As our heart rates returned to normal, we lay there tangled together on the too-small cot, the fire crackling in the background. My head rested on his chest, rising and falling with his breaths. His arm wrapped around me, his fingers tracing lazy patterns on my shoulder.
“That wasn't supposed to happen,” he admitted.
I propped myself up on my elbow to get a better look at him. “You regret it already?”
“No.” His hand came up to cup my face. “That's the problem.”
“Why is that a problem?”
He sighed. “Because this makes everything more complicated.”
“Maybe,” I said. “Or maybe it makes things clearer.”
His thumb brushed across my cheekbone. “How do you figure?”
“Because now we know,” I said. “We know this is real. Whatever happens next, we can't pretend it isn't.”
He pulled me back down against his chest and tightened his arms around me. “I'm scared I'm going to screw this up.”
The vulnerability in his voice nearly undid me. “You won't.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know you're not the person this town says you are,” I said. “I know you care more than you let on. And I know you're trying.”
“Can I tell you something?”
I tensed, not sure where the conversation was headed. “What?”
He squinted and wrinkled his nose. “When I said I’d been in this cabin before, just not with you, I meant I’d been here alone. Not with someone else.”
I bit down on my lip to keep myself from smiling. “So you don’t make a habit of getting snowed in here with women and only one bed?”
His laugh landed low and unguarded. “Only you, Morgan.”
“Thanks for telling me.” I snuggled into him even more.
He was quiet for a long moment. Then his voice came out barely above a whisper. “That marker.”
“What about it?”
“I should've told you sooner.” His voice was strained. “I knew it was wrong the moment I saw it. Knew it was going to cause problems. But I…”
“You what?”
“I froze,” he mumbled. “Because if that marker proves the boundary's wrong, it means my family's been wrong. Maybe for generations. And I didn't know how to handle that.”
I lifted my head to look at him again. His expression was raw and unguarded in a way I'd never seen before.
“You're telling me now,” I said.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
He met my gaze. “Because you deserve the truth. And because I'm tired of being afraid of it.”
I kissed him again, slower this time. “We'll figure it out.”
