The water lolled gently in the pool. Somewhere in the yard, crickets chirped. Shannon went next. “I remember when he taught me to play pool. He was patient and determined. He told me he wanted his only girl to be able to beat all his sons, and he coached me until I was able to.”

“And she does. She schools us all,” Ryan said, with a tip of the cap to his sister.

Colin raised his can. “In middle school, I went to a school dance, and when he picked me up he spotted a hickey on my neck. He was cracking up, and I tried to deny it by making up some ridiculous story that the girl had scratched me accidentally during a dance. He went along with it, even though he said, ‘Someday you might like it.’”

“And now you do, right?” Michael asked.

“Oh yeah. I love hickeys.”

“I remember when he went to work that night,” Ryan began, eyes misting over with the memory. “He told me he was taking some kids to prom, and that someday I’d be the guy taking the girl to prom, and that I should be nice to the driver, because girls like that, and because it was the right thing to do. And then he told me he loved me. That was the last thing he said to me. That he loved me.”

Shannon clasped her hand over her mouth, and a huge sob fell from her throat. She threw her arms around Ryan, and then grabbed her other brothers and pulled them into another group hug. “I remember love,” she whispered in a broken voice. “Most of all, I remember love.”

“Me, too,” Ryan said, and they all chimed in and echoed with another, “Me, too.”

* * *

Later, after they cleaned up and headed inside, Ryan nudged Colin with his elbow. “Hey, what was the deal with that woman at the benefit last night? Is there something going on with you two?”

Colin shrugged as they gathered bottles into a paper shopping bag for recycling. “She’s hot and she’s cold. Who knows with women?”

Hot and cold. Some women were like that. But some weren’t. Some were always hot. And he didn’t just mean physically. Some were always clear, always present, always giving. Some put their heart on the line every day, every night. Every second.

Sophie.

His Sophie.

His loving, giving, supportive, beautiful, amazing Sophie.

Who was leaving the country for more than a week come morning.

He’d told her twenty-four hours ago that he had to see her that night no matter what. That he couldn’t stay away from her. And instead, he’d done the opposite. He’d stayed away from her. He’d told her he was fucked up again, and hell, he felt that way.

But that wasn’t fair to her.

Especially when she was always fair. Always open. Always honest.

But him?

He was the hot and cold one. He was scalding and freezing. As he carried the bag of bottles to his recycling bin in the garage, he muttered a string of curse words. He’d been sending her mixed messages. Telling her he had to see her, then telling her he couldn’t handle seeing her. Saying he desperately needed her, then not taking the time to properly say goodbye before she left the country for a trip.

Fine, there was no rule that said they had to see each other every day.

But this wasn’t about managing a lover’s travel schedule. This was about how he talked to her, how he cared for her, how he tended to her needs. She was so even keeled, so reliable, so fucking wonderful, and he’d taken advantage of that. He hadn’t been attentive to the woman he loved. Understandable, some might say, given the way his day had gone.

But it wasn’t acceptable to him.

Sophie had given him something he thought he’d never have. He had never trusted in love. He’d always believed love could be gunned down. Then she came into his life, and turned everything he believed about himself upside down.

That was the real change in him.

Not his mother’s confession, but Sophie’s love.

Falling in love with Sophie Winston was the most magical, wonderful, intense experience of his life. When everything around him wobbled, Sophie was the constant.

He shut the top of the recycling bin and glanced at his truck. His buzz had worn off. He needed to see her. To tell her she rocked his world, then tell her again and again and again. The only problem was, it was four-thirty in the morning, and he was pretty damn sure her flight left in a few hours.

But so be it.

He’d simply have to drive over there now, and see her before she got on that plane. Kiss her hard before she left. As he walked back into his house, his mind latched onto something she’d told him by his pool the other weekend.

“The things I want from you don’t cost money.”

He turned to Colin, dropped a hand on his shoulder, and said, “Little brother, I need a big favor.”

He explained to Colin and his brother said yes. Then added, “Hell yes.”

Because that was what family did for each other.

He slid open his phone screen and dialed Sophie’s number. It went straight to voicemail. She might even be going through security right now. So he sent her a text.

Then he saw she’d already sent him one.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Sophie was late.

Sophie was always late.

Sophie was pissed at herself, too, for being so damn late.

Rolling her suitcase behind her like it was a new Olympic event, she ran out of her building at four-thirty in the morning, her sandals flapping against the marble tiled lobby. The car had been waiting for her in the building driveway for fifteen minutes.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” she told the driver as she slid into the backseat, the night still cloaking the sky.

“Nothing to apologize for, ma’am. I will get you to the airport on time,” he said, shutting the door.

She turned on her phone, tapping her foot as she waited for it to boot up. She needed to send Ryan a note.

Because she’d made a decision.

She’d spent a restless night thinking about whether or not to reach out. She’d tossed and turned, debating whether to give him the space he seemed to need, or to reassure him of how she felt. But then she’d recalled her mother’s advice: “Always talk. Always be honest. Never go to bed angry. Make time for kisses and meals, dance under the stars, and dream together.”

Though she was flying across the ocean, the advice about not going to bed angry still seemed to apply, as well as talking, being honest, and making time for each other. She wanted him to know she was here for him. The reality was, he had a more complicated life than she, and if that was what she was signing up for, he was worth it.

Love was a choice, one that sometimes came with rampant uncertainty.

She might never have stability with him. She might always experience moments, and even days, of pure unsteadiness. But what they shared was worth the risk, the anxiety, and the utter unpredictability of his family life. She’d confronted risk head on as a businesswoman, and surely she could weather the ups and downs in a relationship.

For so long, she’d been seeking what her parents had, that perfect kind of love, with passion, support, and security. But she might not ever have security with Ryan Sloan, and she was going to have to buckle up and enjoy the highs and lows, the thrills and drops of loving that man.

The second her phone warmed up, she tapped out a text. I’ll be thinking of you the whole time I’m gone, and I’ll be looking forward to our rollercoaster ride when I return. Every second of it. Love, always. Your Sophie.

There. Done. Said.

It was enough, and she was choosing to believe in the two of them rather than listen to her own fears.

She was about to tuck her phone into her purse when she found a new message from him, just as the car pulled to the curb at Las Vegas International Airport.