Page 114 of Never and Always
I took my time kissing her lips. Then I said, “I’m coming with you.”
At the same time, she said, “I’m staying.”
We both frowned at each other.
“You have an important job, Piper. You love it and it takes you all around the world. I’m not holding you back. I’m coming with you. I’ll find some engineering work I can do remotely, or something. As long as I’m with you, I don’t care.”
She gripped the lapels of my shirt. “No. Everett, no. You love it here. Windward is in your blood. Your dad is here, you do wonderful work, and you love your woodworking. And Windward is…”
I raised a brow.
“I…well…”
“Piper?”
“Windward has grown on me.”
I stilled.
“I like the boutiques, the restaurants aren’t bad, especially now we’ve hired Harden. And Tessa, Allie, Sierra, and Jazz are here, and I really like cocktail nights.” She pulled in a quick breath. “I like having friends. I never expected that. And I like the Langston Windward and what we’re doing here. It’s not too far to Chicago to visit Mom and Gram, plus I know they’ll love to visit here.” Her lips twitched. “I won’t lie, I’m happy that Denver isn’t too far away.” She fingered my flannel shirt. “But most of all, I love being with you. Here. I like what we have. I’ll still need to do some travel, but with Ro and Caden now based here, it’ll make doing my job here easier.”
I kissed her. Hard, deep, pouring everything I felt into it.
She was breathless when I lifted my head. Her eyes were sparkling.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “You really would have left for me?”
“In a heartbeat.”
Warmth filled her face.
“We doing this?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“You mine?”
“Yes. I’ve never had anyone who was mine. Who looked after me like you do.”
“Now, you’ll always have that. You going to move in with me?”
“Yes. And soon, we’re going to get a dog. A golden retriever.” This time, she kissed me.
I curled an arm around her, pulling her closer. She let out a husky whimper.
“Oh, my eyes.”
I looked up to see Chance hovering by the curtain. He was in a hospital gown, still looked a little pale and a lot bruised. He was smiling, but I saw the worry on his face. He shot me a nervous glance before his gaze locked on his sister.
“Chance,” Piper said.
“I heard you’d been brought in. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Corvo tried to kill her,” I told him.
