When he pulls back, breathless, I can see the hunger in his eyes, layered beneath the tenderness. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this,” he murmurs.
I grin, feeling bold. “You mean since the last time I was in your arms?”
“Exactly.” He lowers his lips to my neck, trailing soft kisses along my collarbone that send shivers racing down my spine. I lose myself in the sensation, fingers tangling in his hair as he deepens the kiss, every doubt falling away, leaving behind only desire.
I push him toward my room where the remnants of our past linger in the air, but the promise of our future hangs like a song waiting for its final note.
Before I know it, we find ourselves tumbling onto the bed, the length of his body pressing into me, comforting me like a weighted blanket.
“I’m never letting you go,” he whispers in my ear as he slides my shorts down and grazes my sensitive flesh with his knuckle.
“Never,” I agree on a deep sigh.
His kisses grow more urgent as we move together, lost to everything except the movement of our bodies. He continues to play with me, my clit, my nipples, my channel until I break apart.
Then, as if he can’t control himself, he flips me over and slams into me from behind, his length bottoming out in the most torturous of ways. He snakes his hand around me, playing with me, and my body responds, somehow ready to go again.
As Jaxon continues to explore and stretch my body, my fears and doubts fade away, the room filling with music—a symphony of love that's been playing beneath the surface all along.
Chapter forty-nine
Jaxon
LeavingIzzylessthantwenty-four hours after promising her I’m here for good feels like a terrible idea, but she was understanding when I kissed her awake to tell her about my meeting with Matt.
Or she’d been too tired after a day of reconciliation and makeup sex to care.
But now, with the gravel crunching beneath my tires and my dad’s house coming into view, something uneasy settles in my chest. It’s not regret. It’s not even fear. It’s the kind of emotional weight that only shows up when you’re doing something that matters.
The truth is, I spent so long chasing a dream that I never asked myself what I’d do if I actually caught it. Luckily, I’ll have Izzy here to help me figure out what my dreams look like now.
The sky is bright, the deep blue streaked with thin white clouds and sunbeams, as if it too recognizes today is the start of something new. Something wonderful.
Matt’s already waiting when I pull into the gravel drive in front of my dad’s house. He’s leaning against the tailgate of his truck like he’s been part of the landscape all along, boots dusted with dirt, coffee in hand.
“Thought you might bail,” he says when I step out.
“Nah.” I slam the door shut behind me. “This one’s overdue.”
Inside, we sit at the kitchen table—me on one side, Matt on the other, a stack of papers and a silence that feels like understanding instead of awkwardness between us.
We’ve already gone over the terms over the phone: I’ll retain ownership, but he’ll take care of the land.
Matt pulls out a pen from the center of the table and taps it once, slow and thoughtful, before handing it to me. “My dad likes to say this land will outlive us all,” he says. “Says we’re just borrowing it from whoever comes next.”
I take the pen. My fingers curl tight around it, but I don’t move.
“First time I ever drove the tractor,” I say, voice quiet, “I hit a parked sprinkler and cried like a baby. Thought my dad was going to kill me, but he just told me it was as good of a time as any to learn how to fix a sprinkler.”
Matt chuckles. “It’s always a good time to learn to fix a sprinkler. The damn things break all the time, with or without a tractor running into them.”
I let out a breath, shaky and soft. Then I start to sign the documents.
It takes longer than it should. My hand isn’t as steady as it normally is, but when it’s done, something unknots in my chest.
Matt flips through the pages, careful and precise. “Guess this makes it official.”
“Yeah,” I say.
