She blinked, caught off guard. “You mean… what I’d want? If there were no expectations?”
“No expectations,” he repeated. “Only the truth.”
Maddie wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her chin atop her knees. This was what her friends had asked her too. Not exactly. But about what she wanted. “I don’t know if I’ve ever said it aloud.”
“Say it now.”
Her throat tightened a little. It was easier to laugh. Easier to spar. But this… this was uncharted terrain.
“I suppose,” she said slowly, “I’d like a place of my own. A home of my own. Outside the influence of my mother and sharing the space with someone I love. No balls if I don’t want to, no calling cards if I’m not in the mood. Just my little world.”
Sebastian studied her. “You forgot to list a greenhouse for your herbs.”
“That’s a given.” She glanced over at him, her lips tugging up faintly. “And what about you? What’s your dream?”
His gaze slid toward the fire. “I never had the luxury of dreaming. Not really.”
“You’ve never wanted anything for yourself?”
He exhaled. “Study. To be useful. And lately…” He looked at her then. “To matter. To someone.”
The words landed somewhere soft and deep in her chest, right between the ribs.
“You matter,” she said quietly. “You already do.”
Sebastian shifted a little closer, his thigh brushing hers. The silence that followed wasn’t awkward. It was full. Heavy in the best way.
The fire danced, their joined hands restingbetween them, and the snow outside pressed soft and silent against the windows. It was, Maddie thought, the sort of moment that would linger long after the world returned to normal. A moment suspended in snow light and secrets, and hopeful, even if unspoken, promises.
A dream, perhaps. But one she’d finally allowed herself to want.
To fight for.
*
She was beautiful.
So very beautiful.
Not just in the obvious way. Not just because she made his chest ache and his breath stutter. But because she was real. She hadn’t fallen apart after their ordeal. She hadn’t complained about the hike to the lodge or the scandal they were inviting by being here together. Instead, she’d laughed. Joked. Shared something sacred with him.
Her dreams.
Sebastian’s jaw tightened as he watched the firelight flicker over the curve of her cheek. No one had ever asked him about dreams before. People didn’t ask things of Sebastian unless they wanted a problem solved, a decision made, or a door quietly shut. With the exception of Thomas. Otherwise, he was the man who arranged, who ensured, who fixed. Not the man anyone looked at and wondered, what does he want?
They assumed he already had it all.
And yet, Maddie had asked. Not in passing. Not to be polite. But like she wanted to know.
And when she’d told him her dream? A quiet life, a place of her own, a space filled with love… he’d felt something shift in his chest. Something subtle. Dangerous. Irrevocable.
Because he wanted to be part of that dream.
Not in theory. Not as a passing flirtation or a snowstorm memory.But truly.
It terrified him.
It excited him.
