Chapter 55
When Robin said she was going to spend the holidays with her mom, I assumed that meant I wouldn’t see her until January.
If she even came back.
So, finding her at my house when I get off a long shift is surprising enough on its own. But what has me slowing my car to a stop in the middle of the street and barely remembering to put on the brakes before climbing out is how I find Robin.
Sometime between me leaving for work this morning and now, Robin has returned to Green Valley, dragged my recliner out of the living room, out of the house, down the front walk, and situated the seat in the middle of my gravel driveway.
She sits in the thing, glaring at me.
“Robin,” I say in confused greeting, wanting to scoop her up out of the chair and kiss her, but also wanting to ask what I did to deserve that angry expression.
She’s wearing her hearing aid, I realize. Something about the device being looped around her ear when she normally doesn’t put it on when it’s just us two at home has me feeling like whatever words she speaks next are going to change my life.
“I hate your soulmate,” she declares.
I stare at her, my mouth bobbing as I search for a response.
Ignoring my obvious confusion, Robin keeps talking. “I have no idea who they are, and honestly, I don’t even believe in soulmates. But you do, and you think there’s this perfect kiss out in the world for you, and I hate that. And I hate them. Because I love you, Arthur Kraut. And I want you. And I’m greedy.”
An earthquake must’ve hit Green Valley, Tennessee, because I suddenly feel unsteady on my feet.
“You love me?”
“Yes!” she snaps, still wearing a glower on her gorgeous face. “I do. And you know what? I call dibs.”
My heart pounds hard, the racket so loud that I’m not sure I heard her right. “Dibs?”
“Yes. Dibs. Dibs on you. Dibs on this chair. Dibs on that house.” She throws an angry thumb over her shoulder toward the small home I thought I’d maybe find the right person to share with one day. “Dibs on your family—even that asshole Daren, who I’ll figure out a way to get along with because he matters to you. You hear that? I don’t care if you’re related to my ex. I still call dibs. Dibs on your life. Dibs on your love.”
She glares at me. “You love me, right? That’s why you won’t ask me to stay. Well, guess what. I don’t want to leave. I want to live here, with you, even though I’m not your soulmate. Even though I’m fucking everything up with your family. I’m selfish when it comes to you, Arthur, and I don’t know how not to be, and I don’t have the inclination to become a martyr. So, your soulmate can fuck right off. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
Before I let myself accept what she’s offering, before I hope, I can’t help saying, “Your job.”
Robin’s glare turns into a triumphant smirk. “I met with Malcolm this morning. Told him I want to buy the shop. Turns out, he wanted me to anyway. But even if he changes his mind, I’m not going to let that stop me. I’ll find a place in Merryville, where I can work up the ladder until I’m the owner. Or I’ll open a shop here and steal all Green Valley Aviation’s clients because they like me best anyway and Thomas is a subpar mechanic. What else you got, Bear?”
I take a cautious step toward her, gravel grinding under the soles of my boots. Robin watches my approach, her eyes narrowing, the distrustful expression adorable on her face. When I’m towering over her, she grabs on to the armrests of the recliner, as if she thinks I’m going to pull her out of the thing.
But I like seeing her there. Putting her stamp on everything that is mine. Just like she did with my heart.
“You’re serious,” I say, needing to articulate the truth more to myself than to her.
“As serious as a spray of the garden hose to the nutsack.”
A grin spreads across my face as I sink to my knees in front of the perfect woman. She watches me with wary eyes.
“Say something,” she demands, a quiver of vulnerability in her voice. “You’re not saying anything.”
I rest my hands on her thighs, feeling the heat of her through the sturdy jean material. “I love you too.”
“You do?” Her question lacks the confidence of her declarations up to this point.
The sound of her need draws me forward until I can press my face into the juncture of her neck and shoulder. I made sure to choose her right side so she doesn’t miss a single word.
“Don’t want to kiss anyone but you.” I brush my lips against her racing pulse. “I call dibs on you. Shoulda done it the day I met you. Shoved Daren to the side and carried you off.”
She lets out a watery chuckle. I straighten enough to see the mistiness in her eyes.
“Funny, I was thinking I should’ve done the same thing.”
The laughter that spills from deep in my chest gets swallowed by Robin’s eager kiss.
Soon, I’m groaning, but not for the reason I want to be. I break off with a grimace. “Sorry. This gravel is hell on the knees.”
Robin shoves my shoulders. “Oh God, get up!”
When we’re both standing, she gazes up at me while her hands fist in my flannel jacket.
“I’m serious, Arthur. I love you so much that I’ll fight any woman who tries to kiss you and claim to be your soulmate. I’ll go full rabid raccoon on their ass if that’s what it takes to keep you.”
I cup her flushed cheeks in my hands. “You’re my soulmate.”
She blinks up at me. “But our first kiss was terrible.”
I growl and lean over to press my hungry lips against hers. Partly to prove that I’m not a man made of stone anymore. But mostly because I’m so fucking happy she’s here and she wants me.
“Took a couple of tries,” I mutter against her mouth. Then, I make sure to speak up. “Think it was the third kiss that did it.”
Robin jerks her head back to gaze at me, wide-eyed. “I’m your soulmate?”
I nod.
“And you were willing to let me leave?”
I press my forehead to hers, locking her sky-colored gaze with mine. “Would’ve followed you. Anywhere. Everywhere. If you’d have me.”
Robin looks like she doesn’t know whether to shout at me or start the kissing up again. I’m partial to the latter.
She grabs my hand and drags me toward the house. “I’ll have you all right. Have you all night. Have you every which way. You’re going to be begging for a break, but I won’t give you one.”
“I love you,” I say again, loud as I like because there’s no reason to hide how I feel, and I want to make sure she hears.
“You’d better,” Robin snaps back.
Then, she hauls me into the house, up to our bedroom, strips me down, and kisses every inch of me until I forget there was ever a time I didn’t know the feel of her lips.