Heartbreaker (Havenbrook #3)

Chapter 45

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

HUDSON

Our time was officially up. Caleb and I had stayed much longer than we’d planned, which meant we’d be catching the last flight out tonight since we were due on base in the morning. Our first day back was going to be absolute horseshit, but nothing to be done about it now.

Besides that, I wouldn’t change the past twelve hours for anything. I was just thankful I’d been here when Kenna had needed me. Thankful I’d been able to provide support to her by her side rather than from thousands of miles away.

Though, if I was being honest with myself, it wasn’t just being there for Kenna that had made my adrenaline surge or pride swell in my chest. I wasn’t a stranger to that feeling, not when I was flying a helicopter—I just hadn’t expected to feel it outside the army. But there was no denying I’d felt it this afternoon.

“You wanna talk about it?” Caleb asked quietly while my momma was distracted with a customer.

“Talk about what?”

How my head was all screwed up and I was confused as fuck about what it all meant? How Ella going missing and Kenna storming into the forest without a second thought like some kind of action movie heroine had me reassessing how fragile everything was?

Caleb, as much as I did, knew how lucky we were to get each moment we had. Hell, we knew that more than most, considering we’d fought in a war for ten years. Considering we’d watched friends and brothers-in-arms be wounded beyond repair, or worse—die in battle and never get to return home again.

Life was precious and fragile, and you never knew when one day was going to be someone’s last. The thought of something happening to my momma or my sister or Kenna while I was deployed had always been a whisper in the back of my mind. A whisper that had grown louder after my momma’s accident.

And now…I didn’t know if it was being home, or Richard’s heart attack, or Kenna marching straight into danger without hesitation, but suddenly that whisper had turned into a roar I couldn’t ignore any longer.

Caleb let out a soft snort. “That’s how you’re gonna play it, huh?”

“I don’t know what the hell you mean.”

Crossing his arms, Caleb stared at me hard, studying me in a way that made me feel emotionally naked. My best friend always had a way of stripping down the bullshit and getting right to the heart of the matter in as few words as possible.

“Seems to me with all the tourism they’re bringing to the town, there’d be a business in Havenbrook for an experienced pilot. Someone to do helicopter tours of the Range, or offer full-service guided hikes from the ground. Plus, help out with the new SAR team I’ve heard whispers about all day.”

I narrowed my eyes on my best friend. “What the fuck are you talkin’ about? You plannin’ to drop your papers and move to Havenbrook?”

“Not today. Just making an observation.”

I stared at Caleb—who only had eyes for Lilah—and tried to shake off his words. But, like with most things he said, they settled deep, burrowing in so far, I had no hope of escaping them.

Was he right? Was it possible that I could have the adventure I craved and provide life-saving assistance when needed, all while being where my family was? Where Kenna was?

True, I’d have to give up fulfilling my dad’s dream of retiring from the army—the one he’d never gotten the chance to complete himself. But I could finally admit it hadn’t ever been my dream.

I could never resent my time in the army. It’d given me the adventure of a lifetime and had linked me to my dad in a way I couldn’t have been otherwise. It’d given me one of the best friends I could ever hope for and a lifelong brotherhood I’d have been hard-pressed to find elsewhere.

But it didn’t feel like home anymore. Hell, if I was honest with myself, I wasn’t sure it ever had.

Nope, home for me was in the eyes of the girl currently striding toward me. The girl who’d had my heart wrapped around her finger since I was eight years old. The girl I was going to fight like hell for today. And tomorrow. And the next day. And every day in the foreseeable and not so foreseeable future.

I didn’t know what the future held for us—for me. I couldn’t answer that today. But what I did know was that I wouldn’t stop fighting for us until my heart stopped beating.

Tugging on CB’s leash to follow me, I met Kenna halfway, the two of us toe-to-toe amidst the cacophony of a celebrating Havenbrook. I ran my gaze over her. She hadn’t even gone home to change or shower after the rescue, so her hair was a mess, her makeup smudged, and she looked absolutely exhausted, but I’d never seen anything more beautiful.

I reached up and plucked a small twig from her hair. “Hey.”

“Hey,” she answered, her gaze tracking over my face as if she were trying to catalog every one of my features. “I’m sorry you missed your flight.”

“I’m not.” I swept my finger down her cheek, tracing the soft skin from her temple to her chin. “I’m glad I could be here to support you being a complete badass.”

She huffed out a laugh. “I’m glad, too.”

Well, that was something, wasn’t it? She hadn’t told me to get lost or to fuck off, so I was winning in my book.

Caleb cleared his throat from the side, drawing my gaze, then tapped a finger on his watch, lifting his brows in a we gotta roll gesture. I turned back around and ignored him. I’d fly the two of us back to Seattle myself if I had to in order to get even five more minutes with Kenna.

But I couldn’t deny that time wasn’t on our side. Which meant if I was going to open my chest and bare my heart to her again, now was the time.

“I might be a glutton for punishment,” I said.

“With how often you continue to challenge me to a bet even knowin’ I’ll kick your ass, you definitely are.”

A quick grin tipped up the corner of my mouth. Christ, I loved this girl. “That too, but this isn’t about that.”

“No? What’s it about?” She seemed to hold her breath, her eyes darting back and forth between mine as she completely ignored the hoots and calls of congratulations to the acting mayor.

