“I never thought someone would pick all of me.” The words slip out, raw and honest and humiliating.
Tex looks at me like I’m telling him something he already knew.
My voice trembles. “I thought... best case, someone would pick the parts of me that were easy. The pretty parts. The quiet parts. The manageable parts.”
His nostrils flare slightly, as if something in him clicks into protective mode. “And the rest?”
I swallow. “The rest would be tolerated.”
His eyes flash. “You’ll never be tolerated. Not by me,” he says slowly and deliberately. “You’ll be accepted. Loved.”
My breath catches so hard it hurts. “Tex?—”
“No.” His voice is still calm but carries an edge of steel. “You don’t get to reduce what I feel for you to a choice I made because you were convenient.”
My cheeks burn. “I didn’t?—”
“You did,” he states, not harshly, just certain. “Because that’s how your brain tries to keep you safe. If you make it small, it can’t break you.”
My eyes sting.
Tex lifts his hand and gently drags his thumb under my eye, catching a tear as if it offended him. “I claimed you the secondyou walked onto that stage. Not because you were perfect. Because you were you.”
I breathe in shakily. “That sounds possessive.”
“It is,” he says unapologetically.
My mouth twitches. “You know that’s a red flag, right?”
Tex leans in, pressing his forehead to mine. “You’re a red flag with freckles and boots.”
I snort a broken laugh, which turns into a shaky exhale.
“I'm choosing you publicly,” he says. “Right now. In this field. With your brothers watching from my porch.”
My heart slams as he slides a hand to my lower back, firm and protective.
“I’m not hiding you,” he continues. “I’m not ashamed. And I’m not giving you back because three men showed up scared.”
The words land like a vow, and something inside that’s been braced for abandonment my whole life cracks open.
“Okay.”
Tex watches me closely. “Okay, what?”
I swallow. “Okay... bring me back.”
His gaze softens. Then his mouth covers mine. It’s not a rough, hungry kiss. It’s slower and deeper. A kiss that saysI’m hereandI’m not movingandyou can stop running now.
My hands clutch his coat like it’s the only solid thing in the world. He pulls me closer, one arm wrapping around my waist as if he’s anchoring me against the wind and against myself.
When he pulls back, my lips feel swollen. This man… he steals my breath.
He rests his forehead against mine. “Ready?”
I glance toward the porch. My brothers are still there, three silhouettes against the cabin.
For half a second, I feel twelve years old again, small and caught doing something I shouldn’t. Then Tex’s hand tightens on my waist, and I remember I’m twenty-six. I’m a grown woman. And this is my choice.
