I chuckle under my breath and glance back at her. “Seriously?”
She raises a dark brow, arms crossed tightly over her chest. Her dark hair has been pulled back into a claw clip, though strands of it already frame her face as her lips purse with frustration. “Please?”
“Can’t say no to that,” I groan, leaving my post. It’s easy to get lost in the silence the snow offers, easy to find myself wandering through the different changes that need to be made. Chances are, I’ll be saying goodbye to this slice of peace I made my own, but as I meet Lydia in the doorway, and the purse of her lipsturns into a genuine, sweet smile, I can’t help but be okay with that.
“What were you out there thinking about?” she asks as I close the door behind me, taking the thermos from my hands so I can shuck my coat off.
“Nothing,” I reply, “and everything.”
Her brows raise again as I take the cup from her and pull her into my arms. “Vague,” she says, staring up at me with narrowed eyes. “Second thoughts?”
“Never.” I drop a kiss to her forehead, lingering for a moment. She still smells of lavender and honey, but she’s also starting to smell like me—like the cabin. The musk of wood from the fireplace, a tinge of smoke from our nights spread out in front of it rather than the beds. My cologne clings to her skin, making me feel all the more possessive of her. “I was thinking about how I need to talk to my aunt. Once I’ve stepped away, I’ll sell the lodge.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Lydia asks softly, wrapping her arms around me as she rests her chin on my chest. “Seriously. We could make it work. You could go into business with your friends; they could buy up shares. Then you wouldn’t have to give it up.”
I’d thought about that, and Tobias mentioned the same thing. It was actually the first thing they asked of me after the fire, and initially I’d been tempted, but turned them down. At the time, I thought it would cause them more trouble than they needed.
Tobias brought it up again during contract negotiations yesterday. But rather than tempt me, it opened my eyes to what I really wanted.
Which was still my peace: but with Lydia.
Finally, I shake my head and lower my face to hers, claiming her lips in a slow, deliberate kiss. With it, I give her everything—all of my intentions, my heart. I don’t want her second guessing anything about this—about me.
Lydia melts into my embrace, her lips parting for more. I slid my tongue into her mouth, a movement she meets with the intention to challenge me. A fight for more.
But with a groan, I pull back, taking in the redness of her lips, the flush darkening her cheeks. God, she’d fucking beautiful. And I’m still completely unworthy of her—of the love she’s offering me.
“I’m one hundred percent sure of my choice,” I tell her, lowering my forehead to hers. “All I want is a life with you.”
“Won’t you get bored?” she asks with another raised brow, hands moving up my chest to wind around my neck.
I grip her hips tighter, smiling at the soft breath she sucks in. “Now, how am I going to get bored with you? And as it stands, they’ve still offered me a consultation job. I’ll have some work, but I have a feeling you’ll need far more attention than I can offer you if I go equal parts with them into the lodge.”
Lydia bites her bottom lip, eyes flaring with heat. “You might be right about that. I’ve come to like having you all to myself.”
“And I really,reallylove making you mine,” I murmur, kissing her again. “I also have every intention of making it official.”
“But first,” she says, pulling away, “you need to deal with your aunt. ASAP. Please. I don’t like the idea of her looming over us.”
“Neither do I.” And I’ll do anything to make sure she isn’t a threat to us—never again.
The call goes rightthrough to my aunt’s personal line, answered almost just as quickly. “Cade? Is that you, honey?” she asks, her voice taking on the concern of a loving parent—even though to her, I’m just business.
It’s not her fault. We never had much of a relationship before she became my legal guardian at sixteen when my father handed me over to her, and we didn’t have a relationship after. I became her trust fund nephew and a brand new prop to use in her social circles, but she never treated me badly. Just…as an afterthought.
“Yeah,” I clear my throat, staring out the window of my office into the thick, dark trees beyond. “Look, about what’s going on right now…”
“Yes?” There’s a hint of hope in her tone that almost makes me guilty.
But then I think about Lydia in the kitchen cooking up her version of Sunday dinner, likely humming to herself while she washes dishes waiting for my help, and the guilt immediately disappears.
“I want out,” I tell her firmly. “I was never going to be the man you needed to run the company—you and I both know that. I don’t have a corporate bone in my body. I would have sunk the company in a matter of years.”
My aunt is silent on the other end, before saying, “You would get cut off.”
“I understand,” I reply evenly, glancing over my shoulder at the open door. At the future I know is beyond it. “Never been more sure of anything in my life, honestly.”
“You’ve fallen in love,” she says, though I can’t tell if she means that in a good way—or a horrible one. “With the Sterling girl, I presume?”
