Page 8 of Redemption in Misty Mountain

“It doesn’t have to end at all, not this time.”

“No, I chose you once,” she murmurs. “But I have to choose myself this time.”

The words land like a punch, knocking the breath from my lungs. I should say something. Fight for this. For her.

But right now, all I can do is watch her step back—watch her slip through my fingers all over again.

CHAPTER 6

ROSALIE

I retreatto my room and sink onto the bed. My pulse is still erratic from that kiss. If I’d stayed in that kitchen a second longer, I would’ve unraveled completely. I’ve come too far and fought too hard to reclaim myself to let it go now.

I can’t throw it all away for a kiss even if my lips still tingle with the memory of his. My head and heart pull at each other in an impossible tug-of-war with Dawson at the center. I’ve been here before, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

In the end, I decide to turn my brain off and my Kindle on. A book boyfriend is clearly the safest choice for the night. A half hour passes and I’m lost in the pages… Until everything goes black.

I use my almost dead phone as a flashlight and creep to my door, opening it just a crack. Darkness swallows the entire inn and presses in on all sides of me. My chest tightens, a flicker of panic sparking in my veins.

“A freaking power outage, are you kidding me right now?”

How long is it going to be before this room becomes a refrigerator?

I climb back in bed and try to keep my cool.I’m an adult. This isn’t a big deal. It’s just a little… uncomfortable.The stormrages outside of my window and everything is illuminated in the white light of the moon. I don’t love it, but I can’t get in my own head right now either.

Tap. Tap.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” Dawson’s voice cuts through the black. It’s steady and warm, wrapping around me like a blanket.

I exhale slowly. “Of course. Why?”

The door opens and his footsteps pad toward me. Each one is deliberate and unhurried. “Being places like this all alone used to creep you out and you never liked the dark.”

“I never liked being left in it,” I murmur.

He knows me too well.

I feel him before I see him. Dawson’s presence is so grounding and familiar that I could cry. He reaches for me in the darkness, and without thinking, I reach back. He sits on the edge of my bed and a heavy silence stretches between us. His fingers brush a strand of hair away from my face.

“If I could go back and do it all differently, I would.”

My throat tightens. “We can’t go back.”

“I know, I know.” His voice is a whisper.

His arms slip around me, and Dawson pulls me into his warmth. His heartbeat thrums steadily against my cheek. And despite everything, the past, the wounds, and the walls I’ve built… I let him hold me.

Wrapped in his arms there’s a dangerous sense of rightness that whips through me. His embrace is strong and familiar. He tightens his hold on me like he’s afraid I’ll slip away. And maybe he’s right to be.

I should pull back. I should remind myself why I left and why I’m so desperate to build a life without him in it. I try to fight it. I imagine ranchers and a life on a farm beside my sister. But it’s no use, my body melts into his.

His woodsy scent seeps into my senses. His fingers trace lazy circles on my back, his touch featherlight, reverent. My breath hitches when he presses his lips to my temple, lingering for just a beat too long. My heart hasn’t forgotten the way our bodies fit together.

“Dawson, we can’t go back, but we have tonight. It won’t change anything but I’ve missed you and…” I turn to face him.

He shifts back just enough for me to see his face. He doesn’t say anything, but I see the response in his eyes. I feel it in the way his fingers ghost over my hip, in the way his breath mingles with mine.

The air is thick between us. It’s charged and waiting. My pulse drums in my ears as his hand slides up my arm, tracing the curve of my shoulder, the column of my neck.

---