Page 73 of Defensive Desire

And just like that, the world is quiet.

Perfectly quiet.

Emma shifts in my arms, lifting her head to meet my eyes. The fire casts light across her cheeks, and for a second, all I can do is stare.

She brushes a piece of hair back from my forehead, her smile soft.

“You’re really happy here, aren’t you?”

I swallow, my voice low. “I am, yeah. But only because you’re here.”

Her expression softens even more, that teasing gleam still sparking in her eyes. “Big, tough hockey player getting soft on me?”

I lean in and kiss her slow, letting it sink deep—past my chest, into the place that’s been hollow for way too long.

“You’re worth it.”

She kisses me back, and then we’re rising up together, hands still linked, moving into the quiet stillness of the cabin.

The bedroom is small. The kind of small where there’s only enough room for the bed and two people who want to be close. Faint darkness and shadows dance across the walls as we slip beneath the quilt, bare skin brushing bare skin.

I wrap my arms around her, pulling her in close, letting the sweet smell of one too many marshmallows she's consumed tonight fill all the empty places I didn’t realize were still there.

“This place,” I murmur against her neck, “it always used to feel too quiet. Not anymore.”

She hums, pressing her lips to my jaw, and I feel her leg slide over mine, the soft friction making my breath hitch.

My hand slides down her back, across the curve of her ass, pulling her against me. My cock’s already hard, pressing between her thighs, and when she shifts to meet me, I sink into her warm entrance slow.

Her heat wraps around me as the old bed creaks. We move together in the dark, the kind of rhythm that doesn't rush. No urgency. No game. Just a deep, unspoken need tobehere. With each other.

She moans my name with a whisper. Like it’s safe.

And I think—I really could give it all up for this.

We keep moving, until I feel her clench around me, her body arching into mine as she comes, her moans smothered by the pillows so my brothers don't hear.

I follow right after, pressing my face into her neck, groaning low and rough as I spill deep inside her, holding her like I never want to let go.

We lie there afterward, tangled in sheets and each other. Her fingers trace along my ribs. I kiss the top of her head.

She shifts to look at me, lids heavy. “You okay?”

I nod, but there’s a knot in my chest I can’t quite swallow down.

Even up here, miles away, I know that in Iron Ridge, the trade rumors still linger. Like frost that hasn’t quite melted yet.

And worse… I haven’t told her. Ishouldtell her.

But not tonight.

Not while she’s warm and smiling and curled up in my arms like she’smine.

Not while this moment still feels untouched.

“I’m perfect,” I whisper, pulling her in tighter. “Now go to sleep, gorgeous.”

She falls asleep before I do, her breath even and slow against my chest.