“Sure. Just give me a call. I hope you feel better, Mr. Stephens,” she called out.
And then she was alone in the hall with Nash. Why was he still here? It was hard enough to see him again knowing how he felt.
She turned to leave, but he held her back.
“Hold on a second,” he said. “Can we talk for a bit?”
“I don't feel up to it, Nash. I can't keep rehashing this, whatever this is between us. I think we pretty much said everything we wanted to say to each other the other night.”
“I don't think we have. In fact, I know we haven't. There's a lot more that I have to say to you. It's important.”
She sighed. “Didn't we already do this? Twice?”
“I'll keep doing it until we get it right. Until I get it right. It means that much to me.”
Harper’s head was swirling with confusion. “Here? You want to talk here?”
He shook his head. “We can go anywhere you want to go.”
“I have to get out of here, Nash. This is too much.”
He followed her down the hall where she stood by the elevator.
“You scared me half to death. You know that don't you?” she whispered.
“I left you a note.”
“You said you were taking my grandmother to the hospital. What did you expect me to think? I'm surprised I didn't get a ticket driving the way I did getting here tonight.”
“Are you telling me that someone from the station would actually give you a ticket?”
She shook her head. “This hospital is in the next county. I may have some clout in Sweet. But that's as far as it goes.”
“I'm sorry I made you worry. I didn’t mean to. I just…your grandmother can be a bit persistent.”
“How did my grandmother even call you? There isn’t any service up on the mountain and you don’t have a cell phone.”
He reached in his pocket and pulled out a shiny new phone. “It got delivered to the post office last week. I figured I might need it if I come down far enough from the mountain.”
“How would she have known…”
“I saw the ambulance heading to your house. Tara told me that Mia was in the store when the call came through. I was worried.” He shrugged. “More like terrified.”
“You worried about my grandmother? I hadn't even realized you’d met each other.”
“I met her and Joel at the potluck. But I confess, the thought that your grandmother was hurt wasn't what came to mind.”
She frowned.
“I told you I'm no good at this, Harper. I don’t love halfway. It’s all or nothing. That’s what scares me. I can’t control it. I don’t want to anymore.”
“You don’t?”
“When I was driving over to the house, the only thing I could think of was getting to you. I love you. I want to be with you. A million things about you flashed before my eyes and I knew I couldn’t lose you.”
Hope filled her heart but she still couldn’t believe her ears.
“I don't know what to say to this after everything that has happened. I want to believe you this time. But I don't know. How do I know that what you're saying now is how you really feel? You're telling me you were scared for me. Okay, we've been down that road before. What else? Because I can't keep playing the game as if it doesn't matter.”
“It does. Believe me. I think I was trying to push you away because if I admitted the truth to myself, that I loved you, then it meant I was opening myself up again to getting hurt. But I realized something when I got to your house and learned that you were safe. The only thing I wanted was to see you. And that made me happy.”
She drew in a deep breath. “Well, I’m fine. You’ve seen me.”
“You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?”
“You? I think you’ve been in tougher situations before. You don’t need me to make this easy.”
“I don’t know where this is going. All I know is I want to be with you. I love you.”
The elevator door opened. The arrow was pointing up. She glanced at the couple inside the elevator who were waiting for her and Nash to get inside. Harper shook her head and the elevator door closed.
Nash took her in his arms and peered into her eyes with love she couldn’t deny was there. Everything he’d said was sincere. She could see it.
“Tell me you don’t love me and I’ll walk away. But I won’t believe you. I’ll fight for you. You’re that important to me. For my very survival. Can we give it another try?”
Harper could hardly believe it. She looked up at this man and wrapped her arms around him, giving him a kiss filled with meaning and promise.
He wanted to fight for her. She wanted to fight for him.
“I love you, Nash Webber. I’ll more than try. I’ll give it everything I’ve got.”
Sweet Montana Outlaw: Chapter One
“You’ve got a sick sense of humor. You know that, buddy?”
Brody Whitebear stared across the thick polished table at a local pub called Bojangles to one of the few friends he’d had for life, a friend who’d stuck with him in his darkest hour and didn’t judge. Hunter Williams.
“Have I ever lied to you?” Hunter asked, motioning to the waitress to signal they needed a refill. “No, strike that. Bad choice of words.”
Brody lifted his eyebrows. “Yeah, they are.”
The two of them were drinking coffee, not beer or whiskey like all the others in the pub.
“It’s a sure thing,” Hunter said, almost too excited about the prospect he was telling Brody about for it to be real.
“Sure things usually come with a barn full of sure trouble.” Brody looked at his old friend across the table at Bojangles Bar and Grill with a skeptical eye. “I can’t believe you’re even suggesting I step foot in Sweet.”
“Why not? Just because Tara Mitchell
