But of how much I want to trust this man.
Of how much I want to belong to him.
“Did I do something wrong? Did I move too fast?” he demands, voice low and raw now. “Was I wrong to think you wanted everything that happened between us?”
I blink, stunned.
“No! God, no, Thatcher. I wanted all of it. Every second. I just… I didn’t want to assume I could stay again tonight. Or that you even wanted me to.”
“Assume away, Baby Girl.” He takes my face in both hands like I might vanish if he doesn’t hold me in place. “Because I want you. Tonight. Tomorrow. Every goddamn night if you’ll let me.”
My heart stumbles.
And I hate how badly I want to believe him.
“But Kelly’s coming back to work soon,” I whisper.
His hands flex against my cheeks. His eyes flash, stormy and wild.
“The fuck does that have to do with anything?” he growls.
“Well, the cabin’s not mine. The job—this place—it’s all temporary.”
“This—us—isn’t about a job. Or a goddamn security cabin. It’s about what feels right. And you feel right, Willow. You hear me? I want you with me. You don’t have to keep proving your worth or earning a place to stay. You already have it.”
My throat burns with unshed tears.
My pulse thrums like a warning and a promise all at once.
Hope is a dangerous thing. But so is holding it in.
“Thatcher,” I whisper his name, my voice hoarse.
“Tell me you understand, Willow.”
His voice is low but edged with steel.
Not angry—not at me.
But full of something fierce and possessive and real.
It wraps around me like a tether, pulling tight.
“I understand,” I whisper.
And I mean it. I think I do.
Maybe not all of it.
Maybe not the full weight of what it means to have someone like Thatcher McCrae say he wants me—not just for a night, but for however long I’ll let him—but I understand enough.
He nods once.
A tight, clipped motion that’s pure relief and tension in equal measure.
Then he steps back, just far enough that I can breathe without the weight of his intensity pressing into me.
“Good,” he rasps. “Now get your fine ass in the truck so we can go home.”
