He woke up before dawn. Before the alarm they’d set to give them time to shower before waking the girls.

  She’d drifted off a time or two but was conscious when he reached for her and gave him everything she had in the silent coupling that followed.

  Afterward, he lay there watching her. Holding her gaze. As though he had more to give. Or needed more.

  And she knew.

  He wanted a different answer to their future. One that didn’t include her going to New York. He’d refused that option.

  Which only left one more.

  He was waiting for her to get to it.

  She couldn’t.

  “If you’d just ask,” he said.

  Because he couldn’t offer. It wasn’t the right choice for him.

  Mia shook her head. Got out of bed. Slipped into her bathroom, closing the door behind her without looking back.

  They’d been so blessed. They had two happy, healthy daughters who needed them and who wanted to be with them. They had each other again.

  And they’d make it work.

  He might have moved to Shelter Valley to give it a try if she’d only voiced her desire to have him do so.

  But she didn’t ask him to stay. She couldn’t. Because even if he agreed to do so, she couldn’t trust him to be able to keep his promise.

  * * *

  Jordon could hardly bear to watch as Mia hugged their daughters goodbye. For their sakes, he was upbeat as he climbed into the car to drive them away.

  Rolled down the windows, a big grin on his face as he told them to wave goodbye to her.

  She’d been grinning, too. He’d caught a glimpse of her trembling lips and told the girls to keep waving until they’d turned off the ranch and Mia was no longer in sight.

  Their chatter kept him going all the way to Phoenix, and then there was the distraction of getting through the details of boarding a plane. His mother, sitting right across the aisle from them in first class, helped him entertain the twins on the more than four-hour nonstop flight.

  Layla would be staying at the apartment with them for the first bit. And then they’d work out a commuting schedule for her to take up nanny duties.

  That first week seemed to run almost too smoothly.

  The girls kept asking if it was summer yet. They’d wake in the morning and want to know if they were getting on a plane that day.

  They insisted on talking to Mama Mia every night before they’d go to bed. He even heard them tell her they loved her.

  Something he’d yet to hear from Ruby and Violet.

  They’d loved the preschool he took them to on a trial basis their third day in town, so he enrolled them.

  They knew where the ice-cream shop was and conned him into trips there whenever they could. Layla was with them when they weren’t in school and he was at work.

  Everything was falling into place just as they’d all planned.

  Other than the ache in his gut that just wouldn’t dissipate. No matter how many antacids he took.

  For the first few nights, he’d refused after-work invitations, but at Layla’s urging, he slowly started to get back into the swing of his work life.

  More people than he’d expected told him how glad they were to have him home. His office arranged a lunch party to congratulate him on his new daughters, and everyone wanted to know when they’d get to meet Ruby and Violet.

  Since he owned the investment firm, people would clamor.

  The thought, unlike him, gave him pause.

  But he made deals like there was no tomorrow, earning not only for his investors, but for his daughters’ college funds. He was motivated like never before and after the final bell rang at the end of that week, he was on the phone making plans to open a second firm. He’d been thinking about doing so, and when the right person contacted him, he called back.

  He phoned Mia, too. She always answered. But was too busy to talk for long. Her lengthy conversations were with Ruby and Violet. Sometimes he listened in. Others, he left them to themselves. He texted her every morning to let her know how the girls slept.

  He had also gotten into the habit of letting her know what they were eating. Not just content, but quantity. She’d paid close attention to their diets in Shelter Valley, and so he did the same.

  And then came the morning when neither twin asked if they were getting on a plane. Instead, they argued over whether to wear the purple shorts outfit or the pink one. In an effort to allow them to make as many of their own choices as they could, he’d started their first day in New York by allowing them to choose their clothes.

  The day it backfired he made the choice for them. Firmly. They were wearing yellow.

  When he turned around to find them both staring at him, with open mouths that were topped by pools of tears in both brown and blue eyes, he stopped.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, instantly concerned. They could wear purple shorts with pink tops if that’s what they wanted. Or one wear purple and one wear pink.

  “You yelled,” Violet said, just as Ruby blurted, “I want Mama Mia.”

  That’s when Jordon’s world spun.

  And toppled.

  * * *

  Mia’s entire life had been spent in Shelter Valley. But she didn’t revolve around that world. She lived for the people in her heart. That included the many friends that were like family to her in the small town that had embraced her since birth. It included the women who came forward to help when her mother died, to step in and be a mother to her on occasion. But in terms of her greatest happiness, she had to be with the people who needed her most. And that summer’s end, two of the people closest to her heart weren’t yet old enough to choose where they lived. The third was old enough but couldn’t choose for her.

  She didn’t ask a second time if she could move to New York.

  Didn’t even tell him she was on her way.

  She just made arrangements with all of the people she’d served throughout her life to help her keep the ranch thriving while she spent the next several years living on the East Coast for several months during the year.

