Page 111 of Pucking Tangled
She looked at each of them, one by one. Her eyes lingered on every face, every hand, every word left unsaid. She’d been brave already—publicly, fiercely—but this… this was something quieter. Intimate.Hers.
Then she said his name.
“Waylon.”
Just that.
She stood. Slow. Deliberate. And when she leaned forward and her hands found the hem of his t-shirt, he knew.
“You gave me everything this morning,” she said, soft but sure. “Now I want to give something back.”
Waylon searched her face, like maybe she was offering something else—some metaphor, some moment of comfort.
But her hands slid beneath his shirt, warm and familiar.
Her fingers spread across his ribs, and he swallowed hard.
“Mia…” he said, barely above a whisper.
Her eyes found his. “I want all of you.”
She didn’t just meanhim.
She meantthem.
And when she turned, the look on her face told the others it wasn’t a question.
She was ready.
Not just to be touched.
To betheirs.
Together.
He wasn’t certain who moved first.
Maybe it was Mia who reached for Luca’s hand and tugged him to his feet.
“Kiss me,” she demanded.
And the rookie did.
Or maybe it was Casey who wasted no time standing up and stepping in close to her.
Maybe it was Owen who was hot on Casey’s heels and pressing a kiss to her temple like it was his own kind of benediction.
But the moment cracked wide open, and suddenly they were all surrounding her.
It wasn’t chaos.
It was reverence.
Waylon sat for a moment too long, watching her melt into them..He couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. His chest felt too tight, like everything he’d wanted for weeks was finally unfolding and he didn’t know how to hold it.
Then Mia looked at him again.
“Come here,” she said.
