She looked inside the box. She blinked. She looked at me. And then threw her arms around my neck, the box trapped between us.

“A new camera!” she said excitedly. “Kane!” She covered my face, my mouth, my forehead with kisses, then my throat, and then settled on my mouth with a long, slow, erotic sort of kiss that made me wonder how she’d only just started kissing in the first place. When she finished, she looked at me, and her eyes shined with something you don’t see in many people anymore. I know people. And I don’t see it. Ever.

Gratitude. Pure. Raw. Gratitude.

And something else I dared to hope for.

Love.

“I love it,” she said, and she grazed my stubbled jaw with her smooth fingers. She kissed me again, and then looked at me, close, our faces a breath apart. “I…I love you, Kane McCarthy.” The words came out on a feathery breath. Soft. So very soft.

My heart seized again. It was a feeling new to me. It was…overwhelming. I kissed her back, slow, deliberate, and sighed against her mouth. “I’m so in love with you, Harper Belle.”

Her eyes widened. “You are?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. I was. It seemed incredible, but I knew it as sure as I’d draw my next breath. “Yes, I am. And I have one more thing for you. Close your eyes again.”

She did, and I reached into my pocket and grasped the small round object I’d found at an antique store a few days before. I grasped Harper’s hand, placed it there. “Okay. Open your eyes.”

Harper’s lashes fluttered, she looked first at me, then her hand. A small gasp escaped her throat, and her small, delicate finger stroked the brushed brass cover of the old compass. She didn’t say anything. Just lightly stroked it.

When her eyes lifted they were moist with tears and again, filled with raw gratitude. “Kane,” she said, and her voice cracked. “I will cherish this forever.”

“For you to always find your way,” I said, holding her gaze. “Your way back to me.”

She threw her arms around me again, pressing that full, beautiful mouth to my throat. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life.”

I held her to me, pressed my hand to the back of her head. “So am I.”

Then, she popped up and her brows knitted together. “I didn’t get you anything.”

I looked at her then. Searched her eyes with mine. So close, I felt like we could almost read each other’s thoughts. Just in case, I told her. “You did. And I’m forever grateful for it, Harper.”

She didn’t even try not to claim it. “How’d you know it was me?”

I smiled. “Because no one except you knows I have a sister in indigent care at Harbor Breeze in Revere, Mass. That’s why.” She’d called Christmas night. She’d paid Katy’s bill for the next ten years. My heart had burst then, and I’d known right away it’d been Harper. I could never repay her. But I’d die trying. Starting with quitting the gambling life. Getting my GED. Maybe signing up for some classes. I’d tell her that later, though. For now, I just wanted to be with her. In this moment.

In the now.

“Oh,” she said. Then she slipped her arms around my waist again. “Tell me again.”

I pressed my mouth to her ear, kissed the soft lobe, the soft outer shell. “I’m in love with you, Harper Belle,” I whispered.

And she sighed, a content sound that average people don’t make.

And then I was lost. Again.

Forever.