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“I want to be with you, Devon,” I said as I got on my knees and rested my forehead against his. “Do you really have a problem with that?”

“Fuck, no!” he said as he wrapped his arms tightly around me. “There’s never going to be a time when I don’t want exactly the same thing.”

“Then take me to bed and make me forget everything that happened today. You’re the only man who can. Make love to me.”

I didn’t have to ask twice.

Devon rose and swept me up into his arms, carried me upstairs, and gave me exactly what I wanted.

Devon

I’d never been a guy who experienced things that were deeply emotional for me very often, but seeing Reese reunited with her parents had almost broken me.

All of the tears that had been shed by Reese and her parents had been happy tears of joy, but I could see the emotional toll Reese’s nightmare experience had taken on all of them on their faces.

I knew Reese felt guilty for doing what she’d had to do, and the relief on her face when she’d seen her parents again and knew for sure that they were okay was almost my undoing.

It made my gut ache to think about the agony she’d endured day after day here in Crystal Fork knowing that her parents were probably frantic.

The three of them had chattered nonstop on the way home from the airstrip, and Reese hadn’t hesitated to tell her parents that she was living with me and that I was an important man in her life.

I liked her parents tremendously.

They were kind.

They were intelligent.

And it was very apparent that they adored and loved their only child.

They’d spent the entire day catching up, and I’d tried not to intrude, but Reese had made sure that I was included in the conversation.

I’d driven them around the area, and they’d insisted on coming with me to pick up Cole and my mother at the hospital so they could thank both of them for helping to keep their daughter safe.

We’d finally gotten around to dinner, and I was about to put steaks on the grill while the women were inside preparing some side dishes.

Kevin strolled out of the sliding door with two bottles of beer in his hands and closed the door behind him. “Need some help?” he offered. “I’m pretty good at barbecuing a steak.”

I grinned at the older man. “I think I can manage.”

Reese looked a lot like her mother, but I’d been told that her auburn hair was definitely something she’d inherited from her father.

Kevin was gray now, but he was still extremely fit for a man his age.

He and Marta lived a very active life, even though they’d finally decided to retire.

He twisted the cap off my beer and handed it to me before he opened his own.

“I want to thank you for everything you and your family have done for Reese,” he said in a genuine tone. “And maybe this is a little nosy or presumptuous, but I guess I want to know what your future intentions are toward my daughter. Lord knows she’s been running her own life for a long time, but she’s my only child. We’ve spent months worrying about her, and now I’d like to see her happy.”

My grin got wider. I couldn’t blame him for asking, and I was honest when I answered, “I don’t know. That’s up to Reese. I love her. I want to marry her and share a life with her, but I’m not sure that’s whatshewants. Her life has always been in Spokane, and you and Marta are there. My business is here, and so is my family, but I’d be willing to do whatever’s necessary to be with your daughter.”

I didn’t see any reason to beat around the bush with him.

He’d almost lost Reese not once, but twice now.

He was protective of his only child, and he definitely wanted to know that I hadn’t been taking advantage of her because she’d been in a vulnerable situation.

Thatwaswhat I wanted, and he’d been a father half out of his mind with worry for the last year.