Page 180 of Sage Haven

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Heart pounding against hers.

I brushed her damp hair from her forehead.

Kissed her temple.

And whispered her name like a prayer I didn’t know I believed in until now.

Sage,my wildflower.

Blossoming for me.

And I realized then that there was no going back.

Not for her.

Not for me.

This was it.

Our ruin and our salvation.

And I’d take both, so long as I could have her.

41

SAGE

The night before hadfelt like a dream—a dream I never thought I deserved, let alone one that could possibly be real.

But it was.

It had happened.

And the proof of it still clung to my skin.

I could still feel him.

His hands tracing every inch of me like he was mapping something he never wanted to lose.

His mouth claiming mine, his breath warm in the spaces where he whispered things, I didn’t know how to believe but wanted to.

With Reich, I had found something I hadn’t even known existed. A kind of happiness that didn’t just fill me, but completed me.

He wasn’t just someone.

He was everything I hadn’t realized I’d been aching for.

He slipped into the hollow spaces inside me with an ease that was terrifying.

Those empty places I’d long ago made peace with…he made them ache.

And then he made them full.

And for once inmy life, I felt… whole.

Not the brittle, patched-together version I’d convinced myself was enough.

No.

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