“You-what?” She hadn’t a clue what he was going to say, except that wasn’t even close to it. “Were you looking for one?”

“No. I took off today, on my bike, so I could get away from the resort, the folks, everything, and just try and sort out what I wanted.”

“Hasn’t that been the point of your whole journey?”

“Yes…but this is the first time I was finally in a place that I didn’t want to leave.”

Her heart started thumping, so loudly that between the shower and the thrumming in her ears, she couldn’t hear him. “You…want to stay? Here?”

The ultimate grin that had been on his face a mere moment ago froze for a second, then faded. “I-maybe I presumed too much. I should have talked to you first, I know, it was just…you’d rather I not stay?”

Her eyes widened. “No! I mean”-she paused, trying to calm herself down before she blew this-“I knew you probably wouldn’t, so I’ve been sort of trying to keep myself prepared for when you left. You’ve been here longer than I thought in the beginning, because of the event, and it’s made it really difficult to not…” She trailed off, knowing if she tried to explain even a fraction of her growing feelings for him, he would run fast and far. And she wouldn’t blame him. No one spouted stuff like that only a few weeks after meeting someone. Even if they had pretty much been living together since about eight hours after laying eyes on one another.

God, when she thought it through like that it all sounded more than a little crazy and unstable. Only it had always felt anything but. Being with him, from the very first moment, had been easy and good and normal. And perfect.

He tipped her chin up so their gazes met.

“It’s been too good to be true,” she told him. “And I’m not the same lucky son of a bitch you are. Stuff like that doesn’t generally go the way I’d like it to.”

There was so much in his expression she didn’t know if she dared allow herself to believe in it. There was hope, and joy, and this kind of deep well of affection she’d never seen directed at her, not like this.

“Well, I am. And I know when to hold and when to fold.” He tugged her closer. “Kirby, I know I rolled into town and into your life without so much as a plan for my own. Not the best of situations to get yourself tangled up with, given how hard you’ve worked to get where you are to put roots down here. I knew I wanted to put down roots, to start building something to last a lifetime…I just didn’t know it would be here. And I didn’t know it would be with you.”

Okay, now her heart was simply going to burst. “What are you saying?”

“Were you planning on my leaving?”

“I thought it was a given.”

“How would you feel if I didn’t? If I stayed? I’m not saying I have to stay here, underfoot. I know we’ve kind of gone about this whole thing backward, and I’m not asking for some kind of commitment up front. Okay, maybe that’s wrong, maybe I am. Because I don’t want to share you. Or wait. But I am willing to work from the start, and build on this the right way. Whatever the hell way that is.”

“What are you saying, Brett?”

“I’m saying I want to stay here. I know what I want to do, and I’ve already found the first step in making it happen.”

“The house?”

“Not just any house. Kirby, wait until you see it. I wanted so badly for you to be there when I discovered it. I want your advice and input. In fact, I’d like you to help me with the whole project.”

“Project?”

He tipped his head back and let the water thrum on his face; then he shook it off and looked back at her. “I know I’m not making any sense.”

She shook her head slowly, but that smile, that same one that wouldn’t go away in the bathroom earlier when she wanted so badly to get her perspective back, spread across her face again. “But you’re awfully damn cute about whatever it is that’s got you so excited. And to answer the one question you did ask that I did understand…” She reached up and cupped his cheek with her hand and slid it around so that her fingers wove into the wet curls plastered against the back of his neck. “I don’t mind you staying. Here, in this other place, in a tent for all I care. But no,” she said softly, “I definitely don’t mind you staying.”

Then she pulled his head down and kissed him, hoping he felt the commitment he was wanting from her. Because while she might be thoroughly confused on his plans for his future, she knew the one thing she absolutely wanted in hers.

Chapter 16

Brett worked on the sauce while Kirby chopped vegetables. “This is kind of how I imagined it would be. When I let myself think about things like that. As a kid, I mean.”

Kirby looked up from her studious attempt at slicing tomatoes. “Like what would be?”

“Home life. Partnership life.”

“I take it you didn’t have this kind of life, then? Fixing dinners in the kitchen, that sort of thing?”

He shook his head and stirred the sauce again. “I grew up in and around casinos.”

“We’re more alike than you think. I grew up in a ski resort.”

“Your folks ran one?”

She shook her head. “No, I got abandoned in the restroom of one.”

His eyes popped wide and he stopped stirring. “What? When? How old were you?”

“Old enough to walk, but too little to remember any of it.”

“What happened?”

“Well, it was a small resort town, and one of the ladies that worked in the food concession part took me in. The closest protective services kind of thing was hours away in Denver, so…” She shrugged. “They kind of adopted me. Not formally or anything. But someone made sure I had food and a place to sleep. Dottie was in her sixties-she was the first one to take care of me-and eventually got to where she couldn’t really keep up. Then I stayed with-” She tilted her head. “Gosh, I don’t even know the whole list at this point, but honestly I really lived at the resort. I was kind of like the mascot or something.”

“And no one ever came and got you out of there?”

She shook her head. “Honestly, Brett, it’s not hard to fall through the cracks when no one knows you exist.”

“They never found out who your mother was?”

“No. When I was thirteen and all angst-ridden like most teenagers, I thought about trying to figure it out, but since I wasn’t formally abandoned no search had ever been done and that many years later it was doubtful anyone would ever figure it out. One thing that was for sure was that she never came back to find out.”

“Did you wish that she would?”

Kirby went back to slicing tomatoes. “When I was really little, and I figured out how families were supposed to work from watching the folks who came to stay at the resort, I used to wonder, make up stories, and think if I just stayed there she’d always know where to find me.” Kirby slid the chopped tomatoes onto the top of the tossed salad greens. “But eventually I got over that. Along with the fairy tale that one of the rich, foreign families would come to stay at the resort would fall in love with me and insist that I come back home with them. To their castle, of course. I’d have a title, at least. And my own pony.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Honestly, for the most part, I liked how I grew up. I mean, there were times when I was ashamed a little, or felt bad.” She smiled over at him. “They used to dress me from lost-and-found stuff, and I remember thinking that if I could just get two mittens that matched, then people wouldn’t know I came from an untraditional home.” She laughed. “Like that was the only clue.”

Brett was listening, certain his mouth was still hanging open. It was hard to believe this bright, articulate, witty, gorgeous woman had grown up in such a vagabond lifestyle. Maybe that explained her self-assurance. And also why she might have stayed with her former lover for so long, with only a promise of a ring.