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He rises quickly, shoving his jeans aside. Rough kisses against my stomach, rough sucks on my nipples. I’m on fire, twisting in the sheets until he pins me, thrusting his cock deep in my clenching core. He works me hard and fast, holding me down, covering my mouth with his.

Lifting my head, I chase his lips, doing my best to keep up, longing for every bit of him. Our bodies move in time. Our sounds are animal—groans and whimpers, moans and sighs. Our hands and arms are everywhere, pulling pushing, gripping and embracing.

The closer he gets, the faster he moves, drawing me right along with him until we combus

t. My arms tighten around his shoulders. His body stills with a hard thrust, pulsing and pushing me higher in the bed.

We hold each other as we shoot through the stars, riding out the electric waves of bliss, shooting through eternity together, until we come down, breathless and spent, looking at each other like we’ve reconnected pieces of ourselves wrongly separated.

Turning our bodies in the bed, he pulls me to his chest like always, spooning me against him, kissing the back of my neck.

“I love you, Melinda Claire.” The sound of his voice thrills me to my curled toes. “You’re never leaving me again.”

Laughing, I lift his hand to my lips for a kiss. “I love you Sawyer Louis. You’re never leaving me again.”

“You’re right.” His strong arms are around me, and it’s the greatest feeling on the planet.

We fell in love as children, holding each other through our darkest times. Now we’re here, adults who’ve been damaged and who’ve changed. We’ve found out who we were, and now we’re together knowing without a doubt, this is the life we want.

Whatever storms come our way, he’s my anchor, and I am his. We’re in the light now, and it’s where I’ll stay forever.

Epilogue

Sawyer

“The chance of a hard freeze is a hundred percent.” Ed Daniels sits in the Denny’s sipping weak coffee and looking grim. “It could do some serious damage.”

An April freeze is the worst thing that can happen in this area. The young fruit is so delicate, we could lose our entire harvest, which not only kills our bottom line, it kills the festival. And the festival, as I’ve previously noted, draws vendors and tourists from all over the world. It’s a huge loss for the entire community.

“Time to test out the heating system.” I stand, adjusting the cap on my head.

Twelve years ago, I prepared for this. I watched a program where farmers installed small heaters throughout the rows to filter heat along the ground, and giant wind turbines were used to pull it up surrounding the immature fruit. We don’t have a ton of them, but we have enough to save our crop—as long as nothing goes wrong.

“I’m willing to sleep in the rows tonight, but I’m going to need help to monitor the entire crop. To make sure the heaters don’t go out or the windmills stop turning.”

It’s a serious matter, but it can also be kind of fun. And I’ve got something I’ve been wanting to do since Christmas. Sleeping under the stars in the middle of a potential frost oddly seems like the perfect setting for it.

“I’ll send my boys over.” Wayne Doucet stands, holding up a finger. “I know Ed will send over his kids.”

“That’s great. Thanks, guys. I’ll get Noel and Taron and Leon in on this.” I stand, ready to head to Lewis’s to pick up the item I ordered the day after Mindy was discharged from the hospital.

“Don’t say it like it’s some kind of treat.” Noel is indignant, marching through the house. “It’s cold, the ground is hard, and it’s freakin miserable. You should say give up a night’s sleep in the rows.”

“I want to sleep with the trees, Mamma!” Dove bounces on her toes beside me. “Miss Tamara says Boo could come over, too!”

My sister narrows her eyes at me, and I lean forward, whispering in her ear. “I’ve got something special planned for Mindy… It’d be cool if you considered helping out… in case I’m occupied.”

Light hits her eyes, and she claps her hands, bouncing on her toes. “You’re going to propose in the orchard? Oh, it’s going to be so romantic!”

Stepping forward, I hold my hand lightly over her lips. “Little pictures.”

The rest of the day is spent testing the heaters and arranging sleeping bags and cots throughout the hills.

“We can take shifts sleeping, especially as the night wears on.” I’m walking with Leon, who stops every few paces to look back at the last station.

“Think this is close enough?”

We’re trying to make sure the guards are spaced evenly to hear if anything goes wrong while still covering the orchard.