Page 125 of The Accidental Innkeeper

I could see us older, too. That surprised the fuck out of me the most. Rocking chairs on the porch. The ocean doing what it always did. Her still talking with her hands, still calling people out on their bullshit. Me still listening.

Staying.

The thought didn’t scare me the way it should have.

It steadied me.

All those rules: Don’t start what you can’t finish. Don’t stay where you can’t commit. Don’t build where you won’t remain. They’d been built to keep me safe, to keep my life clean and manageable.

But New York didn’t make things messy.

She made them matter.

And for the first time, I understood that the reason the rules were failing wasn’t because they were wrong.

It was because she was the exception.

She looked up at me then, her eyes sharp and honest, and whatever she was about to say, I knew one thing with absolute certainty.

I wasn’t going to walk away from this again. Ever.

“Why are you smiling?” New York asked after a moment.

I hadn’t realized I was. My face hadn’t gotten the memo that this was supposed to be tense and uncomfortable and handled carefully. I scrubbed a hand over my jaw, but it was too late.

“You’re beautiful when you’re angry,” I said.

Her lips parted, just slightly, like the words had caught her off guard before she could swat them away. She flung a finger at me. “Flattery will get you nowhere, buddy.”

She shifted on the couch.

So yeah. It landed.

I leaned back a fraction, letting myself actually look at her this time. Not the way I had at the inn—half-distracted, half-guarded—but really look. The way she held herself like she was braced for impact. The way she’d come here ready for a fight, not reassurance.

She wasn’t here to be convinced. She was here to be heard.

“I came because,” she started but then stopped, correcting herself like precision mattered. “When we kissed… when I kissed you, you kissed me back. And for a second, I felt something. And I know you felt it too.” She stared at me, her eyes locked, waiting to see if I’d dodge it.

“I did,” I said, not going to lie about that.

Her shoulders loosened just a hair. “So I’m not crazy.”

“You’re not.”

She let out a short breath and shook her head, like she was clearing static. “Then why did you leave?” Her gaze sharpened. “Are you married?”

“No.”

“Girlfriend?”

“No.”

“Boyfriend?”

I huffed a laugh before I could stop myself. “Definitely no.”

Her mouth twitched despite herself. Good. Humor meant she was still with me. But underneath it, I could see the real question waiting.