His heart leaped with hope. He squashed it like an annoying gnat. “I think we’ve said everything we need. I can’t do this with you anymore. I’m going home.”

He turned and prayed for the strength to reach his car. To drive away and heal from this woman who stole his heart and turned his world upside down and didn’t want him.

“Wait!” She jumped out and blocked his path. Twisted her fingers and looked up from thick dark lashes with pleading, puppy dog eyes that walloped away his breath. “Please, just give me a chance. Play three holes with me. If I win, you listen to everything I have to say. If I lose, I’ll walk and never bother you again.”

He looked at her in astonishment. “Are you kidding me? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I triple dog dare you. Three holes. You owe me that.”

He owed her? Was she kidding? Pure temper warred with his survival instinct to get away and save himself. She wanted to challenge him to a game? Fine. But this time he was playing for keeps. On his own holy ground of the golf course, Nate intended to finally finish this relationship and not look back. On his terms.

“Be careful what you wish for, Ken,” he growled under his breath. “I’ve finally had enough.”

The woman had the guts to smile at him. “So have I. Let’s do this. This time I brought my own clubs.”

He smothered a humorless laugh. Damn her to hell. But he realized this was the only way to end it. Once he won, she’d leave him alone, and maybe he’d finally be able to get on with his life. It was a poetic sort of finale, but more like an opera where everyone died at the end rather than a romance novel.

“Fine. We won’t need the cart. Follow me.”

He grabbed her clubs, refusing to allow her to carry them up the hill, and trudged off. She kept up, but he refused to look back. All he needed to see was that perky rear barely covered by the ridiculous dress. How could they make such stuff to play golf in? It wasn’t decent. What would happen if she had to bend down to get one of the balls?

Smoke steamed out of his head, but he reached the first hole, released her clubs, and got his head in the game. “Ladies first.”

She took her spot in the tee box. Glued her gaze to the ball, shimmied a bit back and forth while the red skirt swung in rhythm, drew back, and socked the ball with a perfect arc. It landed nicely on the edge of the fairway. Usually, she commented and chatted nonstop while they golfed. This time, she remained quiet, as if this game was actually important to her.

Nate knew the feeling.

He yanked his emotions under wrap and set up. His approach shot was flawless, and he watched as the ball landed right by the tee, set up for perfect par.

She frowned. “Nice shot,” she offered.

He glared. “Thanks.”

They trudged to the fairway and finished up.

Score: Four strokes for her. Three for him.

The second hole she upped the stakes, with a gorgeous powerful line drive that got it close to the green. How on earth did she just happen to have the perfect natural swing that no one in his life had ever possessed? Was she wearing red panties to match the dress? Would he find out if she bent down? He actually smelled her, the scent of bare skin and arousal, spice and musk, and all woman. His brain ping-ponged between lust and golf, but he swore to win and managed to knock the ball right to the green. Then wrapped it up quickly while she fumbled on the final putt.

Score: Four strokes for her. Two for him.

“It’s over,” he said quietly. “You’d have to get a hole in one and that’s impossible.”

“I can do it.”

Frustration singed his nerves, and he clenched the club around his fingers. “It’s over,” he said again, more forcefully. “Besides needing a hole in one, I’d need four strokes handicap.”

She stuck her chin out, got on tiptoe, and spoke right in his face. “I’m not a quitter. We said we’d play three holes.”

He grit his teeth and swore. “This is ridiculous and unnecessary. Fine. Let’s go.”

He marched to the third hole and she kept pace. The rolling green hills spread before them, and sun streamed over the land like a gift from the gods. Birds sang with Disney cheer, a light breeze caressed the skin, and he’d never been so fucking miserable in his life. Last hole. He should’ve known she’d never give up, except on herself.

Except on love.

She seemed quieter and more reflective as she took her stance, glancing back over her shoulder at him. Her swing connected at the sweet spot, and put her right onto the green.

But it wasn’t a hole in one.

He didn’t say anything. They both stared at the ball, lying on the green, and something heavy pulsed in the silence. When she finally turned her head, those haunting amber eyes held the glimmer of tears, but nothing fell. “I lost.”

