Page 113 of Stuck with my Mountain Daddies

Because somehowthis, the mess, the laughter, the silence between words, felt more like home than anything ever had.

That weight I carry? The one that’s always there, heavy in my chest, in my bones? It didn’t vanish. But for once, it didn’t own me.

I’ve spent my whole life being the one who holds things together. The one who takes the hit so no one else has to. That’s just how I’m built.

But with Riley, it felt like I could breathe. I wasn’t on the verge of collapsing under the next damn thing. I wasn’t alone in it.

She stood, pushing her hair out of her face, cheeks flushed from laughing and maybe something else. And I knew I couldn’t hold this back any longer.

I stepped toward her.

She looked up, a smile flickering a little at the edges.

“What?” she asked, barely above a whisper.

“I feel lighter around you,” I said, rough and raw. “Like for once in my life, I’m not carrying it all by myself.”

Her eyes widened. Shimmered. She swallowed hard, as if the words hit somewhere deep.

“I don’t know what that means yet,” I kept going, stepping in closer. “But I know it’s real. And I know it’s you.”

“Garrett—”

I didn’t let her finish.

Didn’t need to hear the rest. I reached for her like a man grabbing the only solid thing in a storm, both hands on her face, fingers in her hair, and kissed her.

Hard.

Hungry.

I’d been holding this in for years and couldn’t spare another second.

And she kissed me back like she felt the same, hands fisting in my shirt, mouth opening under mine, a soft little gasp that about wrecked me.

She tasted of everything I hadn’t let myself want, all at once. I kissed her deeper, tilting her chin up, trying to memorize every sound she made, every breath that caught, every little tremble that told me this mattered.

When we finally came up for air, she leaned her forehead against mine, breathing hard.

And finally, I felt steady.

“That,” she whispered, dazed and flushed, “was not very responsible of you.”

I let out a low breath of a laugh, still trying to remember how to breathe. “You make me reckless, Riley Brooks.”

She smiled smugly. “Good.”

Floorboards groaned overhead. A muttered curse. Beckett’s voice, then Asher’s, followed by the dull thump of his steps.

The cabin was waking up.

Riley stepped back, and I felt it, the cold rush of space where she’d just been. She tugged at the hem of my shirt, pulling it lower over her thighs.

“I should probably find some pants,” she muttered. “Before the cold gets me.”

I raised a brow. “Yeah. Wouldn’t want to give my brothers permanent psychological damage, right? Showing them those legs like that.”

She smacked my chest on her way out, grinning as if it didn’t scare the hell out of both of us, this thing between us.

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