She propped herself on an elbow, chin in hand. “What part? The groaning, or the?—”
“Colette.”
“—coming in your pants.”
With another giggle, she held up both hands in mock surrender, eyes sparkling. “Fine, fine. Total blackout. Never happened. You’re a gentleman. Always in control.”
“Exactly.”
She tilted her head, grin widening. “Unless you’re not.”
I groaned, dragging a hand through my hair. “I’m never inviting you anywhere again.”
“You didn’t invite mehere.” She nudged my knee with hers, soft and smug. “In fact… I’m pretty sure I askedyouto snuggle up with me, Reed.”
I met her gaze then — really met it — and the air changed. The teasing went quiet at the edges, all that laughter melting into something slower, more dangerous. “Yeah,” I said finally, voice low. “That’s the problem.”
CHAPTER 15
Colette
I watchedhim move around the cabin like nothing had happened. Like we hadn’t just… well.
He was all quiet efficiency again, straightening blankets, stoking the fire, pulling his flannel back on with a kind of weary determination that made my stomach twist. The muscles in his forearms flexed as he worked, the veins standing out just slightly. Every motion was controlled. Contained.
Too contained.
It shouldn’t have been attractive — this older, gruff man trying so hard to keep himself in line — but God, it was. The set of his shoulders, the soft scowl when he caught me staring, the way he refused to look at me for more than a second because heknew.
I should’ve felt embarrassed. I should’ve been the one retreating. But all I could think was how he’d looked a few minutes ago, undone and human andreal.
He turned finally, catching me still watching. “What?”
“Nothing,” I said too quickly. Then, because I couldn’t help myself, “You’re terrible at pretending.”
His jaw tensed. “Pretending what?”
“That you don’t want to grab me again.”
The silence that followed was thick enough to taste. He didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Just let the fire crackle between us while my pulse skittered and my smile tried not to give me away.
He was older. He was supposed to be steady, measured, untouchable. So why did he look likethis— like the man who might just ruin me for every soft boy I’d ever known?
I waited for him to break first. For the sharp retort, the clipped tone, the cool dismissal — all the things Josh used to use when I got too close, when I laughed too loud, when I stopped being convenient.
But Silas didn’t doanyof that. He just stood there, breathing hard, the faintest muscle ticking in his jaw. There was something steady beneath it all.Anchored.Like he was trying to build a wall not to keep me out, but to keep himself from falling through.
God.
It was unfair how that made me want him more.
Josh would’ve sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose, and told me to “be serious.”
Silas just looked at me — reallylooked— until I squirmed beneath it. His eyes weren’t judging, just heavy, searching.
“Don’t,” he said finally, voice low and rough.
“Don’t what?”
