“I’m falling for you, Fiona. Fast. Too fast, probably.” I swallow. “Last night… this morning… it’s not just sex. Not for me. I don’t want to scare you. I just… I need you to know.”
Her eyes go soft, shimmering. She reaches up, cups my jaw.
“I’m falling too,” she whispers. “I think I started the second I showed up on your doorstep and you didn’t even hesitate. You just opened the door and said, ‘Get in here.’”
I laugh under my breath, relief flooding through me. “Yeah. That’s about how it went.”
She snuggles closer, leg sliding over mine again. “We’ll figure it out. Together. After… everything.”
After Marcus. After the danger. The reminder sits heavy, but right now, with her warm and safe in my arms, it feels farther away.
I tighten my hold on her. “Together,” I agree.
The sun climbs higher, spilling more light across the bed. Outside, birds start calling. Inside, it’s just us—quiet breathing, soft touches, the slow steady beat of two hearts learning how to sync up.
I don’t know what today will bring. More training. More checking cameras. More plans to keep her safe.
But right now? Right now she’s mine, and I’m hers. And that’s enough.
THIRTEEN
FIONA
Last night happened. This morning happened harder. I smile splits my face in two at the thought of Chase and me.
Together.
Not in the dramatic, fireworks-and-chandeliers way my brain likes to over-romanticize things. In the quiet way. The real way. The way two people finally stop pretending they don’t want each other and choose to be brave at the same time.
I’m falling.
Hard.
And that terrifies me almost as much as it thrills me.
We lie together completely blissed out of our minds until… reality taps on the window.
We have a compound full of protectors, a brother who notices everything, and a threat that doesn’t pause because I’m having feelings.
Chase brushes his thumb along my arm. “You okay?”
I nod. “Yeah. I think I am.”
He studies my face like he’s checking for cracks. “You don’t have to figure anything out today.”
“I know,” I say. “But I want to.”
He smiles at that.
We get dressed in a comfortable, almost domestic quiet. No awkwardness. No pretending nothing happened. Just two people moving around each other like we’re learning a new rhythm.
When we head down to the clubhouse, the air feels different. Or maybe I do.
Harper and Kayley are already there with the babies—Aidan in a bouncy seat, Poppi sprawled on a blanket like she owns the place. Boyd is making coffee like it’s a sacred ritual. Emma’s laughing with Rhett. Eli’s arguing with Wyatt about whether pancakes count as “nutritionally responsible.”
Normal.
I like that word here.