We walk a few more paces in silence, our steps syncing naturally. Her shoulder brushes mine, and I feel it everywhere.
“You did good,” I say eventually, surprising even myself. “Back there with him. I don’t think he gets a lot of kindness.”
Her head tilts toward me. “That almost sounds like approval.”
I shrug. “Don’t get used to it.”
She grins at that, looking away to hide how much it matters.
“Peaches?”
She hums in response, not looking back at me.
I inhale. Screw it. Say the quiet part out loud, Carson.
“I’m falling for you. Full-on, head-first in love.”
She freezes mid-step. Turns to face me fully. “What?”
I scratch the back of my neck, suddenly restless, my heart hammering. “You heard me.”
She doesn’t speak, so I keep going. “My pack—we all are. Falling for you.”
Her lips part, just slightly. Her perfume shifts in the air between us, soft and sweet and vulnerable.
“And I know,” I add, voice softer now, “I know that you’ve been hurt, by Landon…that you’re still healing. And I know how you look at Finn. That it’s more than what any of us expected. I see it. And I don’t blame you.”
Willow swallows, her throat working. “Carson…”
“I’m not saying it to make you feel guilty,” I say quickly, stepping closer. “Or to get a response, I just needed to say itout loud. Because this thing—whatever it is between you and me—it’s not just lust. Not anymore. And most of the time I hide from emotion, but I don’t want to do that with you.”
Her lashes flutter, and when she finally meets my gaze, I see the war behind her eyes.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” she whispers.
“Neither do I,” I admit. “But I know I want to keep doing it—with you.”
Her breath catches.
“Besides,” I add, leaning in just enough to make her pulse jump, “I’m very good at sharing.”
That earns me a breathy laugh, soft and unsure—but it’s a sound I’d kill to hear again.
We keep walking.
Together.
And I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
CHAPTER 48
Willow
I knew,right?
Some part of me knew that the attraction between me and my bodyguards was more than lust. But hearing Carson say it out loud? That changes everything. Especially after everything we’ve been through.
Hunter kissing me at the rink wasn’t just him protecting me from Landon—it meant something. I felt it in the way his hands shook just slightly, the way his lips lingered on mine.
