When he finally pulls back, his thumb brushes my lip, tracing where he just kissed me.
“I don’t deserve you,” he whispers.
“Maybe not,” I tease softly, breathless and dizzy. “But I’m choosing you anyway.”
He laughs under his breath—quiet, wrecked, relieved.
Then he pulls me into his chest, burying his face in my hair, arms wrapping around me with a kind of fierce, protective certainty that makes my knees weaken.
I melt into him.
We stand like that until the cold finally sinks through our clothes.
Until his heartbeat steadies.
Until mine matches it.
Until we know—without speaking—that this is the real beginning.
He pulls back just enough to look at me.
“We’re done with ghosts,” he says.
“Yes,” I whisper. “We are.”
“Have dinner with me tonight at my place.”
“Okay, I’d love that.” I stare up at the sweetest, kindest man I’ve ever known.
“Good, I can’t wait to spoil you and have you all to myself.” And then he threads his fingers through mine, squeezes once, and leads me back toward the firehouse—toward warmth, toward light, toward the future we almost never got.
The letter remains in his other hand.
But his grip on me is stronger.
And this time…
I don’t let go.
Chapter Fifteen
Axel
My eyes track her across my kitchen later that night as she stirs heavy cream into a bowl of melted chocolate. She’s making mousse, my favorite dessert. And watching her like this makes me think one thing: I can't deny it anymore.
I’m a damn puppy dog when it comes to this woman.
“I can only imagine one thing sweeter than that melted chocolate you’re stirring.” I push my empty glass away, standing from the table and placing a warm hand on her elbow.
Her eyelids flutter open wide.
My entire body is strung tight and aching for her. Just the thought of bending her over the kitchen island and making a feast of the warmth between her thighs is enough to make me leak like a faucet.
“You’ve been so busy worrying about what I like,” I whisper, hand at her waist, pinning her between the counter and me. “What do you like, Savannah?”
She can’t speak, her round little mouth panting breathless pants and making my erection pound a little harder with the need to feel the woman I love on another level.
“I like spending time with you.”
