“I’m not asking you to hide,” I said carefully, trying to rein in my temper before I said things I couldn’t take back. “I’m asking you to let me protect you.”
“By treating me like fragile pottery that might shatter if you’re not careful enough?” She stepped closer, her chin raised, and the fire in her eyes made my pulse race for reasons that had nothing to do with anger. “I’m stronger than you think, Hail. I’ve been taking care of myself for a very long time.”
“I know you’re strong.” My voice dropped to barely above a whisper, but the intensity behind it made her breath catch. “But you don’t have to do it alone anymore.”
“What if I want to fight beside you instead of behind you?”
The question hung in the air between us, loaded with everything we hadn’t said about partnership and trust and what it meant to build a life together. But beneath the words, I found a challenge, a dare, a spark of defiance that set my blood aflame.
“You think I want you behind me?” I took a step closer, close enough to see the flecks of gold in her eyes. “You think I want you hiding while I handle everything?”
“Don’t you?” Her breath came faster now, her cheeks flushed with emotion and something else that made my control fray at the edges.
“I want you s-s-safe. I want you alive. I want to wake up beside you every-every morning for the rest of my life without wondering if this is the day I lose you.”
“And I want the same thing.” She pressed her palms against my chest, the contact sending electricity shooting through my veins. “Which is why I can’t stand by and watch while you risk everything for me.”
“You’reeverything, Allie.” I caught her wrists, holding her hands against my chest where she could feel my heart hammering. “Don’t you understand? There is no me without you anymore.”
Her pupils widened, but she didn’t back down. “Then you understand why I should run, draw them permanently away from Lonesome Creek.”
“It’s not the same?—”
“Isn’t it?” She rose on her toes, though she was so tiny, we still weren’t face to face. “You think your life matters less than mine? There is no life for me withoutyou.”
The words hit me, and I suddenly understood. This wasn’t about her being stubborn or reckless. This was about love, the same desperate, consuming love that made me want to lock her away from all danger.
“My life has equal value.” I stroked my fingers over the pulse points where I still held her wrists.
“Then stop trying to make decisions for me.” Her voice came out softer now, but no less determined. “Trust me to make my own choices, even if they scare you.”
“They terrify me,” I said, dropping my forehead to rest against hers. “The thought of losing you sc-sc-scares me.”
“The thought of losing you scares me too, and despite the risk, I’d rather face that fear with you than spend the rest of my life running alone.”
The fight went out of me all at once, replaced by something infinitely more dangerous. She was close enough I could count her eyelashes, could feel the heat radiating from her skin, could taste the sweet puff of her breath against my lips.
“You’re impossible,” I said, sliding my hands from her wrists to frame her face.
“So are you.” Her lips curved in a smile that made my pulse skip.
“I love you. Even wh-when you’re being a stubborn, brave, impossible woman who’s going to give me a heart attack with worry.”
“I love you too. Even when you’re being an overprotective caveman who thinks he can take on the world single-handed.”
“Caveorc,” I said, making her laugh despite the tension still crackling between us.
The sound of her laughter was my undoing. I kissed her, hard and desperate and full of all the fear and love and need I couldn’t put into words.
She kissed me back, her hands latching onto my shirt to pull me closer. The kiss tasted like anger and love, like everything we’d been too afraid to say.
“I want you completely,” she whispered against my lips when we finally broke apart, both of us breathing hard. “Claim me as yours, Hail.”
The words hit me like lightning.
I swept her off her feet and carried her down the hall, kicking in our bedroom door, while she laughed and peppered kisses along my neck. Tressa trotted after us, her tail wagging as if she approved of this development.
I laid her gently on the bed before following her down. The late-day sun streamed through the windows, turning her hair to fymsom as she smiled up at me with desire shining in her eyes.
