“Listen to me.” She held his face in her hands. “My brother has learned how to do more for himself in the last few weeks than in the six years since my parents died. I did the best I could, but Jeremy needed you to see him as limitless. He got all the way to the museum on his own by following a handwritten map. And he had a great time. He never could have done that without you. Without everything you taught him.”
“Harper, it was all you. I was the one who didn’t prepare my employees properly. And he got lost.”
“Yes, he got lost. And I’m not going to lie and pretend I wasn’t terrified when we both know I was. But that’s also because I didn’t have faith that he’d know what to do. He did, though, Will. He found a cop. He got help. He helped himself. You gave him the strength to do that by believing in him.
“I love you, Will Franconi. I love you for seeing my brother’s worth when even I don’t always. I love you for loving me, too. And I love you for all you’ve done for your friends, for Susan and Bob...and for yourself. You were once a little boy who didn’t have anyone to take care of him, and now you’re a man who always takes care of everyone around you. You make us all better people just by being in our lives.”
She kissed him then. And he felt loved right down to his bones. This beautiful, intelligent, wonderful woman believed in him.
Could he dare—finally—to believe in himself?
“I never thought I could change my story,” she said, her voice thick with emotion, “so when you came into our lives I thought all I would get to have with you were a few stolen moments of wildness. But now I see that you, Jeremy, and I have already rewritten our stories. And we’ve done it together. You’re a good man, Will. The best I’ve ever known.”
“Harper—”
She put two fingers to his lips. “Tell me one thing. On the plane, before we found Jeremy, you wanted to fire them all, didn’t you? Benny, Ronnie, even your PI friend. You wanted to knock them all down.”
How could she know? But he already knew how. Because she knew everything right through to the heart of him. She always had, even before he’d confessed his past sins.
When he nodded, she smiled, and everything inside him stilled a moment as he basked in the headiness of that smile on her lips. It warmed every part of him, heart to soul.
“But you didn’t fire them,” she said softly.
“No.” He breathed deeply, drawing in the beauty of her essence, wondering how he could have lived so long without her. And praying that he’d never have to live without her again.
“You probably sent them a memo with a new plan on how to help Jeremy without limiting him.”
“I haven’t sent it yet.” But he’d worked out the details. Despite the crushing certainty ripping him into bite-size pieces that he would never see Harper—or Jeremy—again. “But I will. I’ll make sure he’s safe, Harper.”
She bumped his nose with hers. “I know you will. And don’t you see?”
He saw only her, the sweet center of her, so full of heart and goodness.
“Your Road Warrior of old would have smashed them all so that he didn’t have to feel guilty anymore. But you took responsibility. Then you figured out a way to fix it.” She dropped her voice to a note that vibrated inside him. “That’s what you’ve been doing for years without even giving yourself credit. You made the right choice. You always make the right choice.”
She truly believed in him. And Will suddenly felt lighter than he had…ever.
That’s what Harper did for him. This gorgeous, generous woman made him recognize that he had control over who he was. He didn’t have to be a Road Warrior. He didn’t even have to be his father’s son.
Once upon a time, he’d done a hell of a lot to change his life for the better. But he’d never taken the final step toward real happiness. Never believed he was worthy. Never thought he could write himself a happily ever after.
Not until Harper made him realize that he could believe in himself—and true love that would last forever—because she already did.
She was right. Together, the three of them already had all the makings of real love. And the family he’d been longing for his whole life. They just needed to have enough faith in themselves, and in each other, to grab hold of it...and never let it go.
“I love you.” He hauled her against him as he kissed her passionately, lovingly.
His heart kicked into overdrive when she wrapped her legs around his waist and held on tight. Taking a couple of steps, he set her down on the workbench and she quickly unbuttoned his shirt, shoving it down his arms. Then she kissed the tattoo he’d always kept hidden.