Page 37 of Hero Mine

“It’s perfect.” Her voice cracked, because God help her, she meant it.

He had given her something she didn’t know how to ask for. He hadn’t pushed. He hadn’t tried to force her into anything. He’d justgiven.

Bear nodded, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “It’s not permanent.” His voice was careful, like he needed to remind her. “I don’t want you thinking this is where you have to stay forever. Or evencanstay forever. Once winter hits for good, this thing won’t be habitable.”

“I know.” And she did.

Her throat burned as she looked around at everything he’d done for her. Every single detail screamed that he knew her. That he saw her.

This told her she wasn’t alone.

She turned back to him, her hands trembling at her sides. “I—I’m sorry,” she whispered, the words scraping out of her. “For what I said earlier. About not moving in with you.”

Bear’s brows pulled together. “Bug?—”

“No, let me say it.” She forced a breath past the knot in her chest. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just… I didn’t want you to think I was some kind of charity case.”

His gaze darkened, something flashing through his eyes—something fierce and deep. “Is that what you think I think of you?”

She swallowed hard. “I don’t want to be a burden to you.”

Bear exhaled sharply, then suddenly, his hands were on her face, his callused palms warm against her chilled skin. “You’re not a burden, Joy.” His voice was quiet but firm, unshakable. “You never were. And even through this difficult chapter, you’re not a burden.”

She barely had time to process the words before his mouth was on hers.

The kiss was deep, steady, grounding—everything Bear was, everything she’d always craved from him. He wasn’t demanding. He wasn’t trying to fix her. He was just there, solid and present in a world that had been tilting under her feet for too long.

Their other kisses had been different. Years ago, when she hadn’t quite been eighteen and had tried to seduce him, the kiss had been over almost before it began. Bear hadn’t let it progress to anything inappropriate and never let it get as passionate as Joy desperately wanted.

Then their last kiss—that night… It had been passionate, but incomplete. Both of them hadn’t wanted to rush anything. They’d known it was the beginning for them. The beginning of something important that would change their lives forever.

Instead, the attack had happened, and they’d never found their way back to the promise of that kiss.

This kiss was different all the way around. This kiss held the weight of the fact that no one was promised tomorrow and things didn’t always end up the way you imagined them.

She clutched at his jacket, holding on as her world tilted, and something inside her sparked to life—a flicker of the woman she used to be, the woman she might be again.

It was a long minute before he pulled back and rested his forehead against hers.

“You’ll find your way back,” he murmured, breath warm against her skin. “And if this playhouse helps?” He brushed his thumb over her cheek, his voice rough with emotion. “I’d build you a dozen more.”

Her breath hitched.

Because for the first time in a long time, she believed him.

Chapter11

A week later, Bear wiped down the bar top with slow, deliberate strokes, keeping half an eye on the lunchtime rush. The Eagle’s Nest was packed, conversation buzzing, the scent of burgers and fries thick in the air. He poured a beer for one of the regulars, handed it off, and glanced up—just in time to see Joy weaving through the tables.

Something in his chest went tight.

She was moving differently now. Less like she was bracing for an invisible hit. More likeher.

Not quite the tornado she used to be, but damn if she wasn’t getting closer.

There was color in her cheeks again. Her uniform, which had hung loose on her for too many weeks, was actually starting to fit right again. And when she laughed at something one of the customers said, it wasn’t forced.

Bear took a deep breath, letting the tension that had been coiled in his shoulders for the past month ease, just a little.