Page 12 of Burning for the Mountain Man
My jaw clenched. "You do."
"That's not your decision to make." She cupped my face in her hands, forcing me to meet her gaze. "I'm twenty-three, not thirteen. I knew exactly what I was doing last night. I wanted you. I still want you."
"Sage—"
"No. Listen to me." Her voice was steady, determined. "You think your scars make you less? They don't. You think your hearing loss makes you broken? It doesn't. You think living up here alone means you're not worthy of love? You're wrong."
Something cracked in my chest. "You don't understand what you're signing up for."
"Then tell me." She didn't let go of my face. "Tell me everything. The nightmares, the bad days, whatever you think is going to scare me off. Because I'm not going anywhere unless you're honest with me."
I stared at her—this brave, beautiful woman who'd walked into my life less than twenty-four hours ago and turned everything upside down.
"I have night terrors," I said roughly. "Almost every night. I wake up thinking I'm back there, in the desert, hearing the explosion that took my hearing and left me like this." I gestured to my scars. "Some days I can barely stand to be around people. The hearing loss makes me feel disconnected, like I'm watching life through a window instead of living it. And I've been alone so long, I don't know if I remember how to be with someone."
She listened to every word, her expression never changing. When I finished, she leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to my lips.
"Okay," she said simply.
"Okay?"
"You didn't have night terrors last night, did you? Maybe you just needed someone to hold onto. Someone who makes you feel safe."
The truth of it hit me hard. I hadn't woken up once. Hadn't dreamed of fire and blood and chaos. I'd just slept, peaceful and whole, with her in my arms.
"And the other stuff?" I asked. "The moods, the isolation?—"
"We'll figure it out together." She smiled. "That's what people do when they care about each other. They work through the hard stuff."
"You barely know me."
"I know enough." Her thumb traced my jaw. "I know you're kind. I know you're honest. I know you fixed my heater and showed me this beautiful town and made me feel things I've never felt before." Her voice softened. "I know that when you look at me, I feel seen in a way I never have. And I know that I'm not ready to walk away from this. From you."
My throat was tight. "What about Georgia? Your family, your real estate license?—"
"I can take the exam here. Wildwood Valley needs real estate agents, remember? You said so yourself." She grinned. "And my family will adjust. They always do. Besides, Sienna's here. That's reason enough to stay."
"Just Sienna?"
"Well, there's this grumpy mountain man I've gotten kind of attached to." She kissed me again, deeper this time. "Think he'd mind if I stuck around?"
I pulled her into my lap, holding her close, breathing in the scent of her. "He'd probably like that more than he should."
"Good." She rested her forehead against mine. "Because I'm not going anywhere, Wilder. You're stuck with me."
For the first time in five years, the idea of being stuck with someone didn't terrify me. It felt right. Like coming home after a long deployment to find everything exactly where it should be.
"I don't deserve you," I murmured.
"Tough. You've got me anyway." She pulled back to look at me. "Now, are you going to keep trying to push me away, or are you going to accept that maybe, just maybe, we're both exactly where we're supposed to be?"
I looked into those green eyes and saw my future. Messy, complicated, but real. And for the first time since the explosion that changed my life, I felt something other than fear when I thought about tomorrow.
I felt hope.
"Stay," I said. "Not just today. Stay."
Her smile was brighter than the sun streaming through the windows. "I thought you'd never ask."
