They took the same path they’d taken with the sleigh, around the outskirts of town. He surprised her when he pulled off the path and brought the snowmobile to a stop on a scenic overlook that faced Butler Mountain and turned off the engine.

“Why are we stopping?” she asked.

“Give me one second and I’ll show you.” He stood and turned to face her before sitting back down and reaching for her. “Because I couldn’t wait any longer for this.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her with hours’ worth of pent-up desperation that she returned in equal measure. The deep strokes of his tongue had her straining to get closer to him.

“God,” he whispered against her lips, “what’re you doing to me?”

“Same thing you’re doing to me.”

“How am I supposed to let you go tomorrow?”

The softly spoken question brought tears to her eyes.

“Don’t cry. Please don’t cry. We’ll figure it out.”

She shook her head. “There’s nothing to figure out. You live here. I live there.”

“I don’t live anywhere right now. I can get a job in New York.”

Emma pulled back so she could see his face. “That’s not what you want.”

“I want you. I want this. I want us.”

She shook her head. “Grayson, you just made this big change to simplify your life—”

“Then I met you, and nothing is simple anymore.”

“You’ve got a new apartment.”

“That I haven’t moved anything into yet. I haven’t done anything that can’t be undone.”

Her heart raced with foolish hope. “You can’t make decisions based on a few days.”

“I can’t?”

“No, you can’t. You were excited to move home, to be closer to your family, to simplify your life.”

“That was so three days ago. Everything is different now.”

“Grayson, you can’t—”

He kissed her again, making her forget the many reasons this could be a very bad idea and all the many more reasons it could be the best idea either of them had ever had. When they came up for air many minutes later, he said, “Give me some time to figure things out, okay?”

She tipped her head forward, resting it on his chest.

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I’m afraid to get my hopes up.”

“Don’t be afraid. You can go home tomorrow knowing I want this as much as you do, and we’re going to find a way. I promise.”

She shook her head again. “Don’t make promises.”

“I never make promises I don’t intend to keep. Look at me, Emma.”