“Message received.” I glanced at the door. “Walker said she was alone.”
Irma followed my gaze. “She wanted to be, but I couldn’t quite make myself leave her that way.” She looked at me. “But now that you’re here, I can.” She started down the steps. “Don’t fuck this up, cowboy.”
I blew out a long breath before I rapped on the door. I’d do my best not to fuck things up any worse than I already had. The sounds of a television came from inside. Then the faint sound of footsteps. The door opened.
Jensen stood there, hair falling in loose waves around her face, those amber eyes blazing with a mixture of hurt and anger. She wore tiny sleep shorts and a tank. The outfit made zero sense for the dead of winter, and as the cold air hit her, those nipples I loved so much hardened.
My cock jerked.Fuck.This was not the time. I pushed inside, not waiting for an invitation. “You need to put something else on.”
Jensen’s hands came to her hips. “Excuse me?”
I grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the stairs and her bedroom. “It’s too cold for you to be wearing that.”
“Tuck, my house is about seventy degrees.”
I ignored her protests and kept leading her towards her room. “Don’t care. You’ve been through a lot, and the last thing you need on top of that is to get sick.” I released my hold on Jensen when we reached her space, and I went straight for her dresser, pulling open drawers until I found the one with her sweats. I pulled out the biggest, bulkiest ones I could find and held them out to her. “Here, put these on.”
Those adorable little worry lines appeared between her brows. “Tuck?”
I placed the clothes in her hands, forcing her to take them. “Put on the sweats.”
Jensen’s gaze met mine. “Why?”
A muscle in my cheek ticked. “Because I don’t want you to get sick.”
“Why?”
I let out a growl. “Because I fucking care about you, all right? And the last thing I want is something else happening to you on my watch.”
She let the sweats drop from her hands and stepped closer. “Tuck, none of this was your fault.”
I stepped back, shaking my head. “You know damn well that’s not true. I’ve made a fucking mess of everything.”
Jensen edged closer, moving me back towards her bed. She pressed down on my shoulders. “Look at me.”
I ground my teeth together but tipped back my head so I could meet her gaze.
She cupped my face in her hands. Hands that were incredibly soft even though she worked them to the bone day in and day out. Hands that tended scraped knees and checked fevered brows. Hands that shoveled manure and calmed skittish horses. Hands that soothed my soul and twined with mine so perfectly, it was as if they were always meant to be there.
I pressed my cheek into her palm, my scruff pricking her skin. I wanted to bury myself there. Under her flesh. Crawl as deep as possible so she could never dig me out. “I’m so sorry.”
Jensen took one hand and brushed the hair away from my face. “There’s only one reason you’d have to say that.”
“I think there are plenty of reasons, but what would yours be?”
Tears filled her eyes, and I wanted to slit my own throat. “If you’re trying to leave me again.” A single tear crested over, tracking down her cheek. I reached up and swiped it away with my thumb. “I have to warn you now. You can try and leave, but I’ll just follow. I’ve been chasing you since the day I could walk, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change.”
An image of a dark-haired little girl wobbling after me filled my mind. “I never want you to stop. The thing you don’t realize is that I’ve been chasing you right back.”
More tears fell down Jensen’s cheeks, and she inhaled a shaky breath. “I need to tell you something, but I don’t want you to say anything afterward.”
My brows pulled together. “Okay…”
“Tucker Harris, I’ve loved you since before I knew what the word even meant. That love has shifted and changed through the years. Because, what I didn’t realize, was that love is a living, breathing thing. I’ve loved you as a brother, as a friend, as my first crush, as my lifeline, as the person who sets my soul free. You call me Wilder, but it’s you who helps me be that way. I’m never more free to be who I am than when I’m with you.”
A vise gripped my chest, squeezing to the point of pain. I hadn’t earned her love, but she’d given it to me anyway. So freely, and asking for nothing in return. I may not deserve her, but I was going to do everything in my power to live a life in celebration of that most precious gift.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Jensen held a finger to my lips. “Don’t. Don’t say anything. I don’t want you to say it just because I did. And if you don’t feel it yet, I don’t want to know right now.”
