pulling a vintage Airstream.
He stared, frozen in place as he watched Jess expertly back into the very same spot where she had parked for the past two weeks, overlooking the path to the sea.
She climbed out and reached into the back of her pickup for chocks, which she put behind the wheels.
That was when he finally released the breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding and took a step toward her, gripping the dogs’ leashes hard as wild, fierce hope began coursing through him.
His heart beat hard as he crossed the space between the house and her trailer, where she had started the process of removing the ball hitch and sway bars from her pickup.
She stopped working the electric jack long enough to give him a quick, unreadable look before she continued on with what she was doing.
“Jess. What’s going on? Did you leave something?”
She reached down to unpin the emergency brake and the chains from the trailer.
“In a manner of speaking.”
“What did you forget?” he asked.
She didn’t answer for several seconds as she continued the process of unhitching the trailer.
Finally it was free of the ball hitch and she rose to face him.
“My heart,” she finally muttered. “I know, it sounds corny. But it’s true.”
She looked so uncomfortable that he fell in love with her all over again.
“I’m not ready to leave. I...would like to stay and was wondering if you and Eleanor would mind if I, um, park my trailer here for a few more days.”
“You can park your trailer here whenever you want and for however long you can spare,” he said. “You’ll always have a spot right there.”
She met his gaze and only then did she smile. It was bright, radiant, full of promise.
“Thank you.”
“Can I pull your truck out of the way?”
“I’ve got it.”
She would always do things her own way, his Jess with the fierce streak of independence. That was fine with him. He wasn’t threatened by a woman who could take care of herself. How could he be? He had been raised by Eleanor.
She climbed in and pulled the truck forward. When she turned off the engine and went to climb out again, he stood in the way so she had no choice but to fall into his arms.
“I see what you did there,” she said.
He laughed, all the sad restlessness and uncertainty of the past hour floating away on the sea breeze.
She threw her arms around him and kissed him so hard, he fell against the pickup door.
“You know those feelings you were talking about?” she finally said when they both came up for air sometime later.
“You mean when I said I was falling in love with you? Those feelings?”
She nodded, looking uncomfortable. “I’m not very good at this but, um, there is a very good chance that I’m falling in love with you, too.”
His joy seemed to expand exponentially. “Is that right?”
“I’ve never been in love before so I can’t be a hundred percent sure that’s what this is. But it’s scary and wonderful at the same time. I think about you all the time and want to do anything possible to make you happy.”
He smiled, deeply touched at her words and the quiet sincerity in them. Love wouldn’t come easily to Jess, which made it all the more rare and precious.
“That sure sounds like love to me.”
How was he lucky enough to deserve a woman like her? He had no idea. He only knew that he intended to do everything he could to show her that giving her heart to him didn’t have to scare her. He would cherish the gift, honor it, with everything inside him.
He had never expected to fall in love with Jess when he found her unhitching her trailer that first day but right now, it seemed as inevitable and eternal as the sunrise climbing the mountains, as constant as the sea lapping at the cove.
She was absolutely the right person for him. The only person.
And Nate intended to spend the rest of his life proving it to her.
Epilogue
Rachel
One Year Later
She had managed to throw the perfect wedding, if she did say so herself.
Rachel stood in the sand of Sunshine Cove admiring her own handiwork.
From the grapevine arbor draped in filmy curtains to the little fairy lights twinkling along the path from Whitaker House like fireflies, everything was exquisite.
She hadn’t done it by herself, she had to admit. Eleanor and Sophie had helped her string the fairy lights and make the table decorations, and Cody