He covered her wrist with his fingers, grounding them both.“I was scared too,” he said.
Her gaze jumped to his.“You were?”
“Yes,” he said.“Running at a man with a gas can in the dark isn't my idea of a fun night.But the alternative was letting him light up your cabin while we sat in that trailer.That wasn't an option.”
Her throat worked.“You keep saying your cabin.It's our cabin.”
He grinned.“Our cabin.Our land.Our life.He came after that.He doesn't get to win.”
Tears filled her eyes.She blinked them back, stubborn.
“When you went down,” she said, “I heard you make this sound.I thought… I thought I was about to watch him take you the way he took everything else.The inn.My rooms.My sign.My stupid chalkboard with daily specials.I couldn't breathe.”
He slid his hand from her wrist to the back of her neck and pulled her in until their foreheads touched.“I'm here,” he said.“I'm not a building.I'm harder to knock down.”
A wet laugh slipped out.“But I've just realized, none of that matters as much as you.I loved Norman House.I think I mostly loved it because my grandparents loved it.But I'd let it all burn again if it meant keeping you.”
His lips touched hers softly.He tilted his head and settled in for a long, soft kiss that said everything he couldn't say.He didn't have the words for what she'd just told him.
She drew in a shaky breath.
He kissed her lightly once more, then pulled back enough to look into her eyes.“This story doesn't end the same way Norman House ended.The cabin didn't.You're strong, Sabrina.Together, we're stronger.”
She pulled back enough to look at him fully.Her eyes searched his face, every bruise and line, the darkness of his beard.
“Were you afraid I'd run?”she asked.“After seeing how calculated it all was.After hearing Diaz talk about money and contracts.Did you think I'd decide it was too much and just walk away?”
“No,” he said, without hesitation.
“Why?”she whispered.
“Because I've watched you,” he said.“You've stood in the ashes, in the field, in front of Diaz and told her you're not selling.You don't run, Sabrina.You reroute.You take fear and turn it into plans.”
“You make me sound braver than I feel,” she said.
“You are,” he said.“And selfishly, I'm glad your version of brave includes staying here.With me.”
Her hand slid from his cheek to the back of his neck.“You think I could walk away after tonight?”she asked.“After watching you throw yourself between that man and my future?After hearing you tell Diaz ‘we’ every time you talk about this land?”
He swallowed.“I didn't realize I was doing that.”
“I did,” she said.“It is the only reason I stayed in the trailer and didn't run straight at both of you.”
“Please don't ever do that,” he said.
“I won't,” she said.“I promise.But I need you to hear something.”
“Okay,” he said.
“When you ran out that door, it wasn't just my partner in building going after him,” she said.“It was the man I love.The man who made space for me in his bed and his kitchen and his life without making me feel like an intrusion.If I had lost you out there…”
He went very still.
“Sabrina,” he said slowly.“Say that again.”
She held his gaze, eyes shiny and stubborn.“I love you.”
Everything in him that had been tight since Norman House burned loosened at once.
