Page 110 of Fall Love

“What do you think, baby girl?” I whisper to her, jiggling her in my arms as I hold her outward so she can see the space.

“What do you think?”

I spin and almost scream. But something inside me says, I know that voice. He haunts my dreams and fills my heart.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, breathless but strangely relieved to see him.

“Would you believe I was in the neighborhood?” He shrugs and then holds up a to-go cup from Fresh Swill. “If I’d known you were going to be here, I would have brought you something pumpkin-y.”

He glances sheepishly at the floor, and I softly smile.

“What did you do?” I finally ask.

He looks around the empty room. “Someone once told me I stole properties. And I did, a little bit. I stole the heart of a business.” He slowly steps toward me. “Or maybe a certain business owner stole mine.”

He pauses a foot away from me, dropping his gaze to Wren.

“For once, I want to build something from the ground up. Then watch it flourish.” He looks around the room again, his mouth slowly curling.

“But you have a partnership with Hessfield Holdings.”

His attention snaps back to me. “Says who?” His brows crease.

“Fisk said . . .” My voice drifts. Fisk didn’t say. He said congratulations to Tate and me. Tate told him about this partnership.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He chuckles, then swipes his hand through his hair. “Well, grand gesture fail.”

I tilt my head.

“I wanted to surprise you after I got back from New York. I quit the firm.”

“What? Why?” I didn’t want him to do that.

“Because it was time.” He glances at the coffee cup in his hand. “I haven’t been happy in a while, but being here, in Lovewell Landing, with you, makes me happy.” He glances up at me. “I want to be partners with you, Neve. You have talent and skill, and I have the business backing to help you.”

“You’re going to change tires?” I scoff.

“If I have to, but this place is all yours. I’m only on the partnership because I bought the building. And if you don’t want to make an auto-repair shop in it, then I’ll flip this place into something else.”

He pauses, staring at me. “This won’t be a multimillion-dollar deal. This is a contract of the heart, Neve. A commitment to us.”

I roll my lips, fighting a smile.

“Did you see the desk?” He lifts his coffee cup to wave at something behind me.

I’d noticed the desk when I first walked up here, but I did a casual perusal of the space, not wanting to get ahead of myself with floor plans and future dreams yet.

I step closer to the desk, taking a good look at the worn metal. A dent in one side. A drawer with a little bit of rust. RUSTY carved into a corner of the surface.

My head whips up, my throat thick when I say, “You have my dad’s desk.”

He shrugs. “Thought you might like it in your new office.”

“Tate Love,” I choke. “I love you so much.” The words just swirl out of me, but I mean them, and I don’t want to take them back.

He steps closer to me with Wren in my arms, and he sets his hand on her back.