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The cabin was built of rustic wood and was surrounded by soaring pines, their spires disappearing into the blue canopy above.

I pulled up to her side, killed the engine, and kicked the stand just as she tossed open the door and hopped out.

Any intensity that had slowed things between us earlier evaporated in the glee she exuded.

Stunning face pinked with joy. Her cheeks high and her lips full.

“Ah, Trevan! Look at this place. I can’t believe the way it’s coming together.”

Lifting her arms out to the sides, she spun a circle in the lot.

Braid whipping and awe soaring.

My own awe twisted through me on a hurricane.

I swung off my bike. “Like you haven’t been working yourself to the bone for the last five weeks getting it ready.”

She waved me off. “Pssh…I’ve had an army to help me. There’s no chance I could have done it without you all.”

“Like every one of us wasn’t going to gather around to support you.”

Gratefulness pulled to her expression. “You all take such good care of me.”

“Because everyone loves you.”

She was impossible not to love, and I didn’t hesitate to say it.

We were family.

All of us.

And I knew she loved the whole crew just as fiercely.

That redness amplified by tenfold. “Are you trying to make me cry, Trevan Niles?”

“Never,” I murmured as I traipsed up to the tail end of her truck.

I fucking hated it when she cried, and I’d give my life to stop it from happening.

I leaned over the side and grabbed the couple bags I’d tossed into the bed for her earlier.

She hurried up the steps, and she dug into the bottomless cavern of her giant bag.

She finally fished out a set of keys, and by the time I ascended the stairs and crossed the porch, she was fitting the correct one into the lock.

She pushed open the door and flipped on the lights. The alarm started beeping, and she moved to the pad and punched in the code to shut it off.

Even though there was no movement within the space, I still entered like I might be stepping into a battlefield.

“Normal, remember?” She tossed me a teasing grin.

“Just as normal as can be,” I said with a chuckle, then I lifted the two bags. “Where do you want these?”

She gestured to the long counter that would act as the register and prep area that Silas and I had built for her on the far side of the store. “On the counter is good. Thank you.”

“No problem.”

I set the bags on top and looked around at what Elena had achieved in the last five weeks.