  She’d fly home at least once a month.

  And she’d be at the ranch full-time from May through August.

  She cried as she hugged Brilliant goodbye. Couldn’t bring herself to face Mariah Montford for a final moment. They’d made their promises to each other the day Mariah had overheard her talking to Brilliant. The day that Ruby had called to tell her that Jordon had yelled at them.

  She didn’t doubt for a second that Jordon had been right to discipline the girls. Didn’t fault him for a raised voice.

  But she understood that the man was struggling. He needed help.

  And was not going to ask for it.

  Jordon made his choices and forged ahead with them, making the most of what he had. It was all he knew.

  She cried all the way to Phoenix. On and off. And in the airport waiting for her flight. But she didn’t question her decision. Or the rightness of it.

  For the first time since she’d first seen Ruby and Violet, since she’d seen Jordon again, her heart felt whole. Healthy.

  She knew who she was. And who she wanted to be.

  Afraid that Layla would tell Jordon she was coming, Mia didn’t warn anyone of her imminent arrival. If they weren’t overjoyed to see her, she could always turn around and go home.

  Already homesick for the ranch, she was looking at that option as a viable one. Going back to the original plan she and Jordon had agreed upon.

  But only if the first choice didn’t work.

  They’d decided to settle for second best.

  Giving up on the first option in case it didn’t work.

  Letting it fail before they’d even given it a chance.

  They had to at least try.

  That was who she and Jordon were. They gave their all to what they most wanted and needed. They weren’t people who settled without trying.

  Neither of them would ever want their daughters to view them as people who gave up before giving the best choice a chance.

  Armed to the hilt with her mental artillery, she took a cab to Jordon’s office the Friday afternoon of his second full week in the city, and stood there, her small roller bag beside her, waiting for him to exit.

  The bell had rung. He could be any minute. It might be an hour. She knew he was there. She’d called to find out.

  Without introducing herself.

  As soon as she knew for sure that she was staying—she couldn’t, after all, force him to keep her—she was to text Mariah Montford, who was going to ship the rest of the stuff Mia had packed.

  And she didn’t want the girls involved in his choice. That wasn’t fair to any of them.

  She’d thought it all through. Considered every eventuality.

  Except one.

  Jordon came out of his office carrying a big moving box.

  He didn’t even see her as he stepped to the curb to hail a cab.

  “Jordon?”

  He seemed to freeze. Just stood there, facing the curb, holding his box.

  Rolling her bag over, she stood beside him. Looked at his box.

  He stared at her, white and seemingly shell-shocked.

  “Mia?”

  They’d texted that morning. About the girls’ good night’s sleep and breakfast.

  She could understand his surprise.

  But the box?

  “I’ve moved to New York,” she told him, while cabs stopped, others got in them and then pulled away. People milled. Someone even called out to Jordon.

  “Good luck!” she heard. Saw him wave.

  “You what?” he asked, as he balanced his box between one arm and his torso and used the other hand to pull her back from the curb and up to the high-rise that housed his office. He shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re here,” he said, opening the door and ushering her inside.

  Hurrying to keep up with him, Mia said, “We don’t settle, Jordon. We have to try for the first choice before we settle for second,” she added, afraid she was making no sense at all.

  Was he angry she’d come?

  That hadn’t even been a possibility on her radar.

  As she realized that there were many possibilities of which she hadn’t thought, Mia tried to rein in her emotions. To think.

  She should have called.

  Given him a choice, not just shown up on his doorstep.

  Thank God she hadn’t waited for him outside his apartment building, possibly letting the girls get a glimpse of her.

  By the time she had her wits about her, he’d had them in an elevator packed with other people, and then, on the sixteenth floor, typed in a code to let them into a suite of offices. People stopped and stared, she was pretty sure, as Jordon strode toward the only door to the left of the suite’s outer door. He held the door for her, motioning her inside before him.

  To a room with a large desk, some nice leather furniture, a wet bar...but nothing that spoke of occupancy.

  The desktop was completely empty.

  He’d shown her to a guest office?

  Dropping his box on the massive desktop, Jordon reached for her, pulling her toward him. Her bag came with her at first, until she let go to hold on to the love of her life.

  He kissed her, long and not at all gently. He kissed her with hunger.

  With a passion he’d never shown her before.

  For a long moment, she lost herself in it. Until she pulled her mouth away.

  She had no idea what was going on with him. Where he’d been off to with that box, but at least she knew he wanted her still.

  That he was glad to see her.

  Parts of him were very glad, she noted, as he pressed his expensively clad hips up against her travel-weary jeans.

  And kissed her again. Taking her with him to the world where no one existed but them.

  When he finally pulled his lips from hers, she saw the tears in his eyes again. Not enough to fall. But the emotion he held there...it was a sight she was going to cherish forever.

