I swallow, chest aching with everything I don’t have words for.
“I’m scared,” I admit.
“I know,” he whispers, leaning his forehead to mine again. His breath warms my lips. “So am I.”
We stand there, breathing the same air, hearts still racing, lips swollen, bodies still trembling with too much and not enough. And then he presses a soft kiss to my forehead.
A second to my hairline.
A third to my temple.
Gentle. Reverent. Devastating.
“Savannah,” he murmurs, “I’m not going anywhere.”
My eyes sting. “Promise?”
His hand moves to the back of my neck, thumb brushing the curve of my jaw.
“Yeah,” he says quietly. “This time, I do.”
The door creaks somewhere down the hall.
We break apart fast, both breathless, both flushing. He steps back, trying to regain control. I straighten my jacket, trying to look less kissed-senseless.
But even from three feet away, his eyes keep finding mine.
I feel every look like a hand on my spine.
We’re changed now.
And we both know it.
He nods once, slow. “Get some rest.”
“You too.”
He turns toward the doorway. I watch the broad line of his shoulders, the flex of his hands, the tension in every part of him like he’s fighting the urge to come back and kiss me again.
Just before he steps out, he glances back.
His voice is soft, thick, unguarded: “Savannah… tonight didn’t break you.” I blink. “It broke me,” he says, voice cracking, “in all the right ways.”
Then he’s gone, boots echoing down the hall.
I stand in the quiet aftermath, trembling, lips still burning, heart still racing.
And for the first time in years—the fire inside me doesn’t feel destructive.
It feels like a beginning.
Chapter Thirteen
Axel
The snow crunches under my boots as I step out of the truck, the cold sharp enough to bite straight through the layers of my jacket. Dawn hasn’t fully settled over Devil’s Peak yet, the horizon just starting to glow a subtle rose gold behind the mountains. The kind of quiet morning that feels like the whole world is holding its breath.
Savannah stands a few feet ahead of me, her gloved hands on her hips, studying the old Brooks property like she’s trying to see through time.
