His laugh rumbled deep in his chest, the sound that had become her favorite melody. “And I’d do it all again for you.” Hisgaze drifted across the canyon’s expanse. “You know, I’ve been thinking. I have been running from adventure to adventure for a long time.”
His eyes found hers again, serious now, intense in that way that made her pulse skip. “I’m ready to stop running. Settle down, buy a house…start a family.”
Her breath caught. But she smiled. “Seems like you’d need a wife to start that family.”
He nodded, grinning. “Yeah, it does. That’s the most important part.” He sat down next to her on the bench. He wasn’t proposing—not yet—but the promise hung between them.
Future. Together.The words she’d never dared hope for.
“I like that idea.” The admission scraped past the tightness in her chest.
His shoulder brushed hers as he leaned close, and she breathed in that scent that was purely him—pine soap, mountain air, and something indefinably masculine that made her want to burrow closer. His eyes met hers a second before his lips found hers. The kiss soft and warm, a promise deepened by the week’s quiet moments—shared meals, late talks, his steady presence as she recovered.
His palm cupped her cheek, thumb tracing gentle circles, and she felt safe, whole, in a way she’d never known before Liam.
“Ahem.”
They broke apart, Nimue’s cheeks flaming. Noah stood on the porch steps. Crisp uniform, clipboard in hand, grin splitting his whiskered face. Apparently someone was having regrets about the clean shave.
“Didn’t mean to interrupt the moment.” He raised an eyebrow. “But paperwork doesn’t wait for romance. Trail report’s overdue.”
Liam groaned, squeezed her hand once more before standing. “Duty calls. Back in five.”
He followed Noah inside. Nimue touched her lips, still tingling from his kiss.
Settle down. House. Family.
The words circled through her thoughts. Years of running, hiding behind screen names and encrypted files. But here? With him? She could shed the hacker’s mask, be simply Nimue.
Her hand found the blue pencil, added a bold streak across the sky. No hesitation. No careful shading. Just color, bright and fearless.
The art of hope.
Liam’s laughter carried from inside the lodge. She glanced up, eyeing his profile through the window as he gestured at Noah’s clipboard. He must have sensed her watching because his head turned, smile deepening when their eyes met.
Her heart did that fluttery thing it had started doing whenever he looked at her like that.
She smiled back, blended blue into purple, watched the sky deepen across her page.
The lodge, the canyon, Liam—pieces of a life she’d never imagined possible.
Home. Or the beginning of one.
She’d stay. Draw. Love. Let the rest unfold one color at a time.
EPILOGUE
Normal. That’s all Noah wanted—everything back to the way it was before he’d tasted Meg’s lips and lost his mind.
He stood on the back porch of the Grand Canyon’s North Rim Lodge, his chest locked tight. It had been five days since he’d almost kissed Meg for the second time. Five days of dodging morning coffee, taking alternate routes through the village, working double shifts just to avoid those knowing blue eyes.
Pathetic didn’t begin to cover it.
He scanned the porch for Liam, needing to discuss the North Kaibab Trail closure due to a landslide after another big rainstorm had come through a couple days ago. The monsoons seemed to have arrived early this year. Time to get back to business. Back to normal. Maybe then this ache in his ribs would ease up.
Movement caught his eye at the far end of the porch.
Liam and Nimue. Again.