The corner of her mouth curves. "They really are."
"But I'd take every one of them again to end up right here." I look at her steadily, my heart in my damn throat. "So what do you say?"
She sniffles, and I'm terrified that I've done something wrong for a second, until I see the smile on her face. "I'd love to stay here with you. I'd love to see what we can build here."
"It's not going to be easy, Beth. Might be even harder than what we've done leading up to this. There will be people who challenge us, and if this becomes successful, others will be gunning for this community. It could get dangerous."
She lets out a watery laugh. "Like the last four years haven't been dangerous, Knox? I mean I think we know what danger is at this point. The question is, do we want to live it together?"
"I want to live it with you."
"I want to live it with you too." She stops for a second, rolling her lips together. "When I watched you get stabbed, there were many feelings that coursed through my body. Fear was one of the biggest."
Reaching over, I cup her cheek in the palm of my hand. "I'd never let anything happen to you for as long as I could help it."
She leans into the touch. "I know all of that, but the one thing that kept me up every night watching you while you sleep since we moved in here, has been the fact that you could've died. You could've died before I told you how much you mean to me. I know it's quick, I know the world is a crazy place, and I know there will be forces at work who may not want us together at some point. But what I know more than anything, Knox? I love you. I've maybe loved you since I watched you on the football field in high school." She stops for a second and takes a deep breath. "Actually that was an infatuation. You were hot, and I was a teenager with hormones. I didn't know what the deep appreciation for another human who knows you better than you know yourself meant. I do now, and I want to spend however long we have left together."
I groan deep in my throat, and lean forward, taking her in my arms. "God, I was so worried you wouldn't feel the same way I do. I love the shit out of you, Beth. You get me more than anyone else in this world, and I can't wait to make a life here with you."
We hold one another in the silence of our little home, and I can't help but think we're right where we're supposed to be.
CHAPTER 18
BETH
My favorite moments with Knox are when we're together. We don't even have to be alone. Like tonight, we're heading out to a bonfire they have set up in the community. They've been doing it almost every night since we got here, and it's something I look forward to. "Are we joining the bonfire tonight?" I ask as we lay together on the bed.
"Do you want to?" Knox tucks his chin into my neck, and plants a soft kiss there. His voice is full of sleep, and I know if we don't get up soon, he'll be out for the night.
"I'd like to, if that's okay with you?"
"You know if you want to do it, then we will."
I learned very quickly not to question that. I wasn't necessarily used to being able to do whatever my heart desired. I'd spent so much time after Eruption caring for my family. They'd been sick, and all I wanted to do was to give them the best I could at the end of their lives, although it was the end of the world. But Knox? He wants to give me everything. And in turn, I want to give it to him, too. "I do, so we need to get out of bed and head out there."
He groans. "It feels so good to lay here though."
I snort. "You and I both know if we keep laying here, you're either going to go to sleep, or we'll get naked. While I love the getting naked option, I do want to see our new friends."
It feels weird to say that we have friends. Both of us have spent so much time alone, I know it causes a twinge in his chest too. After so long of having no one else to count on, the hope I feel for Cumberland Crossings, which is what we've decided to call this place, is immeasurable.
"Okay, okay. I'm getting up. Let me put my shoes on."
It doesn't take him long, and then he grabs my hand, and together we walk out to where they've already started the bonfire. The fire is already crackling and warm by the time we make it out. The orange and gold flames licking up into the dark night sky. At one point I would’ve been terrified to have a fire, worried that it would bring people around who wanted nothing more than to hurt us. Now that we’re here? I can let some of that guard down. It’s hard, but it feels as if we can live again.
Even in a world that looks light years different than the one we grew up in.
A handful of the thirty or so people who make up the community are already out there. Some are sitting on logs, others are on the ground. I recognize some of the faces now, since we’ve been here, and have been working alongside our fellow community members.
Ryker is here, standing next to Maple. She laughs at something he says, and I have to wonder if there’s a little flirtation going on between them. Knox squeezes my hand, and I squeeze back.
“Did you think we’d be here right now? When we were on the road, coming to Nashville?” Knox questions, letting go of my hand, and tucking me in next to him by putting his arm around me.
“No, I had hopes,” I shrug. “Hopes about what it would look like when we got here, but this has far exceeded those expectations. I think we have the option of making a very good life here, Knox. Don’t you?”
He's quiet for a moment, and I've learned that about him too. Knox doesn't answer questions he hasn't thought through fully. He's not the kind of man to give you an easy answer just to have one.
So I wait, watching the fire dance while he thinks this all through.
