Page 22 of Awakening the Wild
"Is it weird that I've never felt like I belonged to someone in a good way before? With Michael, belonging felt like disappearing. With you, it feels like becoming more myself."
"That's because I don't want to change you," I said, stroking her hair. "I want to protect the woman you already are."
She tilted her head up to look at me, firelight dancing in her hazel eyes. "Make love to me," she whispered. "Here, in my future home."
I didn't need to be asked twice. We ripped off each other’s clothes and tossed off the sleeping bags. I pulled her on top of me, her thighs straddling my hips, and kissed her with all the hunger that had been building throughout the day. She responded with equal passion, her hands clutching my shoulders as she rubbed her slick wetness against my hard cock.
"I love you," she breathed against my mouth. "I love the man you are, the life you've built, the way you make me feel strong."
"I love you too," I said. "More than I thought I could love anyone. You're so beautiful. And you're mine. All mine."
"Just like you're mine." She wiggled until I slipped inside her. I entered her slowly, watching her face as she sank down my length. Throwing her head back, she moaned as I cupped her breasts. She was so tight, so perfect, gripping me like she never wanted to let me go.
She bounced on me. I let her set the pace, content to play with her nipples and watch her eyes grow hazy and drunk on pleasure. We made love slowly, thoroughly. I claimed every inch of her body with my hands and mouth. This wasn't just sex. It was a promise, a declaration, a binding of souls beneath the stars.
"I'm going to marry you," I said as she danced and shivered on top of me. "Going to fill you with my children. Going to build a life with you on this mountain."
"Yes," she whispered. "All of it. Everything."
When we finally came apart in each other's arms, it felt like sealing a pact. Afterward, we lay tangled together in the sleeping bags, the fire crackling beside us. Through the gaps where windows would eventually go, I could see stars scattered across the mountain sky.
"I can't believe this is my life now," Tonya said softly. "A month ago, I was planning a wedding I didn't want to a man who was slowly destroying me. Now I'm lying naked in a half-built cottage that's going to be mine with a man who makes me feel like I can conquer the world."
"You can," I said simply. "You're stronger than you know."
"We're going to be happy, aren't we?" she asked.
I pulled her closer, my hand settling possessively over her lower belly where someday our children would grow. The thought of her living here alone, even part-time, made something primitive in me growl with displeasure. But I understood why she needed this—her own space, her own sanctuary that no one could control or take away.
"We're going to be everything," I promised. "Happy, passionate, completely devoted to each other and our children. And this cottage is going to be your refuge—a place that's completely yours."
She was quiet for a moment, then: "How many children?”
"However many you'll give me," I said honestly. "I want a houseful, sweetheart. I want to fill this mountain with our family."
"That sounds perfect," she whispered, and I could hear the smile in her voice.
Chapter 6
Tonya
Two months of working on the cottage had transformed more than just the building. It had transformed me. My hands, once soft and manicured, now bore calluses from hammer handles and rope. My arms had muscle definition I'd never possessed. Most importantly, I woke up each morning with purpose instead of dread. I blocked Michael’s number from my phone and drove to a dump across the state to get rid of my luggage and any tracking devices the psycho might have left in my things.
"When I met you, you were screaming into the void," Kevin said, watching me expertly measure and cut trim boards for the cottage windows. “Now, look at you.”
"When you met me, I was having a breakdown in designer heels," I corrected, fitting the piece perfectly into place. "That woman feels like a stranger now."
And she did. The frightened city girl who'd stumbled onto this mountain seemed like someone from another lifetime. This woman—covered in sawdust, wearing work boots and flannel, confidently using power tools—was who I'd always been underneath Michael's suffocating control.
We had transformed the cottage from ruin to habitable, though we still had weeks of finish work ahead. His brothers worked long hours with us on the weekends even though Neil had logging contracts to fulfill, Shane had his EMT shifts, and Sam's wilderness guide business was picking up as skiing season ramped up.
"Dinner will be ready in ten minutes," Shane poked his head inside the house. The brothers had been taking turns cooking when we worked on the cottage, and tonight was Shane's famous chili.
"Be right there," I said. “I just want to finish this.”
Shane nodded and closed the door behind him.
“I suppose this can wait,” I said, moving my tools off the bench, but Kevin caught my arm as I started to move away.
