Page 179 of California Wild

He didn’t flinch.

Didn’t look away.

“I promise.”

And for the first time in hours, her body eased. Not fully. Not completely. But just enough.

She curled into him again, the curve of her body fitting against his chest. His hand returned to her belly, splaying over it like he was guarding something sacred.

And beneath the silence, beneath the ache, beneath the wreckage—they held on.

To each other.

To the truth.

To the one thing they hadn’t been brave enough to name yet:

Hope.

* * * * *

Hayley woke to sunlight, warm and golden, sliding through the slats of the blinds and painting lazy stripes across the sheets.

She stirred slightly—and the first thing she registered was him.

Jesse.

Wrapped around her like a second skin. A furnace behind her. Solid muscle and slow, sleeping breath. One arm tucked possessively around her waist, the other palm spread low across her stomach, beneath the hem of his old t-shirt that clung to her like a whisper.

It hadn’t been a dream.

He was here.

And the second thing she registered was heat.

It curled low in her belly, thrummed through her chest, tightened everything inside her. His hand shifted—fingertips brushing up the slope of her ribs, slow and instinctive. And then—

His hips.

A subtle shift. The roll of his body against hers. The undeniable pressure of him, hard and insistent, grinding against the curve of her ass in a lazy, unconscious thrust.

Her breath hitched.

He exhaled behind her, a soft groan catching in his throat as he buried his face into her hair, nuzzling like he hadn’t been able to sleep without her. Like he hadn’t been able to breathe.

And then his lips.

God—his lips.

They brushed the line of her shoulder, barely there. Then again, firmer. Hot. Open-mouthed.

A kiss that wasn’t asking—it was claiming.

He kissed her like he remembered every inch of her skin. Like he’d dreamed of this—of her—every night for six weeks.

His stubble scraped against the delicate line of her neck, sending a rush of sensation through her bloodstream, sharp and electric. Her nipples hardened instantly, her thighs clenching involuntarily as heat spread between them.

“Jesse…” she breathed, voice raw, still half-asleep and thick with need.

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