Page 8

Nate

She’d walked away.

Past me. Through me.

Like I was already part of the past.

I stood there on the riverbank after she’d disappeared up the trail, the sound of water rushing around me, knowing I was on the verge of possibly making the worst mistake of my life and I’d made a few.

If I let her go…

All I could think about was how she’d felt beneath me last night.

Her laughter echoing off the lodge walls when I’d told her some stupid story about a client who’d tried to fish with a sandwich instead of bait.

Her smile when she’d finally mastered that cast. Her damn sunburnt nose that first day, pink and adorable and so fucking city girl it had made my chest tight.

The way she’d whispered my name when I was buried deep inside her. Not once. Not twice. I’d taken her three times last night.

I was not a man to back away from a battle. Never had been, not in Afghanistan, not when the doctors said I might never walk right again, not when my ex had packed her bags and walked out of my life like I was nothing more than damaged goods.

Ellie hadn’t cried. She hadn’t begged or demanded explanations.

She’d just looked me in the eye, handed my heart back with a few simple words and walked away.

She’d gutted me.

I turned toward the water, staring at the spot where she’d stood and caught a fish. Without me.

She didn’t need me.

But I needed her.

Not just her body—though I’d never forget the feel of her wrapped around me, soft and warm and trusting—but everything. Her laugh. Her shy attempts at flirting. The way she made me want things I thought I was done wanting.

A future. A home. Someone to wake up next to, who didn’t run when things got hard.

Someone who looked at me and didn’t see the scars.

Just me.

And now I faced the biggest battle of my life, and I was standing here like an idiot, letting the best thing that had ever happened to me walk away because I was scared.

Scared of getting hurt again. Scared of loving someone so much it could destroy me when they inevitably left.

But what if she didn’t leave? What if I was about to lose the only woman who’d ever seen past my walls to the man I used to be—the man I could be again with her?

I’d almost let what if’s rule my world once, I wasn’t going to do it again.

“Fuck this,” I growled, and took off up the trail.

I caught up with her as she neared the lodge. Her hips were swaying with each step, and I immediately reacted.

She was mine, damn it. And I was about to make sure she knew it.

“Ellie,” I called out, my voice carrying the authority I’d learned in the military. “Stop.”

She almost did. I saw the glitch in her step, the way her shoulders tensed. But then she continued walking, didn’t look back.

I smirked. She had no idea what she’d unleashed in me. Had no idea how her life was about to change.

I stalked toward her with the single-minded focus of a predator, caught up to her in three long strides, and spun her around to face me. “We need to talk.”

She tilted her head, defiant and hurt and so beautiful it made my chest ache. “No, we don’t.”

“Yes, we do. Let’s go back to my cabin.”

“No.” She set down her gear with deliberate precision, crossing her arms over her chest. “If you have anything to say to me, you can say it here, in the great wide open. I’m sure the squirrels will bear witness.”

Smart mouth. God, I loved her smart mouth.

“Fine.” I moved closer, close enough to see the flecks of gold in her brown eyes, close enough to smell that floral shampoo that had been driving me crazy all week. “Stay.”

Her mouth fell open at that one unexpected word.

“Stay with me,” I said, moving even closer, a wicked smile playing at my lips. “Didn’t think that was going to happen, did you?”

“You left this morning,” she said, but her voice was softer now, uncertain.

“Yes, I did. I was an asshole.” I reached up to cup her face, my thumb tracing along her cheekbone. “And I had to feed my dog. But I’m here now.”

“You have a dog?”

“Yeah, I do. There’s a lot you don’t know about me, baby.” I leaned down until our foreheads were almost touching. “Just say you forgive me, Ellie. Say you’ll stay. That’s all you need to think about right now.”

She was quiet for a long moment, studying my face like she was looking for lies, for the catch, for the reason this couldn’t be real. Then she tilted her head and closed the distance between us, her hands coming up to rest against my chest.

“Oh, I think I need to think about a few more things,” she smirked. “Like how I hooked the best thing this summer.”

She looped her arms around my neck, pulling me down toward her. “How I hooked you.”

“Damn straight you did.” I couldn’t quite say everything I needed to. But I would. And soon. “From the moment you put that fly in my shoulder, you had me.”

“Really?”

“Really.” I slid my hands into her hair, tilting her face up to mine. “I love you, Ellie. I should have said it last night. Should have said it this morning instead of leaving. But I’m saying it now.”

Her eyes went wide, bright with unshed tears. “You love me?”

“More than I thought possible. More than I’ve ever loved anyone.” I pressed my forehead against hers, breathing her in. “Stay with me. For the summer. Forever. However long you’ll have me.”

“I love you too. I have since that first day. Since I hooked you and you didn’t kill me for it.”

“Best thing that ever happened to me,” I said, and meant every word.

“Even though I’m terrible at fishing?”

“You caught the biggest one,” I said, grinning down at her. “You caught me.”

She laughed, that sound I’d been missing for all of two hours but felt like a lifetime. “So what happens now?”

“Now,” I said, swooping down to capture her mouth with mine, “I take you back to my cabin and show you exactly how much I love you. And then we figure out the rest.”

The kiss was hard and desperate and full of promises I intended to keep. When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard, and I could see the want in her eyes that matched my own.

“What about my things?” she asked, glancing toward the lodge.

“We’ll get them later.” I picked up her fishing gear, slinging it over my shoulder. “Right now, I have more important things to show you.”

“Like your dog?”

“Like my dog. My cabin. My bed.” I waggled my eyebrows at her, and she dissolved into giggles. “In that order.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” I caught her hand in mine, threading our fingers together. “I love you, city girl.”

“I love you too, mountain man.”

As we walked toward my truck, hand in hand, I couldn’t help but realize everything had a season and somethings happened when you least expected them.

Or how you expected them. Like a bright pink lure landing on your shoulder, cast by the most beautiful woman standing in a cold mountain river.