They were abouttrust.
And once given…
It changed everything.
14
Rylie
Iwoke slowly.
Not startled.
Not afraid.
That alone felt strange.
For a few disoriented seconds, I didn’t know where I was—only that I was warm, and that something solid and steady was beside me. The firelight had dimmed to embers, casting a soft orange glow across the cabin walls. The air smelled like cedar and smoke and something grounding I couldn’t quite name.
Then I realized.
Trigger.
My cheek was pressed against his shoulder, my head resting just below his collarbone. His arm was braced behind me, not wrapped around me, not holding—just there. A presence. A promise he hadn’t spoken out loud.
He hadn’t moved.
The realization tightened something in my chest.
I shifted slightly, careful not to wake him, but his body reacted instantly. Not jerking. Not panicking. Just… alert. His breathing changed. His muscles engaged.
His eyes opened.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
The softness in his voice surprised me more than anything else.
“I—” I swallowed, suddenly aware of how close we were. “I fell asleep.”
“I know.”
“And you stayed in the same spot.”
“Yes.”
There was no expectation in his tone. No unspoken claim. Just fact.
I pulled back slowly, sitting up and wrapping the blanket around myself again. The fire had burned low, but the cabin was still warm. Morning light filtered faintly through the windows, gray and early.
“How long?” I asked.
“Couple hours,” he said. “You slept.”
Like that mattered.
It did.
I brushed my hair back, trying to collect myself, when the satellite radio on the table crackled to life.
