“You don’t mean that,” Nate said, his eyes filling with tears. “I did it for you.”

“No, you did it for you. They’ve asked you to go. Just go, Dad,” Grady said, stopping him from advancing on Karson.

“You are nothing to me now, Grady. How dare you tell her?” he hissed, glaring at his son.

“I am fine with that. I have my sister, my wife, and my children. I’ll make it without you,” Grady said and then he looked back at Lacey. “We both will.”

She nodded as she squeezed Karson’s hand and turned into his chest as Grady escorted Nate out, Rachel following behind. Looking deep into Lacey’s eyes, he saw how much pain was in them and he wanted to erase it all, but he knew that Grady’s words rang true. She would make it without her father.

He’d make sure of it.

Holding Karson’s hand in hers, she held the ice along his knuckles as she cried softly. The last twenty-four hours had been hell. Between breaking it off with Karson, to realizing she was an idiot, to being willing to beg him to take her back, she also had accepted that she had just completely cut ties with her father. She still couldn’t believe what he had done, and the fact that he just stared at her instead of apologizing… She knew she had no choice but to let him go. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen between her and Rachel, but she’d spent about an hour apologizing to Lacey. At that moment though, she was mad. But soon she hoped she could forgive Rachel. It was easy to say that her father was using her to get to Lacey, and while he’d succeeded, it wasn’t Rachel’s fault for wanting a father figure. The girl had it bad growing up, and Nate had always been there for her. It was sad but it was the truth, and Lacey knew she would never fully trust Rachel again, but she would never stop loving her. She was sure they would figure it out. They had to work together, and she was family. But the main thing Lacey had to remember was that Grady was right; she had to do what made her happy.

And Karson made her happy.

“Are you okay?” he asked, cupping her jaw before catching her tears with his thumb and wiping them away.

She looked up at him and managed a small smile. “I will be once we are home.”

“Our flight leaves soon,” he said softly, running his thumb along her cheek. “I’m sorry your dad is a dick.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, maybe one day I’ll be able to look at him and he’ll be the father I need, but until that day, I don’t ever want to look at him again.”

“That’s fine with me, sweetheart,” he answered. “But I still can’t believe what he has done.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. It’s over. He broke me, and I won’t allow him to keep doing it. And talking about it reopens the wounds.”

“Then no more talking about it,” Karson decided, taking the ice off his hand and throwing it in the sink. Looking down at her, he cupped her face and said, “You know I love you. More than anything.”

She nodded. “I love you more than that.”

He smirked before dropping his lips to hers, kissing her long and slow, sending crazy jolts through her body. As he drew slow, mind-blowing kisses from her, she knew that she had been mentally insane to think that she could let this man go. As he held her in close to him, his mouth moving ever so slowly against hers, she knew that she was going to love him until her dying day.

All she had to do was look into his eyes to know he felt the same way. It was so like him to charge up here and demand she go home with him. He wasn’t one to give up, and he wasn’t going to let her go. There was no other option. She was supposed to love Karson for the rest of her life.

“I’m sorry, Karson, for not believing you about my dad,” she whispered against his jaw. “I was an idiot, grasping at straws, trying to salvage a relationship with him because he was the closest thing to my mom.”

Karson nodded, kissing below her ear. “He’s your dad, Lacey. I understood. Yeah, it hurt and burned like a bitch, but I got it.”

“Still, I was wrong to do that. I should have believed you. You’ve never done me wrong.”

He was quiet for a moment, but then he shook his head. “No, I did. I should have stood up to him all those years ago. I didn’t fight the way I should, and I’ll always be sorry for that, but I promise I’ll make up for those nine years for the next hundred.”

She smiled, pulling back to look at him. “I should have done the same. Swallowed my pride and found you, but I listened to him and lost out on those years. So I have to do the same thing. I’m not going to lie; I’m excited about it.”

He grinned, kissing the side of her mouth. “I didn’t get to say my long, thought-out speech I had come up with on the way here,” he whispered against her lips.

She smirked, moving her fingers along his jaw. “You didn’t need a speech. I knew that I had messed up the moment I hung up the phone. I just didn’t want to accept it, though. I wanted you to believe that if I let you go, you’d be with someone who could make you happy and give you everything you needed.”

“There is no one but you,” he said softly, his eyes searching hers. “I don’t know why you would think that there could be someone other than you. For years, I knew that there would never be another Lacey Martin, and I accepted that. I never wanted to marry anyone but you. I never wanted children with anyone but you. I don’t want to grow old with anyone but you. You’re it, sweetheart, so don’t ever think that again. It’s you or no one.”