“Yeah.”
She watches me, waiting.
I don’t look away.
“I didn’t realize,” I continue, my voice quieter now, “that I was the one who needed something.”
Her expression shifts.
Softens.
“What,” she asks.
I shake my head once.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
Of course it does.
I reach up, brushing my fingers along her jaw, letting them rest there for a second.
“I found it anyway,” I say.
Her breath catches just slightly.
“In you.”
The words hang there, simple and heavy and true.
She doesn’t joke this time.
Doesn’t deflect.
She just looks at me like she understands exactly what I mean.
“Careful,” she murmurs. “You’re starting to sound like you love me.”
I almost smile.
“Yeah.”
I lean in, closing the space between us, pressing my mouth to hers in a slow, steady kiss that has nothing rushed in it, nothing uncertain.
Just certainty.
Just us.
She kisses me back just as easily, her hand tightening slightly against my chest, her body leaning into mine without hesitation.
When I pull back, she’s smiling.
Really smiling this time.
“You know,” she says, her voice softer now, teasing at the edges, “I didn’t expect to fall this hard for the mountain ranger who defended my honor all those years ago.”
My hand tightens at her waist.
