“Best thing that ever happened to me,” I said, and meant every word.
“Even though I’m terrible at fishing?”
“You caught the biggest one,” I said, grinning down at her. “You caught me.”
She laughed, that sound I’d been missing for all of two hours but felt like a lifetime. “So what happens now?”
“Now,” I said, swooping down to capture her mouth with mine, “I take you back to my cabin and show you exactly how much I love you. And then we figure out the rest.”
The kiss was hard and desperate and full of promises I intended to keep. When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard, and I could see the want in her eyes that matched my own.
“What about my things?” she asked, glancing toward the lodge.
“We’ll get them later.” I picked up her fishing gear, slinging it over my shoulder. “Right now, I have more important things to show you.”
“Like your dog?”
“Like my dog. My cabin. My bed.” I waggled my eyebrows at her, and she dissolved into giggles. “In that order.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.” I caught her hand in mine, threading our fingers together. “I love you, city girl.”
“I love you too, mountain man.”
As we walked toward my truck, hand in hand, I couldn’t help but realize everything had a season and somethings happened when you least expected them.
Or how you expected them. Like a bright pink lure landing on your shoulder, cast by the most beautiful woman standing in a cold mountain river.
EPILOGUE
Ellie
Six Months Later…
“You’re doing it wrong,” Nate said from behind me, his arms sliding around my waist, his mouth grazing my neck.
“I swear to God, if you mess up this cast—”
“You’re choking up too high on the rod, baby.”
“Nate.”
He kissed the spot just below my ear, and I instantly forgot how hands worked.
The river sparkled in front of us, glassy and calm beneath the late autumn sun. I stood knee-deep in it, focused—well, trying to be—as Nate wrapped himself around me.
“Let me help,” he said, taking the rod from my hands and adjusting my grip, his fingers skimming my skin.
“You mean let me take over.”
He didn’t argue.
Just smiled.
A smug,I-put-a-ring-on-itkind of smile.
Because he had.
