Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 29299 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29299 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
She considers that. “Like when I got a stuffed puppy and still loved my old teddy bear?”
“Exactly like that.”
She nods, satisfied.
“I like you,” she says, simple and direct.
My chest warms.
“I like you too, Lace.”
She grins and darts off toward the kids building a tower of paper cups.
I straighten slowly, eyes finding Sawyer again. He’s watching us.
When I walk back toward him, he doesn’t move away from the engine. He waits.
“You survive the sugar rush?” he asks.
“Barely.”
He steps closer. Not touching. Just close enough that the air shifts.
“You okay?” he asks quietly.
“I am.”
“You sure?”
“Why do you ask like that?”
He studies my face. “You handle this well.”
“This?” I gesture around us.
“This.” His voice lowers slightly. “My world.”
I hold his gaze. “It doesn’t feel like I’m borrowing it.”
His jaw tightens briefly.
“Good,” he says.
“Why?”
“Because I’m not offering it on loan.”
The words settle deep in my stomach. Heat rises under my skin.
“You’re bold tonight,” I murmur.
He steps even closer now, crowding my space deliberately.
“I’ve been holding back long enough.”
“You’re at work,” I whisper.
He smirks. “I’m off shift.”
“The crew is ten feet away.”
“They already know.”
“Know what?”
His hand brushes my hip lightly, possessive but not crude.
“That you’re mine.”
My breath catches despite myself.
“I’m not something you own,” I say, but it comes out softer than intended.
He leans down, mouth near my ear. “I don’t own you,” he murmurs. “I choose you.”
My knees weaken slightly at that.
“You’re playing a dangerous game, Sawyer Rivers.”
“I’ve walked into worse.”
I swallow, trying to steady myself. “You used to pretend this wasn’t happening.”
“I was a coward.”
“You weren’t.”
“I was,” he says firmly. “I hid behind duty. Behind grief.”
“And now?”
“Now I don’t.” He pulls back slightly so I can see his face.
There’s no shadow there. No conflict. Just certainty.
“Come with me,” he says quietly.
My pulse kicks.
“Where?”
“Just come.”
Before I can overthink it, he takes my hand and leads me toward the back of the bay, near the old picnic tables set up by the open doors. The mountain air drifts in cool and clean.
The crew’s laughter swells behind us.
He stops near the ladder truck.
“You’re intense,” I murmur.
“I’ve been quiet for too long.”
“That’s not my fault.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re about to do something reckless.”
He huffs a quiet laugh. “You think asking for what I want is reckless?”
“It depends what you want.”
He holds my gaze steadily. “You.”
The simplicity of it knocks the air from my lungs.
“You already have me,” I whisper.
“Not like this.”
The teasing tone is gone. My heart thunders.
“Sawyer…”
He drops to one knee. Everything around us fades. For a half-second, I don’t process it. Then the world tilts.
“What are you doing?” I hiss.
He looks up at me, eyes steady and fierce.
Someone behind us gasps.
“Oh my God,” I hear Axel mutter loudly.
Sawyer ignores them.
“Tessa,” he says, voice carrying but still somehow just for me. “You walked into my life when I wasn’t looking for anything. You didn’t try to fix me. You didn’t compete with my past. You stood there. Steady. And you loved my daughter like she was your own.”
My throat tightens instantly.
“You brought laughter back into my house,” he continues. “You made it warm again.”
The crew has gone quiet now. Lacee is standing near the front, hands clasped under her chin. Sawyer reaches into his pocket.
“I don’t want you as a season,” he says. “I don’t want you as a chapter. I want you as my partner. As my wife. As the woman I wake up next to when the world gets hard.”
He opens the small box. The ring catches the light.
“I’m not asking because I need you to save me,” he says steadily. “I’m asking because I choose you. Fully. Without hiding.”
My hands fly to my mouth.
“You’re serious,” I whisper.
“I’ve never been more serious.”
The crew starts shifting, anticipation buzzing.
“You’re going to ruin me,” I murmur weakly.
A slow grin touches his mouth. “I already did.”
A laugh breaks from me through tears. “You’re impossible.”
“And you love me anyway.”
I shake my head, heart pounding so hard it feels like it might crack my ribs.
“Say it,” he says quietly.
“You’re bossy.”
“Say it.”
I drop my hands and look at him. “Yes.”
The word leaves me breathless.
“Yes,” I repeat, louder.
The firehouse erupts.
Cheers. Whistles. Someone actually howls.
Axel shouts, “about damn time, old man!”
Ash claps loudly off-beat.
Lacee runs forward and nearly tackles us both as Sawyer stands and pulls me into his arms.
He lifts me effortlessly, spinning me once as laughter and applause crash around us.
“You’re shaking,” he murmurs against my hair.
“So are you.”
“Yeah.”He sets me down slowly but keeps his hands on my waist. “You’re sure?” he asks quietly, just for me.
“Yes.”
“No regrets?”
“None.”
His forehead presses to mine.
“I won’t hide you,” he says.
“You better not.”
“I won’t dim you.”
“You better not,” I repeat, a tremble of laughter in my voice.
He kisses me and I fall a little harder for my impossibly stubborn, wildly sexy employer. My lover. My future husband.