Page 50

Dressed in jeans and a burnt orange top, Mia is standing on my porch.

She has been standing on my porch for a few minutes now, actually.

Except she’s not knocking on the door, she’s not ringing the doorbell, and she’s not using the copy of the key I know she still has.

I look down at Lezak, who’s sitting patiently by my side.

He looks back up at me, tail swishing across the floor.

Neither of us have an answer to her behavior.

Eventually, I swing the door open and stare down at her with a frown. "How long have you been out here and why do you hate knocking so much?”

Normally, that would make her smile, but this time, her face remains stoic. Something in my gut twists. Is this not about to be the kind of conversation I thought we were having?

As much as I don’t want to admit it, there’s only one way to find out.

"Come in, baby." I feel her relax slightly as I take her hand in mine, leading her inside. "I hope you haven't eaten yet."

She’s chewing at her bottom lip. "I haven't, but—"

"Great.” I don’t want to hear an excuse as to why she can’t stay. I have things to say; she has things to say. “I ordered takeout."

She grabs my wrist, pulling me to a stop before I can lead her to the kitchen. I look down at her. "Ronan, we need to talk."

"Yeah. I thought we could do it while we eat?”

She’s shaking her head, tears clouding her eyes. "I can't eat. I need answers."

"Baby," I mutter, reaching out to stop a tear before it can fall. "Why are you crying?"

“Bryce and I talked after you extended your trip—two friends sitting down and talking.” That’s a confusing way for her to start a story. “I wanted to know why he wasn’t proposing to Josie, and he wanted to know how I was feeling about you leaving.”

“What?” I frown. “Why would that be any of his business? He knew I was coming back. You both did.”

A wounded look on her face takes my breath away.

“We weren’t sure we believed it,” she whispers, and my heart drops to my stomach.

“And I’m not sure I believe your presence here now isn’t the beginning of goodbye.

I just…he made me realize there are some things I need to say to you—a lot of things actually—but there are three things I have to tell you. ”

“Okay.” I’m frowning down at her, and Lezak is weaving around between us, like he can sense the tension, too. Of course he can; he just doesn’t understand. Which makes two of us. “What is it?”

“I want a partner, Ronan,” she whispers. “I can’t be someone you pick when it’s convenient for you.”

I take a step closer, reaching up to cup her cheek. The way she leans into it lights a spark of hope. “Baby, I want that, too.”

Her eyes flutter open. “The second thing. If this is going to work out, you need to know there’s a part of me that’s scared I won’t be enough for you one day.”

One sentence. That’s all it took for my heart to break.

Not for me, but for someone else. For someone who brings so much joy, happiness, and light to this world but can’t see it in herself.

For the woman before me who loves so deeply, scientists will spend forever trying to figure out the depth she holds.

I’m going to bask in it for as long as she lets me.

“I can be a lot for people,” she rattles on. “I try not to be, but something always slips up. And I know there are things I should fix—”

“Hey, hey,” I soothe, pushing her hair back. “Mia Sheridan, you are enough for me. You’re too good for me in a lot of ways. As for this idea of fixing things, there’s not a single thing I see that needs fixing.”

Her lip wobbles again, but she sucks in a deep breath. “Bianca—”

“Fuck Bianca. She’s the one who wasn’t enough; she’s the one who wanted to make you into what she wanted.

Mia, I’m telling you, right here, where I stand, you are whole and beautiful.

You are more than I could ever dream of having and if you choose me for the rest of your life, or the rest of the week, I know how lucky I am to have you. ”

A beautiful, blinding smile breaks across her features, so blinding I can’t bring myself to look at it. I lean down, brushing the softest of kisses against her lips, but pull back as she tries to chase me for more. My lips move to both of her cheeks, kissing away tears and the tracks they left.

Her hand tightens on my wrist. “Wait, Ronan, I still have another thing.”

Right, a third thing. I pull back, giving her my full attention. “Okay, what is it?”

“That every chance I get, I’ll pick you.”

I stare at her, dumbfounded. Did those words really come out of her mouth? Did she almost take my thunder away from me? Not that I care. I’m not one of those guys who has to say the four-letter word first, but I had a whole damn date night—The date night!

