She ran out after him, across the gravel driveway. The wind chill had loosened, but the cold still struck her like a slap, her throat burning. She wrapped her arms around herself. “Dodge!”

He stopped, turned. Frowned. “Go back inside. It’s cold.”

“You said you forgave me!”

He stared at her. “What do you want, Echo?”

Him. She wanted him. Had always wanted him, right? She’d spent ten years hoping he’d return, hoping she could fix it between them. But those words just couldn’t emerge from her mouth, not with him staring at her with so much acrimony.

She preferred the cold, maybe.

“Nothing? Fine. I’ll tell you what I want.” He stalked back toward her. “I want to forget you. I want to forget this town. I want to forget that I gave you my heart—my entire stupid heart—and you spit it back at me. And then you set fire to it and turned it to ash. You mocked me in front of our entire town with my brother. My brother.” He looked away. Took a breath.

“I never loved Colt,” she said quietly.

He looked at her. “You never loved me either. And it’s taken me ten years to get that through my brain, but now it’s there, and I got it, Echo. I wasn’t the brother you wanted, obviously. So, I need to forget you. Do I forgive you? Yes. Do I want to be with you? Not even a little. I’m over you.”

She brushed the sting of his words away, seeing past them to the storm in his eyes. “Then what was last night? I cried, and you held me. You came out in the blizzard to rescue me.”

“Like I said, your dog was hurt.” His voice was cool, but he swallowed hard.

Her eyes narrowed and she retraced his reaction to her at the cabin. Wait one second . . . “You thought I was hurt. That’s why you came. And… maybe you sticking around was you trying to deal with the fact you still have feelings for me. That you meant it when you said I was the only woman you’ll ever love.”

His eyes narrowed around the edges.

And, bingo. Because despite his cold front, she knew him. Knew when he was fighting hard to dodge the truth.

So she smiled. Crossed her arms. “You’re not over me, Dodge. And I’m not over you. And like it or not, you’re going to have to deal with that.”

He drew in a breath, then sighed. His voice turned quiet, as if settling into some kind of resolution. “You stay away from me, and I’ll stay away from you, deal?”

Not even a little.

She said nothing, still smiling as he shook his head. Then he walked away, got into his chopper, and flew off.