Chapter 17 #2
My hands skimmed along the smooth material of his vest as they wound around the back of his neck. “Archer, I—”
Brett cleared his throat.
Without looking away from me, Archer reached around and pushed Brett away. “Go away.”
I don’t know if he listened or if everyone else ceased to exist, but suddenly, it was just me and Archer underneath the mistletoe in the glimmering gazebo. Somewhere in the distance, Christmas music played, but it was nothing more than a rhythm to which our hearts synced.
“I’m sorry,” Archer said before I could say anything at all. “For implying you had to give up everything for me. For expecting you to feel the same way I do after just one kiss.”
“It wasn’t—”
“Let me say this,” Archer implored, his eyes beseeching and my heart bending to his will. “I need to say it. I’ve held it in for too long.”
I nodded.
“I love you.”
The declaration whooshed all the oxygen out of me, robbed it directly from every cell. The only reason I remained standing was because my arms were around him, and I would never let him go.
“I’ve loved you my entire life, even when I was too afraid and then too stubborn to admit it.
I loved you even when I told myself I didn’t and missed you when you were gone.
I told myself it was better to let you go than to risk losing you.
But every day you aren’t mine is a loss.
I want you, Toby. Even if it means sharing you with Boston and splitting my time between there and the farm. ”
“You would do that?” I asked, completely flabbergasted. Archer Hodge lived and breathed his farm. It was absolutely embedded in his DNA. Offering to split his time between it and Boston was actionable proof that he loved me.
“I’ll do anything for you,” he whispered. “When I said forever, I meant it.”
“I’m moving back to Winterbury,” I announced.
Archer jolted, which put a few inches between us. My fingers anchored into the short strands of hair at his neck, so that was as far as he could go.
Archer frowned. “Toby, no. That’s not what you wa—”
“It is.” I cut him off. “I only said that before because I was afraid.”
“Afraid of me?”
“Afraid of loving someone so much.”
Archer’s eyes flickered, and he made a low sound, pressing his forehead against mine. “You love me?”
“As if you didn’t know,” I muttered.
Archer started to pull away, but I palmed his face, loving the texture of his beard against my skin.
“Of course I love you,” I whispered. “My heart has always been yours. And that’s why I’m moving back to Winterbury. I already talked to my father. He’s going to retire, and I’m going to take over the clinic and make it my own.”
“Seriously?”
I nodded. “I want to be here with you. I want to live, not just work. I want this town and all its traditions and a home with dogs and babies.”
Archer sucked in a breath, and I paused.
“I mean, if you do. If you don’t, that’s okay. We can—”
His fingers covered my lips. “I want it.”
Because I could not speak, I asked with my eyes. Really?
“If it’s with you, I want it. All of it.”
I strained up on tiptoes, and he lifted his hand, replacing it with his lips.
His kiss was warm and enveloping, the perfect complement to the winter wind.
My fingers found their way back into his hair and his arms around my waist. Everything we’d been to each other during the course of our lives somehow seamlessly blended, fusing into a bond so strong it could never be broken.
The tip of his tongue swiped gently against the seam of my lips, and I opened, welcoming the taste and feel of him—the flavor of forever.
He backed away sooner than I would have liked but did so gently, lifting his head and smiling. Unable to help myself, I pecked another brief kiss against the softness of his full lips before ducking my head into his shoulder.
His arms stayed around me, and the short hair of his beard tickled my ear when he leaned in to speak. “Look,” he whispered, and I lifted my head to look at the mistletoe hanging above our heads.
“I guess the legend is real after all,” Archer whispered.
“This is why I can’t be friends with you,” I whispered back.
His nose wrinkled. “Because of the mistletoe?”
“Because you’re my everything.”
His expression softened. “I love you, Toby.”
“I love you.”
Only then did the clapping and cheering around us break into our bubble. I gazed out, realizing we had an audience and they were all smiling. An under-the-microscope feeling had me ducking my face into his shoulder.
His laughter against my ear made my stomach flutter. “I think everyone knows about us.”
“It’s about time!” someone hollered.
“Congratulations,” someone else yelled.
I groaned.
“At least they’re happy for us?” Archer offered.
I lifted my head. “Not as happy as me.”
A smile played on his lips. “Yeah?”
I nodded.
“You want some hot chocolate?”
“Obviously.”
“You have to hold my hand while we get it,” he said, flexing his fingers and holding them out.
I slid mine into his, linking us together.
“Archer?” I said as we strolled down Main Street under the twinkling lights.
“Hm?”
“I’m glad I came home for Christmas.”
Archer smiled. “Me too.”