I pick up my father’s notebook with shaking hands and place it on his chair. My gaze shifts to the mountain, silent and still, looking down on me from where it’s stood for thousands of years.
As the rage ebbs, I feel a lightness in my body, and I sag against the window frame. A kestrel swoops past the window, and I wonder if it’s Cookie. My gaze follows the arc of the bird as it lifts into the sky, free.
And my spirits lift with it.
Is it wrong to feel this lightness after I’ve just cut my mother out of my life? Shouldn’t I feel regret, or shame, or sadness? Those feelings are all there, but not as strong as the relief I feel, the freedom of taking control of my own fate.
And I know what that fate is.
Sunlight glints off a roof up the mountain, and it’s as if the mountain is winking at me. I finally get what it’s saying.
I race down the stairs and across the field. Aiden looks up, turns off the chainsaw, and raises his safety glasses.
As I run toward him, he opens his arms, unquestioning.
“I want to stay.” The run has left me breathless and giddy, and I feel lightheaded. “I want to stay with you on the mountain. I’m yours, Aiden. I choose my own fate, and I choose you.”
He spins me around and plants a kiss on my forehead.
“About damn time you realized we’re meant to be together. I’ve got money saved. You don’t need to sell if you don’t want to. We’ll look after your mother …”
I hold up a hand to silence him. “I’ll pay for rehab one time, but that’s all the looking after I’m going to do. She needs to stand on her own two feet.”
“How about your studies?”
“I can finish the rest of my degree online. I looked it up last night,” I add shyly. “Just to see if I could.”
His grin widens. “And the land?”
“I still want to sell, but I’d like Jake’s Retreat to buy it. I want to support the work they’re doing with veterans.”
He pulls me into a hug. “That’s perfect, firefly. Whatever you want, we’ll do it.”
Suddenly, I’m being lifted into the air, and Aiden throws me over his shoulder, which is no mean feat for a girl my size.
“Hey!” I squeal as he strides across the fields and into the woods. “What are you doing?”
“Now that you know you’re mine, I’m going to claim you properly.”
“In the woods?”
“I can’t wait any longer.”
14
AIDEN
Lexi wiggles in my arms as I carry her past the tree line and into the woods. Her pussy rubs against my shoulders, giving off her scent and marking me as hers.
That’s fucking perfect. I’m hers, and she’s mine, and it’s time to seal this deal.
We come to a thick oak tree, and I slide her off my shoulder. Her body grazes mine on the way down, igniting a need in me so fierce I can barely control myself.
“You better say now if this isn’t what you want,” I grit out. “Because I’m about to fuck you against this tree and make you mine for good.”
Her eyes go wide, and she steps backward until she bumps up against the tree trunk. “Come and get it.”
She unbuttons her shirt and lets it fall open, revealing her perfect, perky breasts. I growl as I step toward her, already unbuckling my belt.