“Let him be.” I tighten my arms around her. “You’re mine.”
She lifts her head, smiles that sunshine smile that undoes me every time. “And you’re mine.”
I slip the pendant around her neck. It rests perfectly between her breasts.
“Looks good on you,” I murmur.
She kisses me slowly, sweetly. “Feels good too.”
The rest of the day passes in a soft, happy blur.
Epilogue
Katy
Eight months later
The first real snow of the season arrived overnight, blanketing the ridge in thick, perfect white. I wake to the soft hush of it outside the bedroom window and the even warmer weight of Nathan curled around me from behind, one heavy arm draped across my waist, his breath steady against my neck. The cabin is quiet except for the low crackle of the fire we left burning low in the living room and Bear’s occasional snuffle from his bed by the hearth.
Everything smells like pine, cedar smoke, and us.
I shift carefully so I don’t wake him, turning in his arms until we’re face-to-face. His beard is a little longer now, threaded with the tiniest hints of silver at the edges that make my heart do stupid things every time I notice them. His eyes are still closed, lashes dark against his cheeks, mouth slightly parted in sleep. He looks peaceful. Happy.
I trace the line of his jaw with one fingertip, light enough that he doesn’t stir. Eight months. Eight months since that first drinkat the Rusty Pine, since the night he carried me to this very bed and showed me what it feels like to be wanted so completely it steals your breath.
Eight months, and I still wake up every morning thinking,This is too good to be real.And every morning he opens his eyes, sees me, and smiles that small, real smile that says,It is.
I lean in and kiss the corner of his mouth. Soft. Barely there.
His arm tightens reflexively. A low rumble vibrates through his chest.
“Morning, sunshine,” he mumbles, voice thick with sleep.
“Morning, mountain man.” I kiss him again, properly this time, slow, lingering, tasting the faint trace of last night’s whiskey on his tongue.
He rolls me beneath him in one smooth motion, settling his weight between my thighs, forearms braced on either side of my head. The blanket slips down to our waists. His skin is hot against mine, solid and familiar.
“Thought you were gonna let me sleep,” he murmurs against my lips.
“I changed my mind.” I slide my hands up his back, nails dragging lightly down the muscles that flex under my touch. “You’re too pretty when you’re asleep. It’s distracting.”
He chuckles, the sound that still makes my stomach flip every time. “Pretty, huh?”
“Devastatingly handsome,” I correct, arching up to kiss his throat. “Ruin-my-life handsome.”
“Good.” He lowers his head, kisses the sensitive spot beneath my ear, then lower, along my collarbone. “Because you’ve ruined me.”
His mouth moves down my body with the same patient reverence he’s shown me every single time we’ve touched since that first night. He kisses the hollow of my throat, the swell of my breasts, the soft curve of my stomach. When he reaches the placewhere my thighs meet, he looks up at me, his eyes dark, hungry, full of love.
“Lift your hips,” he says quietly.
I do. He slides my sleep shorts and panties down in one slow drag, tossing them somewhere behind him. Then he settles between my legs, shoulders spreading me wide, and puts his mouth on me.
The first slow lick makes me gasp. The second makes me moan. He takes his time, with long, deliberate strokes of his tongue, circling my clit, then dipping lower to taste every inch of me. One thick finger slides inside, then two, curling up to stroke that spot that makes my toes curl. I thread my fingers through his hair, hips rocking against his face, chasing the pleasure he’s so good at giving me.
When I come, it’s sudden and shattering, my back arching off the mattress, his name torn from my throat in a broken cry. He works me through every pulse, every aftershock, until I’m trembling, boneless, tugging weakly at his shoulders.
He crawls back up my body, kissing every place he passes, until he’s hovering over me again. His mouth is shiny with me. His eyes are burning.
