A choice.
A beginning.
His lips moved softly against mine, careful but certain, and I felt myself melt into him, all hesitation dissolving. My handsslid up his arms, gripping his shoulders. He tasted like mint and coffee and something warm I wanted to memorize.
When he finally pulled back, he smiled.
“I’m here,” he whispered. “I’m not going anywhere.”
A tear escaped. I laughed softly through it. “Me neither.”
His smile was small and warm and perfect. “Good.”
We stood in the quiet kitchen, and in that moment, I realized something with a clarity that nearly bowled me over.
This wasn’t me giving up adventure.
This wasn’t me choosing a smaller life.
This was me choosing ahome base.
A place to return to.
A person to return to.
Something I’d never allowed myself to want.
Until him.
Carson brushed his thumb beneath my eye.
“So,” he murmured, “can I take you on a date? A real one this time?”
I smiled, radiant and sure. “Yeah. You can.”
“And maybe,” he added softly, “after that… we’ll plan a future trip. The first one we don’t take to run away, but to go together.”
I kissed him again.
“Yeah,” I whispered against his lips. “I think we can do that.”
And for the first time in my life, staying didn’t feel like settling.
It felt like falling.
Chapter Forty-Four
Sienna
Eighteen Months Later
If anyone had told me a year ago that I’d be standing in the great room of Honey Leaf Lodge, barefoot, wearing Carson’s puffer vest like it was my second skin, talking aboutthe house we just bought… I would’ve laughed myself straight into a ravine.
Not the small kind. The cinematic kind.
The kind with dramatic music, echoing cliffs, and a swooping camera shot.
But here I was.
