"I'm counting on it."
I look up at him, this impossible man who caught me when I fell and refused to let me push him away.
"Okay," I say.
"Okay?"
"Okay. I'll stay. For now. And we'll figure out the rest as we go."
His smile is small but real. "That's all I'm asking."
We stand there in his cabin, holding each other, the dead rabbit still on the table and the coffee still cold and the future still uncertain. The cold feeling in my stomach from this morning is gone.
Replaced by something that feels dangerously like hope.
CHAPTER EIGHT
WOLFE
She said she'd stay.
But I watched her face when she said it. Saw the doubt still lingering behind her eyes. The fear she couldn't quite shake.
She's staying because I asked her to. Not because she believes we can work.
I need to fix that.
The morning after our fight, I leave her sleeping and drive to the Guardian Peak compound. Mace is in the main lodge, reviewing security footage on his laptop, a mug of coffee steaming beside him.
"Wolfe." He looks up, eyebrows rising. "You're out early. Everything okay with your girl?"
My girl. The words settle somewhere warm in my chest. "She's fine. I need a favor."
"Another trace?"
"No. I need to borrow the satellite internet setup. The portable one."
Mace leans back in his chair, studying me. "For what?"
"Sadie's a content creator. Social media. Her whole career depends on being connected, and my cabin has garbage signal."I force the next words out, even though they scrape against every instinct I have. "If she's going to stay, she needs to be able to work."
A slow smile spreads across Mace's face. "You're setting up internet in your cabin. For her."
"Don't make it weird."
"Wolfe Hendrix, the man who built his cabin three miles from civilization specifically to avoid technology, is installing satellite internet for a woman he's known for a week." Mace's grin widens. "This is absolutely weird. This is the best kind of weird."
"Do you have the equipment or not?"
"I do. But I want you to know that I'm going to tell everyone about this. Deck, Cade, Hayes. Everyone."
"Fine."
"And I'm going to enjoy every second of their reactions."
"Are you done?"
Mace laughs and pushes back from the table. "Come on. Let's get you set up."
