Chapter Ten
The Day The Fear Finally Burned Out
Darren
The morning after a wildfire is always the quietest.
Not peaceful.Not yet.Just ...quiet in that hollow way where the world is taking inventory.Today feels like that.
Olivia is wrapped around me like she forgot how to sleep on only half a bed, but I don’t move.Not because I’m afraid she’ll wake up and regret it.
Because I’m greedy for this, her weight on my chest, her breath warm against my skin, her hair tickling my chin.There’s a hand wrapped around my torso like her body refuses to let me go even in sleep.
I stare at the ceiling fan and let it hit me.She stayed.She chose me.
My heart does this ridiculous kick in my ribs that would get me clowned in the locker room forever if any of the guys heard it.
She shifts, makes a sleepy sound that is going to live in my head rent-free until I die, and blinks up at me.For half a second, fear flashes through her eyes, old habit from an old life, but then she sees me.And relaxes.
The way that feels?There isn’t a word for it that doesn’t sound like worship.
“Morning,” I murmur.
She makes a face.“Is it?”
“Technically.”
She groans and flops her face back into my chest.“No.”
I laugh, the sound rumbling through both of us.“Okay.It’s whatever you want it to be.”
There’s a beat of silence.Then, muffled into my shirt, she says, “Do you regret last night?”
It’s quiet, hesitant, and terrified.
I tip her chin up gently so she has to see me while I say this.
“Olivia.I don’t regret a single second with you.Not the first time I carried you out of a burning house.Not the arguing.Not the training.Not last night.If I have regrets, they’re all about the years you spent thinking you weren’t worth this.”
She swallows.Those big, beautiful eyes of hers shine.
“Okay,” she whispers.“Good.”
She hesitates again, chewing her lip.