His heart tore and bled, and he wondered if he’d die right here on the golf course. “Yes.”

“But I can’t play by the rules. Not now. Not with you.”

He let out a primitive cry that he bet cavemen had originated when their women had beaten them to the ground, literally and figuratively. “Don’t,” he tore out. “I can’t—I can’t take it.”

She lifted her hands in the air in pure supplication. Raw emotion ravaged the graceful lines of her face, and for the first time, he glimpsed all the hidden corners of her soul, naked for him in the blinding sunlight of the golf course. “I love you.”

“Oh, crap. You’re going to kill me.” He spun away and tunneled his fingers through his hair. “Now you decide you love me? We get on the course, you see me again and remember what it was like, and think you want me back?”

“I came to see you weeks ago. You were out with Mary, and your brother answered the door.”

The pain was replaced by ice. So much better this way. It hurt less. “Why?”

“I came to beg your forgiveness. To say I love you, that I believed in us, and a real relationship, and I was stupid and scared. You deserve more, I know you do, but I had to try and tell you the truth.”

He jerked and studied her face with an unrelenting stare. “You were so intent on this big declaration, huh? Then why did you leave? Why didn’t you stay and fight for me?”

“Because Connor told me you and Mary were sleeping together. He asked me to stay away from you, that you were trying to build a relationship with her. That you had a shot at happiness.”

“We never slept together. Mary found another guy and quit Kinnections. I’ve been trying to get over you.”

“I know,” she said softly. “When you both pulled out of the agency, I thought it was because you were together.”

He tried to sort out the puzzle. “Why now? Why weeks later did you suddenly decide to waltz onto the golf course?”

“Connor came to see me. He told me the truth. We had a long talk, and I confessed it was me who was scared the whole time. You were right.” She drew a shaky breath and tipped her face up. “I gave myself excuses that weren’t real. Tried to push you away by pretending I’d hurt you, that it was for the best, that I didn’t deserve you. But I do. I deserve love, and I deserve not to be a coward, and I need to try. I will give you everything. My heart, my soul, my life. I will never leave you. I will love you for as long as you let me.”

His breath stopped. He gazed at the woman he loved before him, face pleading, and saw the truth in her eyes. She didn’t want to run any longer. She loved him. All of his dreams came down to this moment.

His eyes burned and he lurched forward a step, his mind reeling. He ached to drag her into his arms, forgive her, love her, but that tiny piece of fear still clung because he knew that this time there was no turning back. Something white fluttered in front of him, and he looked up.

What the hell?

A massive white banner opened up in front of him. Dozens of people clutched the material, holding it up proud and straight as the breeze tried to grab hold and shake it. Inky black writing scrolled over the clean, bright surface, flashing the words that seared right into his brain and straight to his gut.

I Love You, Nate Dunkle. Really . . .

Her voice floated, soft and husky behind him.

“Connor and I decided I needed to do something epic. I understand if you don’t want to take another chance. I can only tell you what you taught me.”

He turned and looked into her face.

“You taught me to be brave, to open myself to joy, and to be a full person. You reached in, saw every broken part of me, and loved me anyway. You are my everything. But most of all, I learned I am perfect. For you. With you. I don’t want half measures anymore. I don’t want safety. I want you. Only you.”

She waited. Her humbleness and vulnerability made her even more beautiful, sketching out the lines of her face, softening her eyes, and giving him . . . everything.

He jerked her into his arms and took her mouth. Drank in her sweet taste, and softness, and strength, as the sun streamed hot and bright and a cheer went up from the top of the hill from all the nameless, faceless strangers. He kissed her for a long, long time, and when he finally broke away, he knew his life would never be the same.

“I still won,” he said.

She laughed, the sound rolling over the green and in his ears like a sweet melody. “This time. But I got you, so I’m the real winner here.”

He dove his fingers into her hair and kissed her again, long and deep and hard. “I love you, Kennedy Ashe. Let’s go home.”

The words had never sounded more perfect.

epilogue