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CHAPTER

SEVEN

SIERRA

The fluorescent lights buzz overhead as I step into the office, the air stale and cold in a way that seeps into my bones. The warmth of the cabin, the heat of Everest’s arms around me, the way the morning light lit up his face—it all feels like a dream I woke up from too soon.

I can still feel the way my heart cracked when he looked at me like a stranger. Like I was just another player in some deal. I told him the truth. And maybe that’s what stings the most. I was honest.

And it didn’t matter.

“Sierra,” a voice barks from across the room.

I don’t need to look. I already know who it is. Martin. My boss. The man who holds my paycheck, my future, and—if I let him—my dignity in his hands.

He strides over, all stiff shoulders and forced smiles, his cologne wafting like a chemical warning. “Where the hell were you yesterday?”

“I was on the mountain,” I say evenly. “Looking for Everest Smith.”

His eyes narrow. “And?”

“I never found him.”

He snorts. “You just didn’t work hard enough. I always say if you want something bad enough, you’ll get it.”

I clench my jaw. I want to argue. To tell him I walked for hours in the blistering heat, passed out on a porch, and fell into something I didn’t see coming. But instead, I bite the inside of my cheek and nod.

“Right,” I say. “I’ll do better next deal.”

His lips curl, satisfied. “Good girl.”

I swallow the bile rising in my throat as he gestures for me to follow him. “Clients are here. Let’s make a good impression. Smile, Sierra.”

I force my shoulders back and step into the conference room. The walls are all glass and chrome, a sleek lie. The clients are already seated—two men in suits and a woman with a perfect blowout and a sharper smile.

I take the seat beside Martin, and just as the clients start making small talk, I feel it—his hand. Sliding around my waist like it belongs there.

I stiffen. But I don’t move. Instead, I plaster on a smile. The kind of smile that says I belong here. That I’m fine. That nothing inside me is breaking.

I glance at the reflection in the window across the table and barely recognize the woman looking back.

I sit at the long glass table, trying to focus on the words spilling from the clients’ mouths—square footage projections, slope access, early investor interest. But it’s all static in my ears.

Martin’s hand doesn’t move from my waist. I miss my mountain man.

I miss the way he touched me. The way I felt safe with him.

I am a fool to think you can spend 24 hours with a man and somehow form a real connection.

I’ve thought a thousand times that I shouldn’t have told him who I truly am, but then what would the relationship be if I couldn’t be me?

I relegate myself to the fact that he will always be the one that got away. I guess it wasn’t meant to be after all…

I shift slightly in my chair, trying to make it seem casual, professional, but Martin just tightens his grip. I grit my teeth, trying to smile and trying to hide my disgust. It’s like I’m some trophy he’s placing on the table for everyone to see.

I nod politely at something the woman across from me says. And then I hear it. A voice. Low. Rough. Commanding . “Take your hand off her before I break it.”

My heart stops. The room falls into a thick, stunned silence.

I turn. And there he is.

It’s my mountain man and he’s left his cabin. Standing just inside the glass doorway, the sun casting a halo around his broad frame like he’s a god who has descended from the heavens to rescue me from this tortured hell. His jaw is set like stone, blue eyes burning a hole through Martin.

No one moves. But Martin. His hand drops from my waist like it’s been electrocuted.

“Who are you?” Martin says, voice high with forced bravado. I can see his hand waiving to the secretary to call for security.

Everest doesn’t even blink. “I said take your hands off her. And I don’t say things twice.”

I stand slowly, legs trembling, every eye in the room swinging to me.

“Sierra,” Everest says, his tone softer when he speaks to me, but still firm. “You okay?”

I nod, words caught somewhere between my heart and throat.

I should be terrified. Martin could ruin me. Fire me. Blackball me from every project in the state. And yet… I’ve never felt safer.

He came for me.

And he’s standing in a boardroom full of sharks, unafraid, demanding that I be treated with the respect I never could articulate that I deserved.

I run to him, but Martin grabs my arm. “Everest!”

Martin recovers enough to laugh—too loud, too fake. He moves me behind him, placing himself between Everest and I. “Everest Smith! I’m so glad you could come down. We’ve been meaning to discuss a business proposition. If you could wait?—”

I can see the fury building in Everest’s face. Martin has touched me again. Specifically going against his earlier commands.

“You’re not to speak my name. You’re not to address me.

Hell, you aren’t even allowed to look at me.

” He says to Martin as he towers over him with his fists clenched.

“And as of now, you may no longer speak her name as well. This is your last warning. If I see you lay a hand on Sierra again, I will crush your fingers beyond recognition. You will be lucky if you can wipe your sorry ass with the stump I leave behind.”

Everest points to me and beckons me to come to him. Martin wipes the look of confusion off his face and painfully attempts to recover. “She works for me.”

“Not anymore,” Everest says.

The clients look between us, clearly unsure of what’s happening.

“Everest,” I finally say, voice trembling, “what are you doing here?”

He looks at me, and his expression softens. “I came to take you home.”

For a moment, the world spins. I can barely breathe.

Then he moves—quick, purposeful steps across the room like he belongs here more than any of these suits ever could. His presence commands the space, but all I see is the fire in his eyes as they lock on mine. Fire and something else.

Something I don’t deserve, but desperately want.

Before I can even catch my breath, he’s in front of me, his arms wrapping around me, pulling me into the strength of his body like I was made to fit there. I melt into him, instinct taking over, every inch of me drawn to his heat, his scent, the rhythm of his chest as it rises and falls.

He’s holding me in his arms just like he did the first day we met. Saving me then, and saving me now. My heart is pounding so loud I swear the whole room can hear it.

He leans close, his breath warm against my ear. “I was a fool to let you walk out of my cabin,” he murmurs, voice thick with regret. “But it’s never going to happen again.”

My breath catches, but before I can speak, his hands move—firm, reverent—cradling my face like I’m the most precious thing he’s ever touched.

Then his mouth finds mine.

The kiss is not polite. Not hesitant. It’s fierce. Hungry. A collision of pain and longing and… tender.

I gasp against him, and he deepens the kiss, like he’s claiming me. And I want to be claimed.

Maybe I’ve always wanted that—someone to see past the mask, past the polished smiles and professional armor. Someone who sees the woman beneath it all and wants her anyway.

My fingers twist in his shirt, anchoring myself, holding tight to him like he’s the only solid thing in a world that’s been spinning too fast.

He finally breaks the kiss, just an inch between us, his forehead pressed against mine. His eyes search mine, and what I see there undoes me.

“You’re mine, Sierra,” he says, low and fierce, like a vow. “And I don’t care who’s watching.”

I tremble—not with fear, but with something like release. Like every wall I’ve built around myself has finally cracked and let the light in.

I don’t even glance at Martin. I don’t need to. I don’t care what the clients think. I don’t care about the job, the meeting, or the consequences.

Because this— he —is real. And for the first time, I’m choosing real over what’s expected.

Everest takes my hand, and I feel his fingers thread between mine. Strong. Steady. Unshakable.

“Let’s get out of here,” he says.

I nod, tears burning behind my eyes. Not sadness. Gratitude.

He leads me out of the boardroom, out of the building, and into the light of a future I hadn’t dared hope for.

And I don’t look back. Because Everest came for me. He came when I thought all hope was lost.

And this time, I’m not just walking away from the life I thought I wanted.

I’m running toward the one I know I want. The one I deserve.