“I’ve got something I need to ask you again. And I’m gonna keep askin’ because you’re not the only pigheaded one in this duo.” I cupped her face and brushed my thumbs over her cheeks, darting my eyes over her face. Attempting to memorize every eyelash, every freckle, every gold fleck in her irises and tuck them away for when I’d need them the most. “I’ve never stopped wantin’ you, Kenna. Not a day since I’ve been gone. And I won’t stop. Not for the rest of my life.”

She reached out and tucked her fingers into my jeans pockets, not tugging me closer, but not letting me put even an inch of distance between us.

I took that as encouragement and continued, “And I think we both know I’ll never stop lovin’ you. I’d give anything to have you by my side, but I understand that you can’t do that right now. I see how important you are to this town. To your family. I know how much you’re needed here. But I need you too. I need you as much as I need air. Bein’ home, bein’ here with you, feels like I’ve taken a deep breath for the first time in ten years.”

Kenna’s eyes shone, their glassiness reflecting the hanging lights on a nearby tent. “Hud…”

“I know you need to stay, but we can still be together, Kenna. Even if we’re a thousand miles apart. Even if we’re three thousand miles apart. Couples do it every day, and there’s no way they’re as stubborn and determined as we are. So, I’m askin’ again. Hell, I’m beggin’, and you know I’d never admit that to anyone but you.”

She huffed out a laugh and then seemed to hold her breath, waiting for the next words to come out of my mouth.

“Be with me,” I said. “In however that takes shape, for however long you’ll have me. Just be with me.”

She didn’t answer with words. Instead, she lifted up on her tiptoes, gripped my neck, and brought my face down to hers. Our lips met, then parted, our tongues sliding against each other, and I’d never tasted anything sweeter in all of my life. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I lifted her up against me as our mouths stayed fused together, our bodies as close as we could get in public without getting ourselves arrested.

Christ, what I wouldn’t give to be inside her once more before I had to leave. But time already wasn’t in our favor, and I knew that once I got lost in her body, there was no telling when I’d come up for air.

I only hoped her reaction meant I’d have plenty more chances in the future to cover her body with mine, sink into the heaven between those beautiful thighs, and settle into the home she provided me within her body and her mind and her heart.

Holding her against me so her feet dangled a foot above the ground, I pulled back and looked into her eyes. “Is that a yes?”

“No,” she said, cupping my face, her thumbs tracing the five-o’clock shadow that had sprouted up since I’d shaved off my beard that morning.

My stomach dropped, my eyes flicking between hers as I tried to read her, but I couldn’t decipher anything from her stare.

And then she pressed our mouths together and murmured against mine, “It’s a hell yes.”

“You suck .” I nipped her bottom lip, laving the sting with my tongue, too lost in the sound of her laugh to stay mad at her for almost giving me a fucking heart attack.

She smiled before it slipped from her face, her expression sobering. “I need you as much as you need me. And I’ve been an idiot, thinkin’ we can’t make this work. You’re right—we are stubborn. And if anyone can do this, it’s us. I have faith in us. In you.” She glanced down, her voice lowering to just above a whisper. “And for the first time in a long time, I have faith in me, too.”

My chest filled with pride for my girl—my best friend, my soul mate, my Kenna—so thankful she finally had as much trust in herself as everyone else did. I kissed her again, needing to fill my well with as much of it as I could to last me for the coming months we’d be apart.

After not nearly long enough with our lips melded together, our tongues twined, CB jumped up on my legs, barking her little head off and proving exactly why I’d named her that in the first place.

I pulled back, holding Kenna up against me by a handful of her ass and not caring in the least that dozens of Havenbrook residents were watching our every move.

She glanced down at the barking dog before meeting my gaze, her lip caught between her teeth. “What’re you gonna do with CB?”

“Well…I needed to talk to you about that. I was sorta hopin’ you wouldn’t be opposed to a roommate.”

“And you thought you’d wait until now to spring that on me?”

I shrugged, unrepentant. “I knew you wouldn’t say no that way.”

“Liar.” She leaned close and scraped her teeth against my bottom lip. “You knew I wouldn’t say no, period.”

“That too.”

She threaded her fingers through the short hair at the back of my head, her expression serious. “I love you, you know. And I need you to come back to me.”

I swallowed hard, knowing I’d do every fucking thing in my power to do just that. To return home to her. To marry her and have babies with her and grow old with her. “I love you too, Kenna.”

It’d taken us too damn long to get there, but sometimes the best things took a little extra time. And if I got her when it was all said and done, I didn’t care what sort of winding, convoluted path I had to travel if she was waiting for me at the end.

“So, we’re really doin’ this?” I asked.

She wrapped her arms tighter around me and held me to her as if she never wanted to let me go. “Looks like.”

I hummed against her mouth, unable to stop myself from tasting her again. When we finally came up for air, I pressed my forehead to hers and closed my eyes. “Does that mean you’re gonna be at the cabin waitin’ for me, just like we planned?”

She hummed, and I met her gaze, finding her watching me with every ounce of love I felt for her reflected back at me. “I guess you’re just gonna have to show up and find out.”

Oh, I would.

Just like I told myself all those years ago, Kenna was it for me. And come hell or high water, I’d be coming back to her.