Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
When he finally appears at the back door, his hair is damp at his temples, there’s mud on his knee, and a narrow scrape along his cheekbone.
I wait only long enough for him to set his rifle down before I throw myself into his arms, and he absorbs me without a sound, one arm going around my back and the other locking over my shoulders.
He’s solid under my hands, and alive. His heart beats hard against my cheek. I stretch onto my toes to kiss him, then touch his cheek, just beside the scrape.
“Are you bleeding anywhere else?”
He frowns, then says, “It’s just a scratch. No. I’m fine.”
I look him over anyway, knowing he’d deflect even if a body part were missing. “They came here,” I say, part question, part statement.
“Two-man team,” Cade says.
“For me?”
“For us,” Rhett says behind me.
“They were probing,” Cade says.
“They weren’t here to grab you,” Boone says. “Too light for that. Too few men. They were testing our response.”
Cade strokes the back of my neck with his thumb. “They found out Turner doesn’t have a clean angle on this cabin.”
“And that we shoot back,” Boone says.
The words are comforting, but they also make my stomach twist in an icy knot. Harlan Turner sent armed men to the cabin at dawn. Any thoughts I’ve had that he’s only trying to scare me are long gone.
“Come here,” Rhett says.
It’s a command, but I go anyway.
Rhett sets his phone on the table and cups my face in both hands. “They came onto our mountain,” he says. “They approached our home, and they ran when Cade engaged. That’s the full extent of what they accomplished.”
My breath catches, and I realize I’m shaking. Not hard, but enough that he notices, too.
“Being scared doesn’t make you weak, Wren.” His thumbs stroke my cheeks.
“I didn’t say it did.”
“No, but you looked like you were about to punish yourself for it.”
He’s right. One hundred percent. “I’m used to handling things.”
“You are handling this.”
“I stood in a closet while you all—”
Boone cuts in. “You held position. That’s important. People get killed because they can’t do what they’re told when rounds start moving.”
“I’m not one of your soldiers.”
Rhett swipes his thumb down my lower lip. “No, you’re harder.”
“Amen,” Boone mutters, and Rhett almost grins.
A laugh breaks out of me. It’s shaky, and I’m close to tears, but the knot in my stomach loosens enough for me to breathe.
The rest of the day is filled with phone calls, maps, defensive revisions, and patrols. I make sandwiches around noon after I realize we all forgot breakfast. At dinner, I eat a quiet meal with Boone and Cade while Rhett takes a sentry shift outside.
They’ve been rotating patrols all day, and for me, it’s like a hamster wheel of worry.
When Rhett returns at ten, Boone’s ready to head out into the dark, but I stop him with a touch on his arm.
“Before you go, I need to talk to you.” I raise my voice. “To all of you. Together.” My heart’s pounding wildly, and it only gets worse when three sets of dark eyes immediately land on me with laser focus.
“What’s wrong?” Rhett demands.
“Nothing’s wrong. I mean … that’s not why I want to talk to you. I just—” I stop and decide to just say it before my nerves derail me. “I love you. All of you.”
The three Wilder brothers freeze so fully, the room turns into a photo, a moment frozen in time.
“I love all three of you,” I say. “And I’m not just saying it because someone shot at the cabin this morning. I’m saying it because I’ve known for a while, and I want you to know it, too.”
Boone’s the first to unfreeze. Cade’s breath leaves him in a rough exhale. Rhett’s chest expands, but the rest of him remains still. Even his face is stripped bare like I’ve never seen.
I’ve shaken them deeply.
“Wren,” Rhett says finally. Just my name.
I look back at him.
“Are you always this brave?” he asks.
“No.”
Boone takes hold of my wrist. “Liar.”
I turn to look at him, and he twines his fingers with mine. “I love you, too, sweetheart. So much I don’t know what to do with all of it.” Then he kisses me, soft and slow, showing me how much he means it.
Cade steps in next and takes my other hand. He’s silent for nearly half a minute as he stands there stroking the back of my hand with his thumb. “I’ve been in love with you since the ridge,” he says.
“When you followed me?”
“When you ran for safety while two armed men came up the slope behind you. You were scared, but you kept moving. Smart, stubborn, fast enough to piss me off.”
I squeeze his palm and step closer. “That’s what did it for you?”
“That’s when I realized it had already happened.” He brings my hand to his mouth, kisses my knuckles, then kisses my lips with the same devastating focus.