His voice drops.
“You okay?”
And suddenly the nerves rush back.
Because the truth is this whole thing started for reasons that weren’t exactly romantic.
Security.
Protection.
A way to keep Mike and his mess far away from me and Evan.
In the beginning, marrying J.T.felt like building a fortress.
But somewhere along the way, it stopped being about safety.And it started being abouthim.
Truth is, I wasn’t expecting any of this.
Not the dress.
Not the wedding.
And definitely not him.
When Mike did what he did—when he emptied our accounts, disappeared with a girl apparently young enough to still be sneaking into bars with a fake ID, and left me standing in the wreckage—I honestly thought my life had collapsed in on itself.
I remember sitting in the kitchen of my old house after it all came out.Evan asleep in the next room.The house too quiet.The future stretching out in front of me like one long, empty road.
I didn’t think anyone cared.
Didn’t think anyone would step in.
Then J.T.showed up.Not with speeches or pity.Just him—solid and immovable like the mountain itself.
At first, it was protection.A kind of fierce, practical safety that wrapped around me and Evan before I even realized I needed it.
But somewhere along the way, it became something else.
Something deeper.
What surprises me the most is how steady he makes me feel.The way his hand settles at the small of my back like it belongs there.The way he watches Evan—not politely, not carefully—but like the boy already belongs to him.Like protecting him is the most natural thing in the world.
And the way he looks at me?
God.
It’s like I’m something rare.Something precious.Somethinghis.
I don’t feel like a burden with him.Not like a woman who got dumped for something better.
If you’d asked me five years ago if I’d ever end up marrying J.T.Lawrence, I would’ve laughed myself silly.
That big, intimidating mountain man?
The millionaire developer with shoulders like a lumberjack and a reputation that made half the town nervous?
Interested in a curvy little sawmill girl like me?
