And then—before she could stop it, before she could convince herself thiswas a mistake—his lips were on hers. It wasn’t tentative. It wasn’t cautious. It was everything unsaid, everything missed, everything they had both been too stubborn to admit.
Savannah gasped against his mouth, and Chase took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, his hand coming up to cradle her face, his thumb brushing against her jawline. It sent a shiver through her, the kind that made her press closer, needing more. Wanting everything.
She had kissed other men. She had thought she knew passion, had thought she understood what it felt like to be wanted.
She had been wrong.
Because this kiss—this—was something else entirely.
His lips moved against hers with purpose, with heat, with years of restraint breaking apart like waves crashing against the shore. He tasted like wine and fire, like something forbidden and fated all at once. His fingers tangled in her hair, pulling her even closer, deepening the kiss until there was nothing left between them but raw need.
By the time they broke apart, breathless and dizzy, Chase rested his forehead against hers, his smirk lazy and confident, his fingers still tangled in her hair, his other hand gripping her waist like he wasn’t ready to let go. Like he never wanted to let go.
“That,” he murmured, brushing his thumb over her swollen bottom lip, his voice rough with want, “was definitely worth the wait.”
Savannah exhaled shakily, her heart slamming against her ribs. “Chase, I—”
She stopped, her throat tightening, the words pressing against her tongue, desperate to escape. But how did she say it? How did she tell him that he had been right all along? That no matter how far she ran, no matter how many times she tried to convince herself otherwise, she had always belonged to him?
Chase’s fingers tightened around hers, his expression unreadable, but his eyes—God, his eyes—they saw straight through her. They always had.
“Say it,” he whispered. Not a demand. Not a plea. Just a quiet, steady invitation.
She swallowed hard, her gaze flickering to where their hands were intertwined, where his thumb brushed slow, lazy circles against her skin like he had all the time in the world to wait for her to be brave.
She had spent years convincing herself she had made the right choice. That choosing Trevor, choosing stability, choosing the easy path had been the only wayto keep herself safe.
But Chase Montgomery was never safe.
He was wild oceans and crashing waves. He was lightning in the middle of a summer storm. He was everything that made her heart race and her soul ache.
And standing here now, in the glow of the fire, his warmth wrapping around her like the tide, she realized something.
She didn’t want safe anymore.
She wanted him.
She took a breath, steadied herself, and finally—finally—let the truth fall from her lips.
“I never settled down because no one was ever you.”
The second the words were out, she felt Chase’s breath hitch. His fingers tensed against hers, like he was holding himself back, like he needed to be sure she meant it.
But Savannah didn’t look away. Didn’t run. Didn’t hide.
“I never chose you, Chase,” she whispered, emotion thick in her throat, “because if I did, there would be no going back. You were never just someone I could love and then walk away from. You were… everything. And that scared the hell out of me.”
Chase exhaled sharply, his grip tightening as he took a half step closer, his presence overwhelming, consuming.
“And now?” he asked, his voice rough, low, edged with something dangerous.
Savannah’s heart pounded, but for the first time in years, she wasn’t afraid of it.
She lifted her chin, met his gaze head-on, and gave him the only answer that had ever been true.
“Now—I’m ready to take the chance.”
A slow, knowing smirk curved his lips. “Are you?”
