Page 199 of California Wild

Hayley let that sink in.

Jesse trusted Heath. Respected him. Looked up to him. She could see it now—the way Heath talked about him, the way Jesse had asked him to check on her.

Like a brother.

Like a father figure he never had.

And if the SEALs were Jesse’s family… then what did that make her?

A fresh wave of emotion crashed over her, threatening to drown her.

Hayley pressed a shaking hand to her forehead, trying to steady the whirlwind inside her. “I don’t know if I can live in his world.”

Natalie’s voice was calm but unyielding. “You don’t have to. It’s him that has to learn how to live in yours.”

The words hit like a slow-building storm, creeping in at the edges of her mind, shifting everything she thought she knew.

Jesse had always been the one pulling her into his chaos. His world. His darkness.

She had spent so long believing it would always be that way—that he would always be that way.

But what if she had it wrong?

What if he had already started fighting his way to her?

She let out a ragged breath, her throat raw. “Is Jesse ever going to be able to put me and the baby first?”

A muscle ticked in Heath’s jaw. His fingers flexed against the counter.

And that hesitation? That pause?

It shattered something deep inside her.

A bitter, broken laugh tore from her lips. “That’s what I thought.”

Heath shook his head. “You do come first to him, Hayley.”

Her chest squeezed. “Then why doesn’t it feel like it?”

Heath let out a long, heavy breath. “Because you can’t see it yet.”

She frowned. “See what?”

“He’s trying, Hayley,” Heath said, his voice steady but intense. “I know it doesn’t look like it. I know it feels like he’s still that guy who’s going to fuck this up. But he’s not.”

“How can you be so sure?” she whispered.

Heath exhaled, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “Because I was there when he almost didn’t make it back. And there was one thing I said to him that turned him around.”

Hayley leaned in, her pulse hammering.

“What did you say?”

Heath’s blue eyes locked onto hers, serious, unflinching.

“Jesse told me he had nothing to live for.” A pause. A beat of silence so heavy it sucked the air from the room.

Then—Heath’s voice dropped, steady and certain.

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