I feel chosen.
I feel exactly, perfectly,wanted.
Chapter Eight
Holt
Idon’t remember deciding to take her back to my bed.
I just know that after what we shared, there was no universe where I was going to let Tessa sleep anywhere but wrapped up in my arms.
Carrying her down the hall to my bed feels like the most natural thing in the world.
That’s the problem with Tessa; every single thing with her feels natural. It feelsreal.
By the time I lay her down in my huge bed, the urgency from earlier has burned itself out, but the pull she holds over me has only grown stronger.
The moment I slide under the sheetsnext to her, she curls into me without hesitation. Her head on my chest, an arm draped over me, like she’s done it a million times before.
For the first time in I don’t know how long, with Tessa’s warm body in my arms, I sleep.
Reallysleep.
I don’t wake a dozen times in a cold sweat, with the nightmares of my past that have plagued me for almost twenty years.
I’m settled. Content.
That alone should scare the hell out of me.
When I wake before dawn, the rain has stopped, and the cabin is wrapped in that deep quiet that only comes after a storm. Tessa’s still lying on me, right where she fell asleep. Not wanting to wake her, I gently brush the hair off her cheek, letting my fingers linger a little.
Her hand is spread out over my chest, holding me in place.
She looks peaceful, innocent, and… like she’ll be the ruin of me.
Yet, it feels right.Shefeels right.
Even though there’s nothing about this situation that could possibly be right, foranother brief moment, I let myself believe it might be.
I’ve shared beds before. She’s not the first woman I’ve spent the night with. But she sure as hell is the first where it felt likethis.
This wasn’t about release or distraction. This was so much more.
And that’s the part I can’t ignore.
I brush my thumb over her bare shoulder, careful not to wake her. Instinctively, she shifts closer, a contented groan slipping from her lips. There’s no hesitation or uncertainty in her movements.
Just trust.
That sits heavy with me because whatever I want to call last night, it wasn’t casual. And that’s a problem. A big one.
And that’s why I slip out from under her before she wakes.
Not because I regret what happened.
How could I?
But because if I stay, if I let her wake up and look at me like she belongs there, withme…
