He flipped me off as he rolled back and then started his bike. I grinned, giving him a brief wave, glad to have him out of my life.
I can’t say that I was always looking over my shoulder, but it’s nice to know that I didn’t have to think about him ever coming back. Especially if his daughter was here.
“Can we talk?”
I snapped out of my daze and nodded, following her to the porch. I sat down, easily pulling her on my lap and she sighed, content in my arms. And hell, so was I.
I didn’t think about age when we were like this. And sure, it had been a very short time since all of this happened, but she was a haven for me, a place for my weary soul and I had no intention of ever letting go.
Well, unless she wanted to, but something told me that wasn’t happening.
She rested her head on my shoulder, her fingers playing with my shirt. I let her be in silence, figuring she needed the time to collect her thoughts.
“I don’t want you to think I’m using you.”
I shook my head at her soft voice, never once thinking that anything like that would come out.
“What?” I asked, truly stunned.
“All I’m about to share, I don’t want you to think I’m just using you.”
“Vixen, I would never think that. You’ve been through a lot, we both have you know, and I would never believe that of you. What’s going on in that head of yours?”
I had so many questions, so many concerns. But none that I could voice because this was still in her time, in her own way.
Though, she had me worried, thinking that maybe she might just walk away after all.
***** Vixen *****
“Every night, for years, I’ve had nightmares, even daydreams, about my life. I hated coming back to my dad, I can’t even express how much I did. But I never had someone want to stand up for me.”
“Yes, babe, you’ve told me that.”
“Today, right now,” I started, waving my hand behind me at the blood-spilled dirt, “is the first time that everything in my life felt right. That I was where I needed to be. Where I longed to be. Where I wished to truly be.
“And that’s because of you, Hugh. You didn’t just save me years ago. And you just didn’t save me from my minor injuries, or my precious bike. But you saved me, my heart, my soul. This road, this dark road, was that. But you brought light to it.”
My heart twisted at the look on his face, and I cupped his cheeks.
“I would never hurt myself, but it’s lonely. I never got close to anyone, not even my mom. The only place that’s ever felt right to me is when I’m with you.”
I swallowed hard then brushed my lips over his, feeling how soft and sweet they were.
“You need to understand something,” he told me, holding me as tightly as I was holding him. “You saved me just as much. It was your face I saw, it was you I fought for to stay alive. I lived for those days that I saw you drive through town, praying with no right to, that you would stop to say hi.”
“I wish you had stopped me.” With that, I kissed him harder, needing him to fully understand everything I was saying, and not saying. I needed him to accept that he was mine and I was his, from here on out, no matter what.
“You’ll stay?” he breathed against my lips, and I nodded.
“You can’t get rid of me. I want to spend mornings out here, watching the sunrise with coffee. I want to spend winter nights wrapped up in a blanket before a fire. I want to taint every inch of your cabin, and then taint every part we can of these woods. I want it all, but I want it only with you Hugh. No one else will ever mend like you can.”
“Those words are music to my ears, baby.”
He kissed me, harder than he had before, but with so much love, passion, and fire that I wanted to strip him down right now and devour him.
“I love you,” I told him, moving to straddle his lip, needing more of him, needing all of him.
“Love you more,” he threw back, his hand entangling my hair to tilt my head, making the kiss even deeper.
“Every night,” I started, nipping at his lips as I pulled back to stare in his eyes, “I will tell you what you mean, what you did.”
“Yeah? What did I do? What will you claim?”
I grinned and kissed him again, whispering the words against his lips. “No biker saved me. Instead, I’ll let you know that I was Saved By The Mountain Man.”
