Page 105 of The Mountain Echoes

Her expression shifts. “I also need a spa day, Maverick, but I can’t afford either.”

I grin. “I can give you a massage anytime you want.”

She smirks, playfully elbows me.

I yank her braid and kiss heragain.

I can’t stop kissing her.

I want her, yeah, but I want this, too. Easy intimacy. Comfortable companionship.

I’ve never been with a woman with whom I feel so much at ease. She’s not trying to push me to want more with her, and I’m not running away ‘cause I don’t want to hurt her feelings.

She accepts me the way I am. Hasn’t asked for one damn thing.

She gives. In small ways and big.

She gives with her smile.

A cup of coffee.

A touch on my shoulder.

A kiss.

Her silence.

My mornings have been better these past few days because I wake up to the promise of her.

“We have another three weeks before the auction,” she states.

“Yeah.”

“I’ve been thinkin’ what else can go wrong.”

I set my mug down and cup her cheeks so she’s looking at me. “I’m going to help you.”

Her lips lift, but it’s a fragile thing. “I don’t like depending on you.”

My lips curve, and I see a warmth enter her gaze, quickly replaced by despair.

“Why, darlin’?”

She exhales. “I…for a moment I wondered if you were….”

I close my eyes as the import of what she said pierces through me, wounds me.

No woman has been able to hurt me, and she just did with a few words. If that isn’t a sign loud and clear that she means too much to me, I don’t know what is. If I were younger, I’d have run from her, fast and furious. But now, I know how precious this is—how incredible to find someone who holds your heart in their hands, who you trust to keep it safe.

I open my eyes and let her see me—really see me. Her gasp tells me she wasn’t expecting her words to cut that deep.

“I’ll never hurt you, not intentionally,” I promise.

She licks her lips. “I’m afraid.”

Tell me about it, darlin’!

“I know. Me, too.”