“I’d rather fail on my own terms than succeed on yours.” I hold his gaze until he looks away first. “Goodbye, Albert.”
Albert scrambles into his car. The engine revs. Snow and gravel spray as he peels out, disappearing down the road in a cloud of ice and wounded ego.
I watch until his taillights vanish around the bend.
Then the adrenaline hits.
I’m shaking, full-body tremors that have nothing to do with the snow under my feet. Tank’s there before I fully register moving, his arms wrapping around me from behind, his chest solid against my back.
“You okay?” His voice is low and warm against my ear.
“I will be.”
“That’s my girl.”
The words land somewhere deep in my chest and stay there.
He doesn’t say anything else. Just holds me while the shaking subsides, his chin resting on top of my head, his heartbeat steady against my back. An anchor in a storm I didn’t know I was strong enough to survive.
Back at the cabin, I expect the crash to hit. The doubt. The second-guessing.
But instead, I stand in the middle of the cabin, still buzzing, still shaking, and what I feel isn’t doubt.
It’s relief.
It’sfreedom.
“I can’t believe I just did that.” I press my hands to my cheeks. “I fired my agent. In your shirt and my underwear. At a ranch gate.”
Tank sets a mug of coffee in front of me. “Technically, you were wearing my shirt.”
“Oh, well, that makes it professional.”
“Very boardroom chic.” His mouth twitches. “How do you feel?”
“Terrified.” I take a breath. “Exhilarated. Like I just jumped off a cliff, and I’m not sure if there’s water at the bottom.”
“There’s water.” He cups my face in his hands, forcing me to meet his eyes. “And if there isn’t, I’ll build you a goddamn lake.”
My laugh is wet and overwhelmed and so full of something that feels dangerously like hope. “You know what the worst part is? I keep waiting for the doubt to hit. For the voice in my head that sounds like Albert to tell me I just made a huge mistake.”
“And?”
“And it’s... quiet.” I blink, surprised by my own realization. “For the first time in years, it’s actually quiet.”
Tank watches me for a long moment. Then his expression shifts to determination softened by a glint of mischief I’ve never seen before.
“Okay,” he says, standing up. “New plan.”
“What?”
He pulls his shirt over his head.
I blink. “Um. What are you doing?”
“Taking off my clothes.” He kicks off his boots and reaches for his belt.
“I can see that. Why?”
