back then, I’d known we were moving too fast. I mean, I’d known her for a while, but the relationship progressed so quickly and she’d made it clear that I either proposed or she was leaving. Given what I know now, that should have been a red flag.”

“Gibson, you don’t have to do this.” I place my hand on his chest, right above his beating heart.

“I need to,” he replies, then covers my hand with his. “Because I’d moved too fast then, and I don’t want to do that here. But—” He takes a deep breath. “Tell me you feel it too. Please. What’s between us. Put me out of my misery.”

Gibson looks terrified as he stands bathed in bright moonlight. Sliding my hand up, I cup his cheek. “I absolutely feel the same way. I’ve only been waiting for you to figure out where I fit in your life. And had it just been as friends, I would have?—”

He leans down and captures my lips with his.

I snake my arms around his neck, holding on to him, desperate to be close. So close. It’s as though every feeling I’ve ever carried for Gibson Lawson rushes through me in the same moment.

Love.

Friendship.

Forever.

They assault me, crashing into my heart like waves against rocks.

It’s not our first kiss. No, that belongs to a dare when we were thirteen. But it wasn’tanythinglike this.

He deepens the kiss, pulling me in closer so I’m pressed against his body. Seconds pass like this, but it might as well be hours as the world around us fades away, leaving just the two of us, wrapped in this embrace, our hearts on the line.

“You belong right here with me, Lani. In my arms.”

“Good,” is all I can manage. Stars dance in my vision, the moment sending me over the moon with absolute delight.

He captures my lips again, and I cling to him, hoping this night never ends.

The shrill tone of a cell phone rips through the moment, and Gibson pulls away, his breathing ragged as he rests his forehead against mine. “I wish I could ignore that, but I’m always on call.”

I laugh. “Answer it.”

Without pulling away from me, he reaches into his pocket and withdraws his cell phone. “Lawson,” he says, still breathless. “I’ll be right there. Fifteen minutes.” He ends the call and shoves it back in his pocket, then tilts my face up and kisses me again. “This conversation isn’t over, Hunt,” he tells me.

“Not even close, Lawson.”

Laughing, he pulls back and retrieves my shoes, then together we walk toward his truck. “I’m sorry about this. Deputy Brown said I’m needed at the station.”

“Hey, don’t apologize. You are the sheriff, after all. The town would tear at the seams without you.”

He grins and opens the door for me, but before he closes it, he leans in and kisses me again, burying his hands in my hair as his lips dance against mine. “I’ve waited so long for this,” he whispers. “And I need you to know that I’m all in on this, Lani. You’re all I want.”

“I’m all in too, Gibson.” I lean forward and kiss him quickly. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Promise?”

Instead of words, I grip the front of his shirt and pull him closer, then kiss him.

“That’s a great answer.” He laughs and pulls back, then closes the door and rushes around to the driver’s side. As soon as he’s behind the wheel, he reaches over and takes my hand as he pulls away from the curb and heads down the street toward my apartment building.

* * *

---