She stepped closer to him. “I’d only be settling if I wound up with someone else. Tobias, I don’t care about the past. Let’s not let one tragic night cost us what we could have. The past has caused enough pain. Maddox and Jada have gotten past it to be able to have a relationship, haven’t they?”

“That’s different. Axel will give you nothing but trouble. He’ll try to block me from being around your kids. You realize that, right?”

“He’ll try, but we’ll fight back, because he’s in the wrong. And we won’t give up until he realizes what I’ve come to realize—that you are a good man, every bit as good as he is.”

He seemed shocked. “You mean that?”

“I do. So will you take the risk, brave the hurt, give us a chance?”

He studied her for several seconds and, at last, she saw a small smile curve his lips. “It’s impossible to say no to you.”

“Then don’t try.”

She was about to run to him when he said, “Just a sec.”

He went to the door and poked his head out to tell Uriah he wouldn’t be working on the car today, after all. Then he returned to pull her into his arms.

She closed her eyes, feeling the same rush of pleasure she always felt when he kissed her. “So are you giving in?”

“I didn’t have a chance to begin with,” he said and carried her into the bedroom.

Epilogue

Tobias’s thighs were burning and his heart was slamming against his chest like a sledgehammer by the time they started the final ascent of Half Dome but, even though it was Maddox’s turn to carry Atticus, Tobias refused to relinquish the carrier. They’d all worked hard for this, but he was going to carry Atticus the last mile. And he knew Maddox understood why.

“It’s getting dicey up here,” Atticus said as the wind picked up.

Tobias clung tighter to the cable that was hewed into the granite on this steep, slick part. “I got you.”

“I know you do,” he said.

Fortunately, Tobias hadn’t had to reassure Atticus very often. Jada’s brother’s confidence in him had made the hike much easier than it would’ve been otherwise, but Atticus had to be able to tell how fatigued Tobias was getting, which was why he was beginning to worry.

“You okay?” Maddox asked when Tobias stopped to catch his breath.

“Fine.” He wiped his forehead in an effort to keep the sweat that was rolling off him, soaking his shorts and causing his T-shirt to stick to him, from getting into his eyes. Fortunately, they didn’t have much farther to go.