Page 65 of Stormswept Colorado

No, when Teller held me, he felt solid, with just enough give to make him an incredible cuddler.

I wanted to find out how he felt skin to skin.

Last night, I really had slept with his coat draped over me like another blanket. I’d slept more soundly than I had in a long time. I wanted to get back to that feeling, instead of this tangled-up sensation inside me. Like I was being pulled in too many different directions.

How long had Biggest Fan been watching me? And would he really escalate to something even worse?

“Miss Maxwell, would it be terrible if I asked for an autograph?” A woman with curly red hair, who I recognized as Rosie from the market in Silver Ridge, held out a postcard.

“Not at all. I’m happy to.”

A scruffy man with a ponytail stood next to her. “Rosie loves your music. Won’t play anything else. She’s obsessed.”

“Oh hush, Jimmy, you’ll scare her off.”

Rosie and her man weren’t the first to come up to me today, and I truly didn’t mind. Most of the wedding guests here were people I’d seen in Silver Ridge before, people who’d been nothing but kind to me.

A lot of people all over the world had claimed to be my “biggest fan.” They talked about being obsessed with my music. Withme. Almost always, it was harmless.

Yet I couldn’t stop a sliver of fear from working its way under my skin again. Wondering if my stalker had actually been in Silver Ridge the other day.

If he could be here at the wedding right now.

Then I looked over and saw Teller with Ollie. He was all the way across the room, yet he had his eyes on me like he could be at my side in an instant. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me here.

I rarely let myself lean on anyone, and it was so tempting to do that with him.

But when I got home tomorrow to my house in Malibu, he wasn’t going to be there. He said I wasn’t alone, yet all the safety I felt here with my family, withTeller, would disappear when I got on that plane.

“Thank you,” Rosie gushed. “You’ve made my day.”

I nodded, watching them find seats in the audience for the ceremony. Then a hand rested on my arm. “Ayla?” It was Dane, looking dapper in a suit. “Got a second? Ashford wanted to talk to you.”

My stomach swooped. “Everything okay?”

Dane laughed. “Better than okay. Ashford’s finally calmed down. But I think he’s getting sentimental.”

This I had to witness.

I followed Dane to the office where I’d met with Aiden and River earlier. Except now, Ashford was inside, handsome in a white suit and pacing the floor. Dane gestured for me to go in, while he hung back in the hallway.

Ashford had his hands tucked into his pockets, brow pensive, but he smiled when he saw me.

“Good, Dane found you.”

“What’s going on?”

“Before I go out there, I needed to say this.”

“Yes?” I waited.

“I love you.”

I was probably making a very strange face, because he snorted and kept talking.

“I love you like a sister. And a friend. But I don’t think I’ve ever actually said those words, and I realized how shitty that is. After all those times you reached out to me, tried to call, and I shut you out.”

I waved a hand dismissively. “We’ve both forgotten about that. It’s not important anymore.”

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