He began to suspect she wasn’t holding onto him because she was scared anymore. She was holding him because she wanted to.
The thought nearly undid him.
His chest tightened with an emotion so huge, he didn’t dare examine it too closely.
He’d watched his brothers fall in love. Smiled through Levi’s wedding, Maverick’s engagement toasts, listened to Theo as he described the moment he knew Gretchen was his.
His gaze drifted down as she finally leaned back enough to look at him. Her eyes lifted slowly, still glossy from the tears she didn’t shed. She searched his face with the same cautious curiosity he was trying to hide.
For one moment, neither of them moved.
He noticed the tiny smattering of freckles on her nose, the way one curl had fallen loose from her ponytail, the vulnerable expression on her face.
She was beautiful.
Not because she looked fragile, but because she didn’t.
Even shaken, she possessed a quiet resilience that radiated beneath the fear.
His thumb brushed lightly across her cheek before he could stop himself. It was a mere whisper of contact, but her breath caught.
Hell, so did his.
The air between them shifted as something invisible and undeniable took root.
Grayson had spent a lifetime waiting for this moment. Waiting so long, he’d given up hope of finding it. Of finding her.
The woman standing in front of him had reached into places inside him that he hadn’t known were empty. She’d changed his life with just one touch.
He was already falling, not slowly or cautiously but completely.
He didn’t know if she felt it as well, but he knew one thing for damn sure.
From this moment forward, every plan he made for his future had just rewritten itself around one hope.
That something, someday, Lark would choose to stay in his arms not because she needed somewhere safe, but because she wanted him.
Chapter Five
By the time the festival finally wound down for the evening, Wren was running on fumes, emotionally and physically.
“So,” Grayson said, as they climbed into his truck, “five-star dining or the pinnacle of fast food?”
She huffed out a tired laugh. “Are those my only options?”
“Within a ten-mile radius at this hour? Yeah.”
“Then I vote pinnacle,” she replied, because she was absolutely starving. They’d stopped about an hour outside of Gracemont for coffee and donuts on the way here. Then, during one of the lulls, she’d popped over to a food truck and grabbed them each a hot dog and a bag of chips. However, that had been many, many hours ago, and her stomach was letting her know.
The problem was, her hunger was on the verge of being outmatched by her exhaustion. It was nine-thirty and it had been one hell of a long day, considering she’d met Grayson at the winery this morning at freaking dawn.
“Bold choice,” Grayson joked.
They ended up in a drive-thru at the McDonald’s across the street from their hotel, ordering far too much food. Grayson was obviously as hungry as she was. Wren half expected awkwardness to creep back in once they were alone together, but it didn’t.
Apparently working side by side for so many hours had broken down those walls. Because right now, the quiet between them felt comfortable.
She breathed out a soft breath.
