“You’re here.”
“Yes.”
“Because you fought.”
“Because people helped me fight.”
“Both can be true.”
I moved closer.
His scent wrapped around me—rain, leather, cedar, and the wild heat that belonged only to him. The mate bond pulled, not like a chain, but like my body recognizing shelter before my mind permitted the word.
“Do you want to kiss me?” I asked.
His pupils widened.
“Yes.”
The word scraped out of him.
“How long?”
“Since you threatened Grant with a broken taillight while bleeding into my jacket.”
“That was the first night.”
“I am aware.”
“And you never tried.”
“You were injured, terrified, married, and surrounded by men telling you what was best. I was not adding my mouth to the argument.”
The ridiculous phrasing made something in my chest ache.
“What about now?”
“Now you are still frightened. Still married. Still carrying more than anyone should. And I still want you badly enough to distrust myself.”
“I trust you.”
His expression went still.
“Do not say that because I waited outside a door.”
“I say it because you keep waiting even when no one is watching.”
His breath changed.
I placed my palm against his chest. His heartbeat struck hard beneath it.
“I don’t want you to kiss me because I was nearly taken,” I said.
“Good.”
“I don’t want gratitude confused with love. Or fear confused with need.”
“Neither do I.”
“And I don’t want my first choice after Grant to be another man deciding when I’m ready.”
Silas went completely motionless.
“Then decide,” he said.
I rose onto my toes.
“I want to kiss you.”
His hands remained at his sides while my mouth touched his.
For one heartbeat, he gave me nothing but stillness.
Then I felt the control in it—not rejection, but the full strength of a man holding back a wolf that wanted to drag me against him and never let go.
I kissed him again.
“You can touch me,” I whispered.
His palm came to my waist.
Only one.
Warm. Broad. Trembling.
The discovery that Silas Blackwood could tremble because of me sent heat through every part of my body.
His mouth moved over mine with devastating care. He tasted like coffee and rain. The kiss deepened by degrees, each one offered before it was taken. His thumb pressed through my sweater at my side. My fingers slid into the damp hair at the back of his neck.
The bond opened.
Want hit me so hard my knees weakened.
Mine.
His.
Not ownership. Recognition.
He caught me with his second hand, then immediately loosened it.
“Too much?”
“No.” I pulled him back. “You stopped.”
“I will always stop.”
“Then stop asking every three seconds.”
His laugh broke against my lips.
The next kiss was less careful and more honest.
His body came close without trapping mine. My back never touched the wall. The door remained within reach. Yet for once I did not measure the distance to it.
I measured the roughness of his jaw beneath my fingertips, the way his breath caught when I bit gently at his lower lip, the low sound he swallowed because Sophie was two rooms away.
That sound followed heat down my spine.
Silas ended the kiss first, pressing his forehead to mine.
“If we keep going, the cabin security plan is going to become very theoretical.”
“Is that Alpha language for you forgot how doors work?”
“I have forgotten several useful skills.”
I smiled against his mouth.
“We should move Sophie.”
“Yes.”
Neither of us moved.
“Silas.”
“I heard you.”
“You’re still holding me.”
“You said I could.”
“I did.”
The words settled between us with more force than the kiss.
I had said yes.
He had believed me.
And when I stepped out of his arms, he let me go.
I picked up the half-packed bag and handed him Sophie's yellow sweater.
“Tomorrow,” I said, “I file for divorce.”
Silas held the little sweater as carefully as if it were a promise.
“I’ll drive you.”
“You’ll wait in the car.”
His wolf hated that.
The man nodded.
“I’ll wait wherever you tell me.”