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Sunny needed sleep. He didn’t want to bother her.

“I thought we might head out and see if we could get Sunny’s van working. Then maybe we can talk to Bridget and set up a patrol and make sure we are actively protecting this mountain to the best of our ability. We should have been doing it all along?—”

Asher stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. “Let’s get Sunny’s van back to her house, but after that, maybe we can just take a day. I agree with you—we got a little lax in our protection, but please, can we just take a day?”

Abe’s dark eyes searched his own before pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. After a moment, he let go and straightened. “Don’t ever fucking scare me like that again.”

Asher swallowed down the surprising lump in his throat. He wasn’t used to an emotionally open brother, but he would take it.

“Okay, let’s go see if we can fix her van. Let me go tell her.”

He took a drink of his coffee before heading inside. Being careful not to let the screen door slam behind him, he made his way into the house and into his bedroom. The sight of Sunny all sprawled out on his bed warmed his heart.

This was his forever, and he was finally trusting that feeling, and it felt amazing.

He sat on the edge of the bed and brushed the hair out of her face as her sleepy eyes blinked open. He couldn’t help but bend and press a kiss to her forehead.

“Hey, Sunshine, Abe and I are going to go get your van.”

“I’ll go with you,” she said as she moved to get out of bed.

Asher stopped her. “No, you stay here and rest. I’ll either drive it back or get it towed, depending on what we find. I just need your keys.”

“Oh, I think they are actually at my house,” she said, still looking like she was going to try to get out of bed.

“Okay,” he said as she decided to spoon her one last time.

“This doesn’t feel like leaving,” she said as he snuggled into her.

“I just need a snuggle and a quick feel before I leave,” he said as his hand came up and cupped her breast.

A sleepy, satisfied chuckle came from her as she relaxed into him.

“Please,” he said before kissing her temple. “Get some more sleep. I’ll be back soon, and when you are ready to get up, there is coffee already made.”

He got out of bed, and to his satisfaction, Sunny snuggled back down.

Pulling up the covers over her shoulders, he found it hard to leave her.

But Abe was right. They couldn’t just leave her van on the side of the road much longer. But that’s all he was doing today.

Now that she was not going anywhere, he couldn’t wait to build back what they used to have.

He was ready to start his forever with Sunny and his family here on this mountain.

Chapter

Forty-Four

SUNNY

Later that evening, Sunny and Asher were sitting on her porch swing, enjoying a beer, as the fireflies put on a show in her yard. The picture of what this house had been when she came back to town was in her head. Since then, she took in the porch, looking at the beautifully painted flower beds. The right one was blue with swirls and stars and a moon, the other a sunny meadow full of sunflowers. And the flowers in both were just beginning to sprout.

“I love the flower beds you painted,” she said as she snuggled into his side.

He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, then took another pull from his beer.

“Maybe you could paint the whole house. Turn all of it into a work of art.”