The world outside can wait.
He exhales against my hair, slow and heavy, and it ruffles across my skin in a way that makes my eyes sting.
Because this feelsreal.Too real.
His heartbeat thuds steady beneath my ear.I listen to it and try to memorize the sound—like if I can keep it, I’ll never have to go back to that restless, empty version of myself that wandered into his life.
My fingers rest on his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his breath.
He smells like soap and sweat and the faintest trace of leather from his gloves.
All Sawyer.
He doesn’t say anything, and neither do I.
We don’t need to.
There’s a peace here that doesn’t require words.
But somewhere deep in my chest, the truth is starting to settle in.
This isn’t just want or need anymore.It’s something heavier, sweeter, and far more dangerous.
Because I know what this is now.
I love him.
And that realization terrifies me even more than the idea of him waking up tomorrow and telling me to beat it.
If I do love him like I suspect I do, then Sawyer DeWitt is the most dangerous man in the world to me.
Because he has the power to break my heart.
Chapter 15-Sawyer
The house is quiet except for the slow rhythm of her breathing.
The world outside’s gone still—no wind, no cattle, just the faint creak of the old boards settling under the weight of the night.
Lil Bit’s curled against me, one leg tangled with mine, her cheek resting on my chest.
I can feel her heartbeat, soft and steady, tapping against my ribs like she’s syncing to me without even trying.
It’s supposed to be simple.It never is.
I tell myself it’s just need, that I’ve been alone too long, that the war and the work and the endless rebuilding have made me crave something human.
But that’s a lie.
Because the ache in my chest isn’t just physical, and the way I keep brushing my thumb along her shoulder isn’t about possession.
It’s her laugh still ringing in my ears.
It’s the way she said my name like it meant safety.
It’s the fact that, for the first time in years, the darkness in my head went quiet when she looked at me.
I watch the moonlight trace the curve of her face.
