“You’re going to love Kerry.”

“I know we’ll love her, because you do.”

The truth of it hit Adam like a lightning bolt, and not from nearly as far out of the blue as he would have expected.

“You’re right.” He paused, reeling. “I’m in love with her.” He let the word take hold in his head first...and then deep down in his heart. Right where Kerry had already gone. “Love.” Amazingly, it didn’t sound, or feel, as strange as he’d thought it would falling from his lips. “I love her.”

His father was clearly beyond pleased, grinning ear to ear while he toasted Adam with his beer bottle. “So, now that you’ve got one big part of the equation figured out, what are you going to do about it?”

Maybe someone else would have given Adam more time to get used to the idea of having done the impossible: actually falling in love. But the Sullivans weren’t like other people, and when love struck, they didn’t waste any time before they did whatever it took to make sure it lasted.

And hell, since he’d already gone and done what should have been impossible, how much bigger a leap was it to jump headfirst into crazy, too?

Adam grinned back, the answer as obvious now as his love for her. “I’m going to tell her.”

He’d already been counting the hours until Thursday night, when he and Kerry were going to meet again. But now the anticipation was nearly going to kill him, because he couldn’t wait to officially change the rules of their arrangement.

Adam Sullivan had finally fallen in love. And now that he had, there was not only no going back, there was also no one else he would ever love the way he loved Kerry.

She was his one. His only.

His forever.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The following afternoon, Colleen was almost sparkling as she walked into the café where Kerry was meeting her for a cup of coffee. It had been so long since Colleen had looked happy—truly happy—that Kerry’s heart filled with hope. Maybe her sister had finally turned the corner!

Kerry was really glad she’d moved her meetings around when Colleen had texted from out of the blue asking if they could have lunch. Two unplanned lunches in two days made Kerry’s once perfectly rigid calendar look like a thing of the past, but it actually didn’t bother her all that much. Not when she was feeling kind of sparkly herself lately.

“You look amazing,” Kerry said when they hugged hello.

“I feel amazing.” Colleen couldn’t stop smiling as she sat down. The waiter came by and took their coffee orders, with Colleen adding a big piece of chocolate cake for them to share. “I swear this must be the best day of my life.” She hugged herself. “Payton came back to me.”

Kerry was so surprised that everything froze for a moment. Her brain. Her smile.

But especially her heart.

It was suddenly all too clear why Colleen was sparkling and filled with joy: The man she’d never gotten over had returned.

Kerry tried to find words, any words, to say to her sister. But she couldn’t even seem to pry her lips apart at this point, not unless she wanted her sister to see her growling over Payton’s return.

Fortunately, Colleen was too far over the moon to notice Kerry’s reaction. “He was waiting on my front step last night with flowers. The most beautiful bouquet you’ve ever seen. He said he was sorry. So sorry that he ever hurt me. He said he’s missed me every second we’ve been apart. He said he never stopped loving me, and then he begged me to forgive him.” Colleen put her hand over her heart and sighed happily. “We weren’t even inside the house and he said all of that. He couldn’t wait another second to let me know that he’s a changed man.”

“Wow.”

It was the best Kerry could do right then, but she knew she needed to do better. Adam had helped her with her sister enough times that now she found herself wishing he could be there with them again. Maybe he could have helped her figure out what to do and how she could possibly help her sister now. The strangers her sister met at bars had all been horrible, but Payton had never been much better. In fact, he was probably worse, because when he told Colleen he loved her, she believed him, and then she fell apart when he cheated on her repeatedly, stole from her, and then left her.

“What did you do?” Kerry finally managed. “What did you say?”

“You mean before or after we went inside and had the world’s best make-up sex?” Colleen laughed, loudly enough that several other people in the coffee shop looked over and smiled at them. “I told him I’d never stopped loving him either.” Colleen held out her hand, and Kerry finally saw the engagement ring. “We’re going to Vegas tonight to get married.”

“Tonight?”

Oh God, how could Kerry possibly talk her sister out of getting married when she had only a matter of hours?

“Sorry, sis,” Colleen said with a shrug. “I know you probably want to throw us one of your fancy weddings, but that’s never been my speed.” And it was true that even as kids, her sister had never been the least bit interested in their mother’s wedding business. “One of those Elvis-themed chapels is going to be perfect.”

Kerry knew she had to be careful how she approached this situation, even more careful than she’d been before. “Are you sure you want to move so quickly? Maybe you could see how the next few weeks or months go, and then—”

“The way I feel about him isn’t going to change.” Colleen looked absolutely certain. “I’ve loved him from the first day. I’ll love him until the last. So why should we wait?”