“No,” he says. “But it makes this town… interesting. And you.”
I don’t like how much that lands.
Silence stretches between us, thicker than the snow piling up outside.
“I don’t want to get hurt again,” I say finally.
He nods once. “Fair.”
“And I definitely don’t want Scottie to.”
His eyes soften. “That part I take seriously.”
“I know.”
That might be the most terrifying part of all.
He reaches for my hand slowly, giving me time to pull away.
I don’t.
“I’m not planning on disappearing,” he says.
I don’t tell him that’s what they all say.
Instead, I lean back against him, letting his arm wrap around my shoulders even though part of me is already preparing for the day I’ll have to let go.
Because falling for Dane again doesn’t just feel reckless. It seems inevitable.
And that’s worse.
But he doesn’t give me much time to dwell on such a dark subject. Not when he brings my lips back to his and starts the process of making me burn for him all over again.
SEVEN
DANE
I wake up to sunlight.
Not the harsh, blinding kind, but the slow, lingering glow that slips through the curtains and settles into the room like it plans to stay awhile. It takes me a moment to remember where I am—and why the light feels different here.
It’s early summer.
That’s the first thing I register. The second is Gina.
She’s lying on her side beside me, hair loose, one knee bent toward her chest, the sheet twisted around her legs. The room is quiet in that soft, lived-in way that comes from people being awake elsewhere in the house even if they’re not making noise yet.
Scottie.
The thought lands gently. Not panic-inducing. Not heavy. Just present.
But Gina and I didn’t talk about this. And considering how she’s reacted about other things…
Fuck. Maybe I should have left sooner. Well, it’s too late now.
I lie still for a minute, listening. A distant door opens and closes. Water runs briefly in the bathroom down the hall. Somewhere outside, a bird is doing its absolute best to be heard over everything else.
This isn’t my cabin. It isn’t a hotel room or a rental or some temporary stop between seasons.
