Almost Just Friends (Wildstone #4)(93)

“Why do I love you? Easy. Your energy fuels my soul.”

She blinked. “My bad attitude, you mean? That fuels your soul?”

He smiled. “Your everything. You’re the calm in the storm.”

She stared at him. “Now I know you’ve lost it.”

“I mean every word. I love how you treat people. My dad, for instance. And Sweet Cheeks.”

“She’s not a people. She’s the anti-Christ.”

“You know what I mean. You give respect and dignity, even when it’s not always deserved. I love how you can always make me laugh, especially when I need it most. I love how you kiss me. I love how you just gathered me in and added me to your core unit.” He shook his head. “That means a lot. Actually, it means everything to me.”

There was no air. Why was there no air? “I got into U of C,” she said inanely.

He smiled. “Good. Congratulations. They’re lucky to have you.”

“Cam . . .” She closed her eyes because he was so amazing and gracious and kind. And supportive. She didn’t even know how to tell him how much that meant to her. “I can’t be the girl who changes her plans for the guy,” she whispered.

“I know.” His hand covered hers. “But I can be the guy who changes his plans for a girl.”

Her eyes flew open. “What?”

“I could move to Colorado. With you.”

“But the DEA . . .”

“I’ll figure it out, but I’m not living for my job.”

“But you’d have to move.”

“Moving around has always been all I know,” he said.

“But you wanted to stop having to do that, you wanted a home base.”

“You’re my home base.”

She stared at him. He made it sound so simple. “You can’t do that for me.”

“Why not?”

“Why not?” she repeated, nowhere near calm. “Because you need to be here with your dad and Winnie and the baby. I’m not going to ask you to choose.” Her breath caught on the word, because in her experience, people didn’t choose her, not for their endgame.

“Piper.” He took both of her chilled hands in his warm ones now. “I want this to work. I’m willing to make this work, no matter where we live. We’re the core, and yeah, right now it needs to be about you, and that’s okay.”

“But what about you?”

He gave her a smile. “I’ll get my turn. Just tell me what you’re thinking.”

She was mostly thinking that Jenna had been right. Emmitt had been right. Her siblings too. They all knew that life was where you made room for it, and so was love and acceptance. She blew out a breath. “I was fine before you, you know. Just fine.”

His smile was unapologetic. “I wasn’t.”

She brought their joined hands up to her chest and pressed, then lifted her head. “Okay, yeah. Fine. Neither was I.”

His smile spread and she shook her head at him. “I actually thought I had all the answers, but I didn’t have any. Turns out you had them all.”

“If you really believe that,” he said on a dry laugh, “you don’t know me at all.”

But that was the thing—she did know him. Better than she’d ever known anyone. “You’ve got this way of drawing people in,” she said. “And inspiring trust. And love.”

He arched a sardonic brow. “Not in everyone.”

“You drew me in,” she admitted. “I trust you.” She hesitated. “I know losing Rowan was the hardest thing.”

“Yes. So would be losing you.”

Heart. Melted. She came up on her knees and put her hands on his shoulders. “I love you too, Cam. I have for a while. I was just scared.”

“And you’re not now?”

“Terrified. Hold me.”

He laughed and pulled her right into his lap. He was warm and his arms felt just right holding her close, like she was everything to him. Cupping his face, she stared into his eyes, feeling all the feels, but unsure how to let them out after a lifetime of holding them in. The man had jumped into the lake to save her and her journal. That had to be some kind of a record.

“It’s okay, Piper,” he said quietly, pushing the wet hair from her face. “Whatever you need to make this work. Whatever you want. Just say the word.”

He was putting her dreams first and no one had ever done that. He wasn’t going to vanish on her. He would come with her. Or even stay here and hold everything together while she was gone, if that’s what she wanted. “Word,” she whispered, smiling when he looked at her in surprise.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Yeah. All I need to make this work is my family, which includes you and your dad. But mostly what I need is you. And I need to be here with all of you, in Wildstone.”

He was already shaking his head. “No. No way. You’re not giving up your dream for—”

“I’m not. I won’t. While you were gone, I also applied here at Cal Poly, which I didn’t do in the first place because I thought I wanted to leave. I wanted adventure, but this is my adventure. You’re my adventure, Cam.”

His gaze searched hers. “You sure?”