She sees me. Not who I used to be, not who I pretend to be. Me.
And maybe that’s what’s so terrifying. I never expected someone like her to come in like a summer storm and unearth everything I buried.
But God, I needed it.
I’ve been guiding people for years—holding space, offering stillness—but I forgot what it meant to let someone hold space for me.
Until her.
Emma paused, blinking hard against the sudden sting in her eyes.
She came here to find herself. But she’s helping me remember who I am too.
Not the woman who walked away from glass towers and boardrooms. Not the one who slept her way through forgettable nights.
The one who dares to feel. To hope. To trust. To want.
I didn’t think I’d get another chance to want someone like this.
But here she is.
And I am so fucking grateful.
She set the pen down, letting the breeze dry the ink.
Inside the cabin, Olivia shifted slightly in her sleep, murmuring something too soft to hear.
Emma stood, walked back in, and slipped into bed behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to.
She just held her.
And she knew, without question, without doubt, that this woman in her arms wasn’t just passing through.
She was changing everything.
11
Chapter Eleven - Olivia
The morning sun poured through the windows like warm honey, gilding everything it touched in golden tones. Olivia rolled onto her back, stretching like a cat in the tangled sheets. Her body ached in the best ways—soft, pulsing echoes of the night before lingering along her thighs, her breasts, the tender inside of her wrists where Emma had kissed her slow and reverent and sinful.
But more than that, she felt light.
For the first time in her adult life, she wasn’t waking to a page full of appointments, a phone vibrating with pre-dawn chaos, or a hospital gown soaked in someone else’s blood. She wasn’t bracing for battle. She was simply here.
And God, it felt decadent.
She rose lazily, tugged on a soft, faded cotton dress that was borrowed from a retreat stash of clothes guests could swap and leave behind, and stepped barefoot into the sun. The air was cool but warming fast, and the desert stretched out in every directionlike some ancient, breathing beast. She stood there a moment, letting the stillness soak in through her skin.
And then she smiled.
A real one, not the controlled, polite thing she used to offer in elevators and board meetings. This one felt like it started somewhere deep in her chest and worked its way out like sunlight.
The courtyard was already alive when she arrived, Harper barefoot on a low stool, braiding wildflowers into Willa’s hair while the older woman scolded her playfully. Priya and Nash were playing cards at a makeshift table nearby, their hands flying in silent rhythm as they laughed over something that clearly didn’t need sound to be funny.
"Well, if it ain’t the city doc, lookin’ like she just wandered outta a daydream," Harper said, smirking up at her.
Olivia let out a breathy laugh. "I think I might still be in it."
