Page 134 of All We Carry Home

Tears flowed freely down her cheeks. “I’ve only ever told one other person.” She sniffed.

“Keith.” My jaw might break with how hard I bit back what I thought about that, about him. She’d indicated after Seattle that he’d been the one to convince her she never wanted to marry or start a family.

She nodded. “He broke up with me when he found out.”

“He was a fool,” I growled. “He never deserved you.”

“It just never seems to end, Warren.” She closed her eyes, her forehead crinkling in pain. “Everyone around me ends up hurt or dead.”

“You’ve saved more lives than you’re willing to see.”

She drew in a shaky breath, seeming to struggle to accept my words. “I won’t ask you to suffer in this too. I can’t let you.”

“We can work through this, Eva.”

She shook her head.

I wished she’d told me sooner. Perhaps then I could have talked through more of this with her before it became so heavy on her shoulders.

Her mind was made up. I felt it deep in my core.

I pressed my forehead to hers, my heart splitting into a thousand pieces.

“I have what I wanted—Birkstrom Ranch. I can’t ask God for anything else.”

“What if God wants more for you? What if this is our moment to choose a path together?”

“I won’t sabotage your life the way my parents have haunted mine.” Her jaw flexed, those beautiful blue eyes clearing of tears. She was resolute. “I want to see you as the leader I know you are. You’ll do amazing things in Washington, DC. I can’t let my name tarnish that future.”

“There’s nothing I can do to convince you, is there?”

“I’m sorry, Warren. I should have ended this after Seattle, when I realized—” She stopped herself.

But I knew the words she was going to say.

I pulled her closer, gently lifting her face. She didn’t resist, her lips meeting mine with tender exploration. She lifted her good arm around my neck, and her other hand pressed against my chest as she melted into me.

Her lips were warm and sweet. The smell of lavender, hay, horse, and sweat lingered in the air. She sank deeper into our kiss, and I’d never known anything so right and true.

And yet, it didn’t feel like the kiss of a sunrise, full of a bright future.

It was a sunset. A goodbye.

She broke the kiss, her eyes bidding me farewell.

I was breathless, my skin still on fire with her nearness, my mind fuzzy, and my lips yearning for more of hers. I brushed her cheek with my thumb. I wanted to tell her that I loved her, that I only cared about a future with her by my side.

I couldn’t find the words, and neither could she, it seemed.

She stepped back, took my hand from her cheek, kissed my palm lightly, and let go.

She left the arena, not letting Phantom follow her out of the gates. She disappeared into the night beyond. Phantom trotted over to me and nudged me, seeming anxious and uneasy now that she was gone.

“I know, buddy.” I rubbed his broad forehead and wished I could reassure him further.

This was the end of our business arrangement. Of whatever else we were beyond that.

But I had other plans and new ideas forming. Words might not sway her, so I’d have to set the rest in motion. Whether it took one year or a hundred years for us to be together, my heart belonged to her.