I wanted to trace every ridge and hollow with my tongue.
But first, I needed answers.
“How did you know about the fire?”
The question had been burning in my mind for days. I’d been so caught up in everything else that I hadn’t really thought it through until now. But it didn’t make sense. My farmhouse was so far below, down in the valley. How had he gotten there so fast? How had he even known it was on fire?
His shoulders stiffened even more. “What?”
“The fire.” I moved closer, my bare feet silent on the wooden deck. “How did you know my house was burning? You got there so fast.”
He was quiet for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was rough. “I can see your farmhouse from up here.”
“Yeah, but it’s just a speck from here.” I frowned, processing that. “It’s so far away. To see any details you’d need…”
My eyes drifted to the telescope. The one that was pointed up into the sky right now.
“Hall.” My voice came out softer now. “Were you watching my house?”
His hands gripped the railing so tightly that his knuckles went white. “I noticed your light on. Most nights.”
Something shifted in my chest. A deep, aching understanding. He’d been watching me.
“How long?”
“Months.” The word came out like it hurt him. “Since you moved in. I’d sit out here with my telescope and… there was always this light.Yourlight. And I’d watch it, and I’d wonder about who lived there and what you were doing. If you were happy. If you were lonely too.”
My throat tightened. I moved closer until I was standing right behind him, close enough to feel the heat radiating off his bare skin.
“You were watching me.”
“Not you. Not really. I couldn’t see much detail from this far. Just…” He let out a rough breath. “Just the light. And knowing someone was there. I saw you out in the yard a few times. I could tell you were a woman, but other than that I couldn’t make out much detail.”
“Why did you watch me?”
Hall was silent for so long that I thought he wasn’t going to answer.
Then he rumbled, “You were the only sign someone else was out there.”
The words hit me deep in my heart. I thought about what his life must have been like before I moved into that farmhouse. He’d been alone on this mountain, going to work, coming home, eating dinner by himself. Night after night after night.
And then one day, a light appeared in the darkness. A tiny beacon in the valley below. Proof that he wasn’t completely alone in the world.
I’d been his only connection beyond the isolation he’d built around himself.
“Hall.” I reached out and touched his back. “Turn around.”
He slowly did, his reluctance visible.
And then his eyes dropped to my chest.
I’d pulled the neckline low enough that the bare blush of my areolas peeked above the fabric. His gaze locked onto them, and a guttural groan tore from his throat.
“Cassidy.” His voice was wrecked. “I won’t be good for you.”
I held his stare, refusing to back down. I wouldn’t let this man push me away again.
Then something snapped in his eyes.
