Page 112 of Tempting Wyatt

In her silence I hear the words she doesn’t say.But I’ve longed for it.

My stomach tightens with words I don’t know if I’m ready to say or she’s ready to hear.

My dad proposed to my mom up here, said he felt closer to the heavens this high up and he needed all the help he could get.

“I’m sorry,” I say, reaching for her hand.

She shrugs, like she didn’t just flay herself open.

“It was always just me and my mom. And even then, it felt like it was just me most of the time.” She forces a sad smile. “We moved around a lot. New town, new school, new shitty apartment every six months or so. I never really had a home, never had roots anywhere.”

Something solid with jagged edges wedges itself in my chest as she speaks.

“That’s why I was so intent on you making peace with Caleb,” she admits. “You have the family I always dreamed of being a part of. I envy you,” she says softly, turning back to the view. “Your family. Your connection to this place. To the land. To something real and tangible and permanent.”

I swallow hard, my throat thick. “I think I forget sometimes. Some days, all I can see is the burden, the responsibility of it all.”

She glances at me, brows knitting. “I get that too, now. It’s a lot of work, and you shoulder so much of it on your own.”

“But you’re right,” I admit. “I’m lucky. After I lost my dad, I think . . . I don’t know. I buried myself in work. Kept my head down, convinced myself if I just kept moving, keptworking, if I stayed busy and exhausted, I wouldn’t have to feel the pain of the loss.” I exhale a bitter laugh. “And then you showed up and made me realize I’d been so focused on keeping this ranch running that I’d been shutting everyone out.”

She tilts her head, studying me. “You’re doing better.”

I look at her then—really look at her. At this woman who came crashing into my world and forced me tofeelagain.

“Because of you,” I confess. “I need to tell my family how much they mean to me. I need to stop taking what I have for granted. You’ve helped me see that.”

She watches me for a long moment, something unreadable flickering behind those hazel eyes. God, they’re gorgeous. The direct sunlight makes her look even more like an angel than she usually does.

She offers me a small, teasing smile. “Wow. Wyatt Logan. Look at you, getting all sentimental on me. Who would’ve thought?”

I snort. “Don’t get used to it.”

She grins, but it falters as she glances back out over the land. “Being here has made me the happiest I’ve ever been.”

My chest constricts, her confession squeezing the air from my lungs.

“In Montana, I mean, on the ranch,” she clarifies. “Though being up here is pretty amazing, too. Thank you for bringing me. It would’ve been a shame to leave before I saw this.”

Her words pierce my chest like a rusty knife. Because I believe her. She is happy here, hell of a lot happier than when she arrived. And yet, she’s leaving anyway.

You being here has made me pretty damn happy, too.

Tell her,I hear Isaac say in my head.Ask her to stay, tell her you don’t want her to go.

How that fucker became the voice in my head, I still have no idea. But there he is.

I’m starting to think it’s because he looks the most like my dad, and because he speaks his mind the same way our father always did. Jack Logan was never afraid to say how he felt in a matter-of-fact way. He believed in taking life as it came, accepting circumstances and people as they were. His favorite sayings were, “All we can do is the best we can with what we’ve been given,” and, “if you want it, work for it.”

I squeeze Ivy’s hand, my fingers brushing over her knuckles.

She doesn’t say anything. Just stares at me like she’s trying to commit this moment to memory. She does that often, I’ve noticed—looks around like she trying to memorize everything.

I squeeze her hand again, then release it, nodding toward the trail. “We’d better get going or there won’t be any lunch left when we get back. You ready?”

She takes in the spectacular view once more. “I was kind of hoping we could just live up here forever.”

I laugh, nudging my horse forward even though she just voiced my feelings like she’s reading my mind. “Forever is a long time and it gets pretty chilly up here after sunset.”