When the sun came up, I lay watching her sleep. Her face was relaxed, peaceful in a way I hadn't seen since she'd come back to Hollow Peak. The tension that had lived in her shoulders was gone.
She was here. In my bed. In my life.
After everything, she was finally here.
Her eyes fluttered open. She smiled when she saw me watching her.
"Creepy," she murmured. She stretched, her body pressing against mine in ways that made my blood heat. "What time is it?"
"Early. You don't have to be anywhere."
"I have to be here." She curled closer, her hand resting over my heart. "Right here. With you."
I kissed her forehead. Her nose. The corner of her mouth.
"What happens now?" she asked quietly. "With us. With Cal. With everything."
I pulled back enough to meet her eyes. "I'm done making decisions without you. From now on, we're partners. Whatever comes, we face it together."
She smiled. "I like that."
I rolled her onto her back, settling between her thighs. "I should probably warn you, I'm a lot to handle."
She laughed, wrapping her arms around my neck. "I think I can manage."
I kissed her, deep and slow, and let the morning disappear into something better.
For the first time in eight years, I wasn't waiting for something.
I had everything I wanted.
Chapter 13: Daisy
Word traveled fast in Hollow Peak.
By noon on Saturday, everyone in town knew that Daisy Taylor and Knox Parker were together. The showdown at Timberline Tavern had been witnessed by half the population, and the other half had heard about it before breakfast.
I walked into the Switchback Café holding Knox's hand, and the entire room went quiet.
Mae was behind the counter, her silver braid swinging as she looked up. Her eyes dropped to our joined hands, then rose to my face, and a smile spread across her features like sunrise over the mountains.
"Well, well." She set down the coffee pot she'd been holding. "About damn time."
The tension in the room broke. Conversations resumed. A few people smiled at us and a few more pretended they hadn't been staring.
Knox guided me to a booth in the corner, his hand warm on the small of my back. I slid in, and he slid in next to me instead of across from me, his thigh pressing against mine.
"You didn't have to sit on this side," I said.
He draped his arm across the back of the booth, his fingers brushing my shoulder. "I spent eight years not being able to touch you. I'm making up for lost time."
Mae appeared at our table with two cups of coffee and a knowing look. "Cinnamon rolls are fresh. I'll bring you a couple."
"Mae, you don't have to..." I started.
"Hush." She waved a hand. "I've been waiting for this day since you were twenty years old, sneaking around with this one and thinking nobody noticed." She gave Knox a pointed look. "I noticed."
Knox had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. "We thought we were being careful."