is you.”
She exhaled and sagged into him. “You just did in my knees.”
“I’ve got you. I know I’ve screwed that up before, but I’ve got you now, Hannah. I’m at your back, always.”
She had her hands fisted in his shirt, staring up at him. “There’s still an actual real problem.”
Not if he could help it, he thought, stroking a strand of hair from her face. “Lay it on me, Hannah Banana.”
“I’ve never been able to make a relationship work. Never, not once, James,” she said, clearly a hundred percent serious. “And there’s something else. I’m . . . difficult.” She whispered the word, as if she was ashamed of that.
A wave of affection and a fierce sense of protectiveness for this prickly woman he loved more than life itself overcame him. Covering her hands with his, he smiled at her. “And . . . ?”
“And . . .”—she bit her lower lip, looking nervous and anxious—“and people don’t tend to like that.”
His amusement was gone in a blink, replaced by so much emotion his chest didn’t feel like it could contain it all. “Hannah, I love that about you.”
She stared at him like he’d grown a second head. “You love that I’m difficult?”
“I love the fact that you have your own mind and speak it. I love how passionate you are and how you dig in your heels on the things that matter most to you.”
“But . . . what if you stop?” she asked with heartbreaking emotion in her voice. “What if you stop loving those things about me?”
Pulling her into him, he dropped his forehead to hers. He looked into her eyes, and the emotion and love he read there filled his soul and dismissed all the doubts he’d ever had about being enough for her. “Babe, I’ve loved you for all these years. That’s not going to change now. Or ever.” He paused. “I’ve got some more things to say now. Will you listen?”
She stared into his eyes. “Yes.”
Do not blow this. “When I saw you running toward me on the dock just now, I felt the greatest relief in my life. I want you to know that even if you hadn’t come back, I was coming to you. I was wrong to walk away from you. And I was wrong six years ago, too, asking you to drop your life for mine. That wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t something a man should do to the woman he loves.”
She opened her mouth, but he gently set his finger to her lips. “And I do love you, Hannah. I love you and I should’ve fought for you, for both of us, after Jason died and on this trip as well. I’m sorry I didn’t, but I can promise you, I’ll never not fight for you again.”
“Same,” she said finally, the sweetest promise he’d ever heard. “But, James, I still live in Wildstone. You live . . . well, sometimes you’re in New York helping your dad, but mostly you’re gone, working all over the world.”
“That’s all true, but for a while now, I’ve known I needed a home base. I’m yearning for that, actually.”
She blinked. “You are?”
“Yes. And I’m thinking the smartest home base would be Wildstone. See, there’s a woman there I love and need in my life.”
She was staring up at him. “But what about your job?”
“There’s an airport for when I need to run an expedition, but I’m going to be doubling my staff. I won’t be gone nearly as much.”
“But . . . that’d be changing your whole life. I don’t want you to do that, not for me.”
“I’d do anything for you.” He cupped her face. “I love you, Hannah.”
Her hands came up to cover his, her voice soft but firm. “I love you, too, James. I always have. And I don’t know why I’m only just now saying that to you. I’ve felt it forever.”
He smiled, feeling the last of the pieces of his damaged heart slide into place. “Maybe it’s finally the right time.”
She stepped into him, slid her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.
“You’re my home base, Hannah. For now and forever, if you’ll have me.”
She smiled. “Remember yesterday when I won, but never claimed my spoils?”
Puzzled, he nodded. “Yeah.”
“You’re it. I claim you, James. You’re it for me, for now and forever.”
Epilogue
One year later
It was the night before Christmas and all through the boat, not a creature was stirring . . . Hannah stood