The business was making money. Good money. He had a beautiful woman who said she wanted to be with him. Life was good, but he couldn’t shake the feeling there was a shadow out there, waiting just for him. That was pretty much the story of his life, and there was no reason to think that had changed, despite his recent successes in business and in life.

She’d asked him a few times if something was bothering him, but he didn’t want to add to the stress of the upcoming festival by telling her he was getting more and more anxious about their future. He wanted her. Hell, he loved her, although he hadn’t said the words out loud yet. Every time he thought about telling her, he remembered how different they’d always been. She was Little Miss High Society, running events and working at the college. While he was...well, he was one of the Rutledge boys. Anyone local knew exactly what that meant.

That night, after Hudson fell asleep on the sofa, the two of them went out to the porch. They talked about the work Owen was doing in the maze, trying to save it. He’d gotten lost the day before and had to scramble up on top of the tractor seat to see how to get out. They chuckled over that story, then talked about Hudson for a few minutes before an easy silence fell. Andrea put her head back and closed her eyes with a contented sigh. It was the best view on the farm.

Owen’s fiancée, Lucy, had come over for dinner last night, and the four of them had sat around the old firepit Zayne had cleaned out and put back to use. His brother, Luke, had brought his wife, Whitney, and their baby, Anthony, over for dinner on the weekend. It felt like he and Andrea, and Hudson, of course, were turning into a family.

She’d mentioned being nervous about an insta-family, but Zayne was enjoying it far more than he ever expected. Despite that little shadow of fear he was trying to quell, he wanted more. And he was going to tell her tomorrow. Her mother was going to watch Hudson all night. He and Andrea were going to hike to the top of the hill behind the house, where Cliff Thompson had supposedly built a platform of some sort overlooking the valley from the highest point on the farm. And once they were up there, complete with a surprise dinner he had planned, he was going to tell Andrea that he was falling in love with her. That he wanted more with her—more time spent together, more lovemaking, more Hudson, more laughter and more nights like this, where they sat on the porch together without saying a word.