But this time, rather than clamming up or running away, he just sighs. “We have to get out of here.”

I nod. “Let’s go home.”

His dark gaze settles on mine. “I mean like… out of here. This place… this town.” I can’t help the look of confusion on my face. His thumb slides over my lower lip, such an intimate gesture, I’m melting like Frosty in that greenhouse. “I wish we could just leave. Get away for a while…”

My stomach clenches in all sorts of emotions. “You would do that for me?”

His eyes sparkle as he murmurs with full sincerity, “I would do anything for you.” Swallowing thickly, I lean into his touch. “But for us too, Jess. I would do anything for us.”

My chest unlocks with a strong breath, pulling in his words and letting them flutter about inside me.

If he really wants us…

“Take me home,” I whisper, fingers trailing up to his angled jaw. “I have something for you.”

When we walk back through the front door, together, I’ve never been happier to be home.

I managed to get Jesse’s car unstuck from the snowbank and drove it back, following him as he drove my SUV. The kid was scared, and I don’t blame him one bit. He drove five miles per hour the whole way, and I just sat in his car right behind him, inhaling deep breaths of his scent as it surrounded me.

I won’t lie and say I’m at ease in what’s happening. I’m still nervous, about all of this. But one thing became abundantly clear when I realized that he’d left without a word.

I can’t live without him.

Maybe it was never romantic before this crazy holiday changed everything. Actually, I’m certain it wasn’t, at least not for me. And I’m happy about that. It makes me feel like less of a creep, and more like a man who’s been swept up in an unexpected love.

So falling in love with your adopted son isn’t normal… But what has normal ever done for me anyway?

It kept me alive with blinders on, with an unknown treasure hidden inside me, waiting to be discovered.

I’m not sure what this means for my sexuality, but if the only man I’m attracted to is Jesse, then I’m totally fine with that. He’s gorgeous and smart and talented. Certainly more grounded than I was at eighteen.

And where we’ll go from here is still vastly up in the air. But I have to give in to this. Because if the alternative is losing him, then I’ll do everything in my power to fight it.

I’ll carry the weight of the world to keep him happy. That I can do.

We strip out of our wet boots and coats at the door, and I take Jesse by the hand, bringing him to the living room. He stands in front of the fireplace warming his hands while I throw a couple of logs on. I can’t read his face, but he seems lost in his own thoughts, and it reminds me of the scare he just faced.