  “I’m moving to Arizona,” he told her then, leaning down to her slightly as he held her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “I love you so much for doing this, Mia. God, you have no idea how much...but you don’t belong in the city...”

  No. He was not going to send her... “Did you just say you’re moving to Arizona?”

  “Yeah.” He grinned then, looking like the Jordon who’d asked her out on their very first date so many years before. “When I was in Phoenix, I met with a group of investors who told me that if I’d ever want to open an office in Phoenix, they’d see that I had enough business to make it worthwhile. I’d done some trades for one of them.”

  “You’re moving to Phoenix?” Oh, thank God. She could be an hour’s drive from home and...

  “I’m opening an office in Phoenix,” he told her. “I was hoping to be moving to Shelter Valley. I kind of already told Ruby and Violet that they were getting on a plane in the morning to see Mama Mia, but to keep it secret.”

  “And Macy,” she said, without a thought in her head. “They’ll see Macy.”

  Her girls were coming home? She couldn’t quite grasp the joy. It hung there. Teasing her with possibility, but she couldn’t accept it for herself.

  “What about Layla?”

  “She’s already put her condominium on the market and has Gloria working with a Realtor in Phoenix, checking out houses.”

  She couldn’t believe it.

  Didn’t want to let herself try.

  But she wasn’t a quitter. Or one who settled.

  “I’ll live in Phoenix, Jordon,” she said. Rambling on about her heart and serving those closest to her heart. About the plans she’d made for the ranch to survive without her during the years’ worth of several months she had to be gone each time.

  Through it all, he just kept shaking his head. But he seemed to be listening to every single word.

  And then, when she finally quieted, he said, “I grew up with very little stability, Mia. And no security, other than the surety of my mother’s love. You, on the other hand, grew up with more wealth than I could ever have imagined. I just couldn’t see it ten years ago. I want our daughters to have such a deep sense of belonging they can survive whatever heartache life brings. Whether it be the loss of their parents. Or the betrayal of the love of your life.”

  He wasn’t speaking about the girls, then.

  And as her eyes filled with tears, Mia finally understood how someone could be so exquisitely, beautifully, peacefully happy that they overflowed with it.

  “But you love New York...” She couldn’t let go of his right to live his best life.

  “I needed New York. And I enjoy big-city life, which we’ll get plenty of, I can promise you. I’m keeping the apartment here, for now. And I’ll be commuting every day to the office in Phoenix. But what I love, who I love, is you. And the daughters you insisted we create.” He shook his head. “Thank God for you, Mia. For the confidence you’ve always had to stand up for what your heart tells you is right. You believed so wholeheartedly that we’d have our own children that you wanted to share the glorious opportunity with someone who couldn’t provide their own children for themselves. And in so doing, you gave us back the chance to have our own children.”

  “I just loved you so much and wanted to be sure that I never forgot to be grateful,” she told him. “And to share my blessings.”

  There was so much more to say.

  And, apparently, more flying to do in very short order.

  Most importantly, there were two little girls who’d need dinner and a bedtime story soon.

  Girls who, according to Jordon, just wanted to go home. “Ever since I yelled at them, all they can talk about is going home,” he told her. “Home to Mama Mia. And Macy. And our cabin. We’ll have to work on that last part,” he finished with a grin.

  “They didn’t seem to mind being in the house that last night, when they knew you were home.”

  The last night he’d slept with her.

  “I can’t wait to get there again, Mia. Like them, all I can think, every day, is getting home to Shelter Valley. To the ranch. To you. I love what I do, but coming back with the girls, and not you, I just felt...empty. Speaking of which, the girls and I are on a flight out at six in the morning.”

  A flight that, luckily, had an open seat left in first class for Mia. Which Jordon booked.

  “So... I’m assuming this means...our engagement is back on?” she asked him when he’d finalized the flight transaction on his phone.

  What Jordon did next perplexed her all over again. He went rummaging in the box on the desk. And eventually came up with a faded purple ring box.

  She was afraid to believe...couldn’t believe...but it looked like...

  “I’ve kept this with me since the day you gave it back,” he said, opening it. “Locked in the safe here, ever since I opened my own business. Not that it needed a safe,” he added, with a sheepish grin as he opened the box. “I’ll get you a new one as soon as we...”

  Crying again, shaking her head, Mia took the box. “No, Jordon,” she said, pulling the tiny, single solitaire diamond set in sterling silver out of the box. “This is the one I want. It’s all I ever wanted.”

  He took it from her. Slid it onto her finger.

  They only had hours to get to his apartment, get the things settled there, get some rest and head to the airport.

  But Mia still took the time to slide her arms around Jordon, lay her head on his chest and finally believe, with all her heart, that they’d found their home.

  Not in Shelter Valley or New York.

  But in each other.

  * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from The Business Between Them by Mona Shroff.