“You mean sneaking around like teenagers and hiding from my son and your sister?”

He rubbed his nose with mine. “No, I mean falling more in love.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think I can, Ford.”

His face dropped, and the pain in his eyes was truly real. I couldn’t hurt him like that, even after what he’d put me through.

Reaching up, I stroked his cheek. “I can’t because I’m not sure it’s possible to fall more in love with you.”

His chin dropped to his chest, and he let out a deep, low chuckle. “You’re going to make me pay for a long time, aren’t you?”

I grinned. “Oh yeah.”

Ford pressed his lips to mine. A warmth that had been missing since the summer immediately spread through my body. God, I’d missed him so much.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I should have never walked away. I thought if I let you go, if you came back, you would be mine for good.”

“When someone is already inside of you, you can’t just let go of their heart. The only way to disconnect is to break it.”

“Yeah. I know that now. Do you remember when you asked me if it was possible to have the right feelings at the wrong time?”

I nodded. “I was terrified back then.”

“We both were, just at different times. The truth is, you can never have the right feelings at the wrong time, because there is never a wrong time for the right person.”

I looked into his eyes. “Let’s stop running away from each other.”

Ford rested his forehead to mine. “I freaking love you, Valentina. I love how you have no rhythm, but it doesn’t stop you from dancing. I love how you sneeze when you’re nervous and still try to hide that you are. I love the little sound you make when you come, and that you give yourself so completely to me that you don’t even know you make it. I love that you went back to school and want to go after all the things you didn’t get to do. But most of all, I love you because I have to…I can’t not love you. I tried, and it’s physically impossible.”

“God, Ford. I love you, too. And I want the whole world to know it. Including my son.”

“Good. I’ll give you a hand in passing out the message.” He took hold of my waist, and suddenly I was in the air and plopped back down on his lap, straddling him. “I’ll start by telling the guy who dropped you off.”

Chapter 32

* * *

Ford

I tossed my keys on the table and yelled, “Val?”

“I’m upstairs! Getting changed.”

“Our reservations are for eight thirty. Don’t take too long.”

I’d had a late meeting this afternoon, and tonight had been the winter parent-teacher night at her school, so we were going out to eat. It had been one long-ass week, and it wasn’t even Friday yet.

Val had been a nervous wreck about meeting with parents, especially with the few students who weren’t doing so hot in her class. It didn’t help that last weekend, when she’d planned to prepare a little summary of notes on each student, she’d had an unexpected visitor who took up the majority of her free time.

Her son had again surprised her, coming home early for winter recess. Well, he’d surprised both of us, actually. Valentina hadn’t yet told him about us. She’d wanted to tell him in person when he came home on break, instead of over the phone. Her plan had been to talk to him by herself one night and then the three of us would go out to dinner a night or two later. But just like all things between Val and me, it didn’t exactly go as planned.

Ryan’s flight was due to land at eight in the evening last Saturday night. For the last couple of months, we’d been taking turns staying at each other’s places. With Bella back at school and her son not around, the two of us had grown pretty comfortable with walking around half dressed and occasionally fucking on the kitchen floor, if the mood struck. I was as crazy about her as ever, and the mood struck a lot. So it wasn’t unusual that I’d woken Val by going down on her and then had my junk swinging in the wind while I made two cups of coffee in her kitchen an hour later.

But it was unusual for someone to unlock the front door at nine in the morning and walk in while said junk was on full display.

Ryan’s early flight home surprised both of us, alright. I still had the fading remnants of a black eye to show exactly what a damn surprise it had been. Her son punched first and asked questions later. I couldn’t say I blamed him. Needless to say, the visual had been a lot harder to swallow than the way his mother had planned to tell him she had a boyfriend now—especially since it was me.

I took off my jacket and tossed it over a chair at the kitchen table. The whoosh of air caused a folded piece of mail from the top of a stack to fly off the table and onto the floor. Thinking nothing of it, I bent to pick it up, only the colors of the logo at the top of the letter caught my eye—green, white, and red.

Collocamento internazionale di Roma

My Italian was rusty, but I knew what it was. My heart sank reading the first line.

Dear Ms. Di Giovanni,

Congratulations! We’re excited to inform you that we’ve received your application and one of our consortium member schools has invited you to join their staff for the upcoming school year.

I heard the sound of heels clicking down the stairs, and then Val’s happy voice. “I survived, and I’m ready to celebrate that I didn’t sneeze on any of the parents!”

I turned with the letter still in my hand, and the smile fell from Val’s face. “Oh. Yeah. That came today. The directions said it could take up to twelve weeks to find out if you get a placement. I hadn’t expected it after only two.”

It wasn’t like it was a surprise that she’d applied. I’d been the one to encourage her not to change her plans. But this made it a reality.

I forced a smile. “Congratulations. That’s great.”

She walked to me and took the letter from my hands, pressing a kiss to my lips. “You’re so full of shit.”

“No.” I shook my head. “It’s good news. I just didn’t expect it today, I guess, so it caught me off guard.”

Val sighed. “I haven’t decided if I’m going yet. I just had to apply by the year-end deadline.”

“You’re going.”

She frowned. “Sounds like you can’t wait to get rid of me.”

I wrapped my hands around her waist and locked them behind her back. “Not a chance. I’m going to be living for school vacations more than I did in high school. I told you, it’s gonna take more than an ocean of distance to separate us.” I squeezed her to me. “This is good. You’re going to have a great time, and I’m gonna be busy while you’re gone, too.”

Val’s eyes widened. “You got the building?”

I nodded. “I did. They accepted my offer. I’ll soon be the proud owner of one rundown pile of steel.”

She smiled. “That you’ll turn into something amazing.”

After I passed on the building in Chicago, I hadn’t really been planning on looking for another project to expand. But one fell right into my lap. I’d picked up Val for lunch at school one day, and we went to a pizza place a few blocks away. After, I’d pulled into a parking lot nearby so I could kiss her and cop a cheap feel before dropping her back off. The parking lot just happened to be attached to an old, rundown warehouse on the outskirts of a nice, up-and-coming area.

I’d kissed my girl until she made that noise I loved so much, and then when I put the car in reverse with a big-ass smile on my face, I looked up and found myself staring at a giant notice of public auction on the building in front of me. I drove back after dropping Val at school, and one thing led to another.

“I hope so. Because right now the place should be condemned.”

Things between Val and me were serious. Probably more serious than they should’ve been after six months. As fucked up as it was, I’d marry her tomorrow and never look back. But I still thought it was important that she have the experiences she’d wanted to have, that she found herself. Teaching in Rome for a year was a big part of that. Did I want her four-thousand miles away? Fuck, no. But I wanted her to be happy more than I hated the thought of her being so far away. She needed to finish off her My Turn list. Well, not all of them—there was no damn way she’d be dating seven different men in seven nights. But I’d been encouraging her to keep up on the important ones—like teaching in Rome and trying anal.

And pushing her to follow her dreams had made me realize it was okay to have my own, too—like expanding the temporary office space business into a new area. It wouldn’t be Chicago, but something on my own terms.

“Since we’re on the subject of real estate and travel…” Val’s face turned gloomy. “…I signed the contract for the sale of the beach house today.”

“Oh yeah? You don’t look happy about that.”