“I was worried,” she said. “I was worried you didn’t care—”
“The thought of you leaving and staying away made me want to drop to my knees,” he said. “How’s that for someone who doesn’t care? It’s been three days, twelve hours, and six minutes without you.”
She blinked. “You kept track of the minutes?”
“No, I made that part up,” he said. “I was trying to load the evidence in my favor.”
Aidan snickered. “Rookie.”
“Shh,” Lily said. “He’s being romantic.”
Hud did his best to ignore their obnoxious audience. “I called you, told you I was crazy for you.”
She closed her eyes. “I deleted your message. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“I got held up by the storm but went after you as soon as I could. You’d left this huge Bailey-size hole in my heart, but the storm—it was the only thing that could’ve stopped me.”
“Oh, good save,” Gray muttered. “Makes up for him being so slow on the uptake.”
Penny smacked Gray lightly on the chest. “Shh. And it wouldn’t hurt you to be taking notes here, Mr. Not Romantic. You might actually learn something.”
Gray sighed and reached for another piece of pizza.
Hud lowered his head and brushed his mouth over Bailey’s. “I knew my mistake instantly,” he murmured, “I don’t know why I resisted.”
“You were hoping I’d be scared off.”
“I was,” Hud admitted.
She nodded. “You about done with that?”
He pressed his forehead to hers. “Yeah.”
“Good.”
Hud couldn’t believe his luck, that she was really here looking at him like she always did, as if he was the most important thing to her. He’d never get tired of that, and how he’d thought he could live without her, he had no idea. “I love you, Bailey. So very much. I have since I first laid eyes on you.”
“On Devil’s Face,” she said softly. “When you inferred that I was a very stupid woman for being somewhere I didn’t belong.”
“If anyone was stupid that day, it was me,” he said. “But that wasn’t the first time I saw you. It was earlier that morning. You were in the parking lot, sitting on your back bumper putting on your boots. Your cap was so bright it made me need sunglasses. You were singing Ed Sheeran. Your eyes were shining with…” He closed his own eyes. “Happiness,” he said. “You were incredibly happy, and what I didn’t know then but know now is that you were just feeling lucky as hell to even be breathing.”
She inhaled, slow and deep and a little shaky. “Yes,” she whispered.
“I took one look at you and you—”
“—made you want to run in the opposite direction?”
“Smile,” he said. “You made me smile. I wanted to know who you were. I wanted to breathe your air and take in some of your glow and feel everything you were feeling because I wasn’t,” he said. “Feeling. I’d closed myself off and yet one look at you and I knew what I was missing.”
“Oh, Hud,” she whispered.
“I have this recurring nightmare,” he said. “You take off with your list and vanish, and I never see you again.”
“I’d never do that,” she said.
“I know, and I realize now that’s not even what my real nightmare would be. My real nightmare would be if you never spoke to me again.”
“C-H-E-E-S-Y,” Gray stage-whispered to Penny.
“I took one look at you,” Hud said to Bailey, “and control went flying out the window. You tore down the brick wall around my heart one smile at a time.”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Gray stage-whispered again. “Really? Women buy this shit?”
“Yes,” Penny and Lily said in sync. “Shh!”
Kenna shrugged and kept eating pizza. “Depends on what comes next.”
Hud let out a shaky breath and didn’t take his eyes off of Bailey. “I’m not saying we need to buy rings, but I think we owe it to each other to see where this goes. And I want you to know, I’m all-in.”
“What if I get sick again?” she asked with a casualness that didn’t fool him.
His lungs squeezed out all the air so he couldn’t breathe. “I’ll still be all-in,” he managed. “Whatever you need, I’m in.”
“What about if you get sick?”
“I’m not going to,” he said.
“But what if?” she asked stubbornly. “You going to try to push me away again?”
“Never,” he promised. “Never again.” He pulled a small, black velvet box from his pocket and she gasped.
The entire room gasped.
Hand to her heart, she stared at it. “I thought you just said—”
“I wanted to give you an optional ending.”
“Okay,” Gray whispered to Penny. “That’s a good one. I’ll give him that.”
Bailey stared at the box and surprised Hud when her eyes filled. “But seriously, what if?” she whispered softly, her hand over the port scar on her chest.
He tipped her chin up to look into his eyes. “Listen to me carefully, Bay. You’re so incredibly strong, and I love that about you. I love you.”
Her eyes filled. “I love you too.”