Page 181 of Dove
I shook my head. “No, the farm’s where I live.You’remy home, Josh. I don’t want to do this without you.”
“You don’t have to,” he promised. “If you want to stay, keep the farm, and live here in Haven, we’ll make it work. Together.”
The only sound between us was the steady fall of rain until he broke the silence, voice soft but certain. “Growing up, I did what I had to around the farm because it was expected of me. But you—you do it because you love it. Living here stifled me, but you found yourself in this place. I don’t want to take that from you. I only wanted to give you options. I’m sorry if it ever felt like that meant I didn’t want you. That couldn’t be further from the truth. You make life worth living when you’re near. You’re my person, Dove Riley. Have been since the moment I laid eyes on you.”
Tears mixed with rainwater as I hugged him closer, burying my face in the crook of his neck, breathing in the familiar scent ofhome.
Could I really have him?
“You’re my person too, Joshua Hex,” I whispered, my lips brushing against his rain-chilled skin. “You always have been, even when you weren’t here.”
I’d thought holding onto the farm meant holding onto Josh. But while this place had been my shelter most of my life, the man with his arms around me…hewas my true safe space. For three long years, I’d lived without him.
Never again.
I pressed a kiss to his throat.
“Not that I’m not loving holding you like this, baby,” Josh murmured, adjusting his grip so I was more secure in his arms, “but we should get out of the rain.”
As if in agreement, the sky rumbled overhead.
“Are the horses in?” he asked, ever the caretaker, always worried about the animals.
You could take the boy out of the farm, but you couldn’t take the farm out of the boy.
“Yes.” I rested my head on his chest, the relief of having him back palpable. “Everyone’s taken care of.”
I was jostled slightly as he bent to grab his bags, managing them in one hand while cradling me in the other. Then he started toward the house, his voice low and full of quiet promise.
“Then let’s get you taken care of, too.”
I shivered in his arms, and for once, didn’t protest.
I didn’t try to fill the silence, didn’t pull away, didn’t pretend I was fine.
I just let myself be held.
There was still so much we needed to say—wounds to talk through, choices to make—but that could wait. Right now, all I wanted was this. To feel the steady beat of his heart beneath my cheek and know it was mine. Wherever life took us from here, whether we stayed or started fresh somewhere new, Josh was with me.
All those years ago he’d been my new beginning, and somehow, against all odds, he’d become my forever.
Just like I’d always dreamed.
EPILOGUE
FIVE MONTHS LATER
Josh
There really was no place like home, I decided, as I slid into Dove’s warm, tight heat.
She cried out under me, and I swooped down to swallow it, needing to know what every sound that came out of her mouth tasted like. This one tasted like fresh starts, even if we were technically in my apartment in Marleysville. But that hardly mattered. As long as this woman was by my side, I’d call anywhere home.
But there was another reason for muffling the sounds she made. Dove was loud, which I loved, and back at the farm I’d encouraged her vocalness, but here with neighbors above and below us, I wanted to keep these sounds for myself. I didn’t want them hearing what she sounded like as I slid into her and gave her what we’d both been desperate for since arriving late last night.
Every whimper, every moan, every gasp—they belonged to me and me only.
Since that day I’d left and come back, promising her forever as a storm raged around us, I’d laid it all out on the table. Holding nothing back, I shared everything—the lawyer’s updates, the bills addressed to Gareth with red stamps across the paper, the delays in insurance money, and the fact that the farm had struggled to sustained itself for some time.