With a grin, I tangle our fingers together and tug her toward the kitchen. Lezak trots ahead of us.

I’d missed hearing her laugh bouncing off the walls of my house when I was in California. Hearing it now reminds me that this is home. She is home. The people in our lives are home. “Ronan, aren’t you going…Oh, my god.”

She skids to a stop in the doorway of the kitchen, taking in the sight before her.

The table is set with dark purple napkins and ombre purple glasses, lit with dark candles.

Our dinner is in the oven, waiting to be served.

There is a huge bouquet sitting in the middle of the table, three cards worked into the display.

“Kat helped with the setting,” I murmur. “The flowers are for you.”

“Ronan, what…” I cut her off with a nudge toward the flowers. She closes the distance, letting out a wet laugh when she sees the tarot cards nestled into the bouquet. She turns to me. “I thought you didn’t believe in tarot?”

I wind my arms around her, pressing her back against my chest and resting my chin on her shoulder.

Her hands come up to rub my forearms, one finger dipping down to trace the outline of my Olympic rings tattoo.

I turn it until she has full access. “It’s kind of hard not to believe when the person who read the cards got everything right. ”

She tilts her head to look at me, smirking. “I did, did I?”

“Mm-hmm. I could have taken whatever my father offered me. I could have lived a life without responsibilities, but that’s not what I wanted.

It wouldn’t be a life and I’d always be under his thumb.

So, I took a chance to focus on a new outlook.

As for standing up for what I believe in, that’s what I was doing in California. ”

She turns in my arms; her surprised eyes searching mine. Her hands are resting on my chest now, mine having dropped to her waist. “What do you mean?”

“I’m no longer president of Operation Fly,” I admit. “I resigned and promoted my VP, Mel Segal.”

She gasps. “Ronan, why would you do that?”

“Because that position would eventually take me away from my home, sometimes for months at a time, and I didn’t want that.

I’m still the chairman of the board and I’ll still need to be in San Francisco occasionally, but this gives me more flexibility to be here.

” I rub gentle circles against her side.

“It gives me the flexibility to work with my team, support my friends, and continue to fall in love.”

“Love?” she whispers.

I press my grin against hers. “I’m still on the Seven of Wands, baby.

My priority is living my life and finding a home for myself.

When my father called, I knew I needed to deal with it.

I called to ask you to watch Lezak a little longer so I could do that.

We fought. The kind of fight you can’t come back from, but in the end, he’s happy because he gets to keep his money and wash his hands of his washed-up son. ”

I can see the way she wants to protest. She wants to try to figure out ways to fix it, so I kiss her again before she can. This one a little longer, a little deeper, but still a kiss for the sake of a kiss.

When we part, I tell her, “Don’t try to fix it, gorgeous. I made my choice a long time ago. I feel free in a way I didn’t before, but I hope you weren’t banking your happy ending on another trust fund coming my way because that thing has been dissolved.”

“Another?” She arches her brow. “And you lost it? Well, that might change everything.”

I pull her closer when she tries to pull away, both of us laughing. This time, when we try to come back together, it’s a disaster, our smiles getting in the way .

“And The Lovers card?”

“That one’s easy,” I tell her, winding my arms around her to pull her close again. “You see, there’s this woman I know who will pick me every time, but that’s not really necessary. Recently, I realized something important—something I’d been blissfully blind to before.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

I press my forehead against hers. “You. It’s always been you, Mia.

When I think of home, I think of the people we surround ourselves with.

I think of us turning this place into something warm and cozy, having Lezak with me at the pool, but at the center of it all is you .

Because you are my home and I’m sorry I spent so long away. ”

“Ronan,” she breathes. “I love you, Ronan.”

She still beat me to those three words, but at least I got to say everything I needed to. At least I got the chance to say what has been weighing me down for so long.

As she collapses against me, both of us allowing ourselves to be lost in a kiss, I’m happier than I’ve ever been.

I’ve spent my whole life looking for somewhere I belong, but it turns out that it’s not a place.

It’s someone. It’s many people. It’s a small family I’ve spent years building, constructing it out of the people I can’t be without.

“I love you, too,” I murmur.