Page 69 of Protected By the Mountain Man

I shrugged. “Don’t know. But…yeah, it really fucked my life up. I fucked my life up. And after I put Ben in the hospital, my dad gave me an ultimatum—join the military or get cut off. I chose the military, the Marines. Spent four years deployed in Afghanistan…and then came home.”

Her expression softened. “It seems like that did a lot to change you.”

“It did,” I said. I averted my eyes; I couldn’t look at her for this part. “Watching your friends die can have that effect.”

We both fell silent, the fire’s crackle and the wind howling outside the only noises. Life seemed to start up again when Bandit let out a huff, crawling closer to the fireplace to give us space.

Kat touched my face—and her fingertips on my skin were like butterfly kisses.

“I’m glad I got to know you, Gabe,” she said. “I…I’m grateful for you.”

I wanted to hear those three words I’d been dying to say myself; I love you.

But that was enough.

I tangled my fingers in her hair and kissed her gently, searching for a sign that she wanted this as much as I did. After watching her in that water, I needed to be close to her—skin to skin, kissing her, loving her. She responded instantly, the kiss deepening as her arms wound around my neck, pulling me closer. It was like the storm outside had ceased to exist; all that mattered was this moment, this connection between us. Every touch, every movement was filled with a raw intensity that neither of us could deny.

I ran my hands down to her hips, found where my oversized fleece and sweatpants had parted at her waist. Her skin was warm, soft, and she moved to give me space to take off the fleece. Her fingers hooked in the hem of my shirt and she dragged it over my head, her hands finding my chest as she kissed me again.

I needed her. I needed to make love to her, yes…but I also needed her in my life, needed her like I needed oxygen.

She was everything.

Desperate now, she crushed her lips to mine and I rolled her onto her back, touching her wherever I could. The blankets weren’t doing much work anymore; the heat was between us, raging hotter than the firelight flickering over our bare skin. We undressed each other fast, but gently, taking care with each other, finding the places where we’d been cut and burned and frozen in this battle to find each other.

I settled between her legs, our lips never parting, the urgency of before giving way to something deeper. The heat from the fire bathed us in its orange glow as I looked down at her, my heart thundering against my ribcage. This wasn't just about need—it was about belonging.

To have and to hold, in every sense of the words.

Then I slid inside her, her legs lifting to wrap around my waist. A groan escaped me, a sound raw and full of so much emotion it felt like a confession. She was warm, welcoming, enveloping me. It was coming home, finally, after being lost for too long.

“Kat…” My voice broke on her name, my forehead dropping to rest against hers as we moved together. Her eyes locked onto mine, and in them, I saw everything—my past, my present, my future.

“Right here, Gabe,” she said, her voice steady even as her body trembled beneath me. “I'm right here.”

We moved slow and gentle, my hips rocking into hers. It was a dance we'd perfected without ever stepping onto a floor, one of rhythm and breaths, of giving and taking. Our eyes stayed open, refusing to miss a moment, even as the wind howled outside, as fierce as the storm raging within us.

As Kat's breath hitched, signaling her closeness to the edge, I fought against the tide rising within me. I wanted to give her this, one more peak in a night that had already been full of them. But it was a battle against nature, against the very essence of what we were doing here—two people becoming one in the most primal way.

“Kat…” My voice was a ragged edge, barely holding on.

“Gabe,” she gasped, and the sound of her voice, the urgency and need laced within it, undid me.

I couldn't hold back any longer.

We came together, a rush of heat in the cold night. Her eyes never left mine, wide and filled with something raw and unnamed but understood between us.

“I love you,” she let it slip, a confession wrapped in a moan.

“Kat,” I exhaled, my own release tearing through me. “I love you too. I love…fuck…”

Her hands clutched at my back, nails digging into skin as if to anchor herself to the moment, to the truth that had spilled out without planning or pretense. I stared down at her, our breaths mingling, our sweat-dampened bodies still joined.

And in the flickering light of the fire, with the storm outside and the warmth inside, I knew there was nowhere else on earth I'd rather be.

TWENTY-SIX

Kat

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