Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 29800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
“I protected you.”
“You bid on an auction in front of an entire town and then informed me I was staying with you.”
“Worked though.”
Her eyes soften instantly.
That still catches me off guard sometimes.
The way she looks at me now.
Like I hung the damn moon.
I pull her closer without thinking, my hand sliding around her waist as the river finally comes into view through the trees below us, moonlight dancing across black water.
Phantom River.
The place where she first kissed me after nearly falling into the current because she refused to admit she needed help climbing down the rocks.
“Still stubborn,” I murmur.
“Still obsessed with me.”
“Always.”
She smiles slower at that.
God.
Ten years later and I still can’t get enough of her.
We spread the blanket near the riverbank beneath the stars while the water rushes softly nearby. Nora pours wine into mason jars because she claims “mountain aesthetics matter,” and I watch her tuck her legs beneath herself while summer wind lifts strands of hair around her face.
“You know what’s weird?” she says after a while.
“What?”
“You’re happy.”
I bark out a laugh. “Insulting.”
“No, seriously.” She points her wine at me. “You used to stalk around looking like you wanted to fistfight trees.”
“Trees know what they did.”
She snorts wine laughing.
Worth it.
“But now,” she continues, softer this time, “you smile more.”
I lean back on one arm watching her carefully. “That’s your fault.”
“Probably.”
Silence settles comfortably between us after that while the river moves steadily nearby.
Then Nora glances toward the water.
And I know that look immediately.
“No.”
Her eyes widen innocently. “What?”
“No.”
“We’re absolutely skinny dipping.”
“Baby, we’re forty.”
“And?”
“And our children have exhausted me.”
She stands anyway, already pulling off her boots. “You’re coming.”
“Bossy.”
“You like it.”
Fair.
I watch her strip down slowly beside the river, moonlight sliding across bare skin while heat punches low through my body exactly the same way it did the first night she slept in my cabin.
Ten years.
Five kids.
And I still look at her like a starving man.
Nora catches me staring and smirks. “You gonna undress or just brood attractively from the blanket?”
I yank my shirt over my head immediately.
“That answer your question?”
“Definitely.”
The river’s freezing.
Naturally.
Nora shrieks the second she jumps in while I laugh hard enough my chest hurts.
“You brought me here on purpose,” she accuses.
“You’re the one who wanted to swim.”
“You’re evil.”
“You married me anyway.”
She splashes water directly into my face.
Wrong move.
I grab her around the waist instantly and haul her against me while she laughs breathlessly, river water sliding down her skin beneath the moonlight.
“There she is,” I murmur.
Her smile softens immediately.
“What?”
“That look.”
“What look?”
“The one you get when you’re happy.”
She goes quiet for a second then, fingers sliding up my chest slowly while water moves around us.
“You know the best day of my life?” she asks softly.
“The day our kids were born.”
“Nope.”
I raise a brow.
“The day I got auctioned off to the grumpy, growly, sexy alpha mountain man of Devil’s Peak.”
I laugh under my breath. “Sexy?”
“Oh, don’t act humble now. You were terrifyingly hot.”
“Still am.”
“Unfortunately.”
I kiss her before she can keep talking.
Slow this time.
Deep.
The kind of kiss built from years instead of urgency.
From knowing each other completely.
Her body melts against mine instantly, familiar and perfect while river water moves around us beneath the stars.
“I love you,” she whispers against my mouth.
The words still hit me hard every damn time.
I rest my forehead against hers. “Love you more.”
“That’s not mathematically possible considering I gave you five children.”
“You’re welcome, by the way.”
She laughs softly again before kissing me deeper, slower, her hands sliding through my hair while something warm and aching opens in my chest so wide it almost hurts.
Ten years ago, I thought survival was enough.
Then she showed up on my mountain exhausted, stubborn, hunted, and entirely too beautiful for my peace of mind.
And somewhere between protecting her and falling for her, I found the life I didn’t know I was still capable of having.
A wife who still drives me insane.
Five wild kids tearing through the woods like tiny mountain criminals.
A home that feels alive every time I walk into it.
Nora pulls back just enough to look at me, moonlight catching in her eyes.
“What?” she whispers.
I brush wet hair back from her face slowly. “Nothing.”
Liar.
It’s everything.
The End