Ending the call, I climb down from the truck, shaking my limbs out. I was going numb as I searched for her. Anxious that I had lost her over something so stupid. Not stupid because she tried to run—stupid because I ought to have known better. I know her better than anyone else and still I did the one thing that would trigger her fight or flight response.
Going to the driver side, I open the door. The moment I see her, I fall to a crouch beside her. My sweet, stubborn girl is bent over the wheel, sobbing as she tries to hold herself together. I do not hesitate, I reach in to scoop her up, gathering her against my chest. For just a moment, she refuses, pushing at me, muttering about what a jerk I am—I take it because she is not wrong. That does not mean I am letting her go—something I make clear.
“We do not do this. Quit on each other if it gets hard. We’re building something together, honey. Nothing this good is built without a few mistakes, a few remodels along the way. We can do that—what we cannot do is tear down our foundation. Whatdid I say? You cannot escape me just as I can never—and get this clear, I will never want to—escape you.”
Slowly, she softens. Clings to me, burrowing against my neck as I stride to the truck. I get her loaded in just as the others arrive. Maren takes note, eyes going wide, a little gasp making me smirk. My focus stays on her. I cradle her face in my hands, brushing dirty thumbs over the apples of her cheeks, smearing marks with her tears.
“This is how we do things,” I whisper gently, smiling as her gaze swings from the calvary to me. “We stick together, we show up when it counts. They know that you count. The way you understood how much they matter to me. What you mean to me tops everything in my life. That lodge, the business, even those reliable jerks. You matter more than all of it.”
“I... I could not let you make me look weak.”
“There is nothing weak about you. Only I get your softness. No one else needs to see it, if you don’t want them to. That’s how this works. I let you be soft, even weak if you need to be. You let me be a man who can protect you, who can make you feel safe,” I explain, my voice raw.
“You went to him because.... because I could not give you what you wanted....”
Blinking, I stare at her, stunned. Until it clicks. “Oh, honey... no. Never. I was an idiot to go see him, but you’ve got it wrong. We’ve decided to use a different bank; we won't let Brant Brother’s risk your position. I went there to warn him to get off your back, to respect you—to make sure no one caused you any trouble. It was stupid, possessive bullshit, I know. I did it for the right reason.”
Maren meets my gaze, her eyes brimming with tears. “What reason?”
Bending close, so she gets how important this is to me, how important she is to me, I cradle her face gently. Then Ibreathe the reason I did such a stupid thing, will probably do more stupid things. “Maren, honey, I love you. I was in love with you before I ever knew you existed. When you were just a shadow passing by my office, just a vision of a beautiful creature I had no idea would change my entire world. It was stupid but I did it because I love you so much, just thinking about him or anyone else...treating you the exact way I did by going there...it fucked me up. I fucked up. I swore from the start I am not that guy, not one of the good ol’ boys who doubts how capable, how brilliant, how amazing a creature you are. I love you, Maren. I will do a hundred stupid things trying to prove it, trying to measure up to the kind of man who deserves you. I am so sorry I....”
Maren throws herself at me, cutting me off. As she clings to me, I gather her close, tilting my head to kiss her greedily. Leaning her back in the truck, I push my tongue past her lips, starved for her, still terrified I could lose her. I let my hands slide beneath her top, pulling at the buttons of the silk. Just as my hands reach her breasts, I hear it.
“Uh...can you do that somewhere else, you two? Might cost us a job site if we get caught watching this little adult picture show,” Tanner calls.
“Fuck off. One of you take her car to my place, yeah? Thank you.”
Shifting my focus back to Maren, we share a look before we laugh. I expect we will have lots of moments wrecked by my stupid, smartass brothers. I don’t mind. At least they get a good look at how you romance a woman. They all ought to take some tips from their big brother.
“Who said I plan to stay?” Maren whispers, making my heart stop.
For a whole minute, I cannot breathe. Then she smirks up at me, drawing me close until I am all but lying on top of her inthe truck. “You did by letting me get you in this truck. You had time to escape. No, you stopped here because you wanted me to find you.”
Maren sobers, her eyes searching my face. As if she will see something to tell her she needs to escape. That she has a chance to rid herself of me so she might want to take it. I would just follow, and when she smiles at me, so bright her eyes shine with it, I think she realizes it. Good. Because I would follow her back to Silver Shores, off to Driftwood Peaks, anywhere she might want to run off to—but I would prefer building our foundation here in True Ridge.
“Take me home you brute,” she decides, playfully giving in because she knows she has no other choice.
“That was the plan, honey. Taking you home has always been the plan.”
Chapter Ten
Maren
Walking inside my new home is different when it is someone else’s home too.
It is not my first time at Morgan’s place, of course. Yet this time it is very different as I follow him in, smiling like an idiot as I stare at our laced hands. He was stupid earlier. Selfish. Stubborn. But he did what he did for me. It was stupid and selfish of me to pack my entire life up as if I could just exit door left without hurting him, without wrecking us both.
Following him inside, I hesitate in the hall. It’s not a Degas piece that stuns me this time. It is a work of art, he claims, his best work. It is framed on the wall, nothing else hanging near it so it is the focal point. I laugh. Standing there in awe, I laugh until tears stream down my face because, man...how could I have ever doubted this man?
“Told you I was keeping it,” he calls, coming behind me to take in the piece of drywall.
It’s from the motel, the drywall from the first night we were intimate. It was before we made love, before we were even a thing. Yet as I look at it, I know better. What he said at the motel tonight is true. We were a thing before we even knew it. Fated the way few things are anymore. The moment I knew he existed, the moment he knew I did, nothing else mattered.
Turning, I reach up to cradle his jaw, brushing my fingers through his beard. Lord, he is beautiful. Not just his dark hair and light eyes, not his big, powerful body or those magic hands of his. It’s because of the way he takes care of people who matter to him, how he protects what counts.
“I love you,” I whisper, my voice clear, certain. “I love you, Morgan Brant. You were stupid earlier but so was I. I shouldhave trusted you, should have known you would never...” my voice cracks now because I almost lost it all. No, I almost gave it all up, threw it all away because of my pride.
Morgan does not need words. Bending, he scoops me up to head down the hall. I tunnel my fingers in his dark hair, tilting his head to my kiss. By the time he reaches the big four poster bed to set me atop it, we’re lost in one another. His tongue strokes mine, I suck greedily at his, as I am lit on fire with need for him. For his hands on my skin, his body pressing down on mine, filling me in that way that goes beyond sex or pleasure.
