“You spoke the truth, though. I owe you more apologies than I can speak in a lifetime.”
She hugged her knees to her chest and mulled that over for a minute, sifting through for the right words. “I guess we both aren’t perfect. I tried to make you fit some high school fantasy and almost missed out on something so much better—the man you’ve become.”
Sitting up, he captured a strand of her hair, his hand not quite steady. “Does this mean you forgive me?”
She nodded, tipping her face into his touch. “You told me you’re willing to compromise with having one child—biological or adopted—however the cards land on that. I accept your beautiful offer.”
He cupped her head and drew her toward him for a kiss, the closemouthed sort filled with a relief and intensity that seared straight through. “Johanna, I love you so damn much, I will do my best to be the man you deserve because, God help me, I can’t live without you.”
“I don’t want to live without you, either,” she admitted. “I’ve tried it. I don’t like it.”
“I don’t want you making sacrifices for me.”
“It’s a bigger sacrifice to be without you.” She knew that with a thousand percent certainty. No matter what the future held, she wanted Stone in her life, her heart and her home forever. He was her family.
His eyes held hers, his fingers smoothing her cheek and then tracing her lips.
“You don’t know how much...” He took a deep breath and released it in a shuddering sigh. “I’ll do everything I can to make this right. To give you the life you deserve.”
“I know. We’ll fill our home with dogs, and dote on our nieces and nephews, and yes, maybe a child of our own. But we’re going to do it together.”
He moved closer to her, Pearl huffing in irritation over being disturbed, then settling back to sleep. “I want to make sure you know what you’re signing on for.”
“What do you mean?”
“I realized tonight when I took Pearl here that somewhere along the way to being the CEO for Diamonds in the Rough, I lost sight of who I really am, lost sight of where I belong.”
“And where is that?”
“I belong here, to the land, to the McNair land.” He scratched his dog’s ear. “I’m not a CEO who happens to be a cowboy. I’m a cowboy who happens to be an executive.”
“Okay? And that means?” She wasn’t certain, but the fact that they were talking so openly gave her a new hope for their future.
“It feels crystal clear to me.” He cupped Pearl’s head. “My grandmother was right to give me this test. It helped me to understand. I’m not meant to be the CEO of Diamonds in the Rough.”
“Whoa.” She pressed a hand to his chest. “I’m completely confused.”
“It’s time for me to be my own man. This land, this corner, belongs to me and it’s time for me to follow my destiny.” He tapped her lips to silence her. “Before you think you’ve hitched your wagon to a broken star, I have a hefty investment portfolio of my own. And I don’t see stepping away from the company altogether. I’ve contributed designs to the company that have landed big.”
“But your plans to take the company international?”
He shook his head. “That was ego talking, the need to prove I’m better than my cousins even if I don’t have parents that give a damn about me.”
She reached for him. “Stone—”
“Johanna, it’s okay. It’s not about competing. Not anymore. It’s about finding the right path. Mine is here. I want to build a home for us. Ours. A place to start our future. Not some wing at the Hidden Gem Lodge. But a place of our own to build our family.”
“You have this all thought through.” And it made beautiful sense.
“Even if we have a dozen children of our own, I would still like us to consider...”
“What?” she prompted.
“There are a lot of children out there who need homes, babies like I was, except they don’t have a rich grandmother to pick up the pieces for a newborn going through withdrawal. It’s a lot to take on. What do you think?”
What did she think? She thought this was the easiest question ever. “I’m all-in, wherever the path takes us, as long as we’re together, cowboy.”