Page 11 of Keep Me, Knox (The Mountain Code #5)

Sage

Six months later

There's fresh bread cooling on the counter, wildflowers in a chipped mason jar by the window, and a bear cub trying to climb into the old washtub again.

Some things don’t change.

But some things do.

Like my toothbrush next to his in the bathroom. My boots beside his by the door. The fact that I still call this place “his cabin” even though it now feels like mine too.

I only meant to stay a few days. Just long enough to gather more data on Rosie and the cubs. Just long enough to figure things out between Knox and me.

But a few days turned into a week. Then two. Then a month. Then more.

And I haven't left.

Not really.

I still make trips down the mountain for work, but every time I do, I feel the tug pulling me back here. Back to him. Back to this life that somehow feels more real than anything I left behind.

The screen door creaks, and I glance over my shoulder as Knox walks in, smelling like coal smoke and steel and whatever magic it is that makes my stomach flip every time he's near.

He stops when he sees me in the kitchen wearing nothing but one of his old flannels and a pair of thick socks.

His smile is lazy. Possessive.

"You makin' a habit of tempting me like that?"

I raise an eyebrow. "You complaining?"

"Not even a little."

He walks over, wraps his arms around me from behind, and presses a kiss to the curve of my neck. I melt into him without thinking. Without needing to.

"Rosie's back in my hammock,” he grumbles.

I laugh. "She's predictable."

"So are you," he says softly. "Always coming back to me."

I turn in his arms, slipping my fingers into the hem of his shirt. "That's because you're home."

His eyes warm, and for a moment, neither of us says anything.

Then he brushes my hair back and says, almost like an afterthought, "My uncle used to say something. About the mountain."

"Oh yeah?"

He nods. "Said, 'You stay alone... until the mountain sends you a woman.'"

I grin. "Sounds like fate."

He leans down and kisses me like it's a promise.

"It was," he says, kneeling to the floor on one knee. He pulls a tiny box from his pocket. “Glad we agree, because I have something for you.”

Tears well in my eyes as he opens the box. Nestled inside is the most beautiful diamond ring I’ve ever seen. “Oh, Knox…”

He gazes up at me with adoring eyes. “I love you, Sage. Marry me.”

Marry me.

It’s a statement, not a question. Because my mountain man doesn’t play games or beat around the bush. He doesn’t have to ask the question because he already knows the answer.

I’m his. I have been since the day we met.