He stares at me for a bit longer before finally speaking. “This is crazy, and I don’t understand it whatsoever, but I’ve fallen for you, Chase. Fallen, when I’ve told myself it’s not possible to because I know you’re leaving and this will be over. But I promised myself after everything I went through, that I’d never leave anything on the table again, and so yeah . . . There you go.” He chuckles nervously, while I just stare at him through the mirror, trying to process words and feelings I don’t know what to do with either. He gives a shake of his head. “I’ll see you later.”

“Wait. What?” I ask as I spin around to face him. He can’t drop a bombshell like that on me and then leave. “Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“Out? Why?” My voice cracks.

“Because this,” he says motioning to the two of us, “isn’t you. I know it and you’ve made sure to let me know it numerous times . . . so I’m going out to give you some time to come to grips with what I just said. I either just screwed up and you’re going to be gone when I come home, or you’ll be here and we’ll at least spend the rest of our time knowing where we stand.”

He strides forward with a purpose that was absent earlier and presses a chaste kiss to my lips. Without saying another word, he walks out of the house with a slam of the front door, leaving me behind, staring at where he just was.

And then I freak.

I can’t get to the door fast enough. His truck’s not there and I panic that he’s already left, but then I realize that he ran home so he has to walk back to wherever he left his truck.

“Gunner!” I yell when I spot him halfway down the block.

My feet move toward him as he stops. At first in a fast walk and then at a jog until I reach him and jump, wrapping my legs around his waist.

He laughs and staggers back a few feet from the impact as my mouth finds his again.

“This isn’t normal for me. I don’t do this,” I say in between kisses.

“Kissing someone on the sidewalk? Neither do I.” He laughs and then kisses me back.

“The person you’ve fallen for isn’t the normal me. Normally I’m Big City Chase in high heels and a million things to do and a stress level through the roof. This—being here—is a different version of her. You might not even like her for all I know.”

His laugh is muffled against my lips. “It sounds like you’re trying to talk me out of liking you, Kincade.”