“I grew up small,” she says softly. “Always trying to prove I deserved space. My parents thought I’d outgrow it, but I didn’t. Every boyfriend I ever had… they liked me best when I was shrinking. When I was quiet. Brandon—” she falters, breath shaking. “He made me think being with him was the best I’d ever do. I thought… I thought the crumbs of praise he gave were worth being told how useless I was, how messy, how childish.”
I growl, the sound deep, involuntary.
She strokes my chest again, grounding me. “But then you…” She exhales hard, eyes wet. “You liked my mess. My sharp tongue. You liked it when I expressed myself. God, you loved when I lost control and slapped you, when I clawed you. You liked me bigger than I’ve ever dared to be.”
“Petal,” I choke, pressing my forehead to hers.
“That’s why I was scared,” she whispers. “Scared it wasn’t real. Scared to upset what we had. Scared I couldn’t live up to the woman you already think I am.”
“You already are,” I rasp. “Christ, Lily, you already fucking are.”
Her tears spill, warm against my jaw.
“I thought the world defined me,” she says. “But I see now… none of that matters. Not Brandon or even the shop. Not anyone who told me I was small. I want to be bigger still for you. But for myself too.”
My kiss is desperate and hard, infusing beloved belief into her.
“You’re not small. You’re perfect. You’re everything. Everything, petal.”
She smiles through her tears, shaky but sure. “And you’re my everything too, Bear.”
That last word breaks me open.
I scoop her up, carry her toward the bedroom, my voice unhinged and reverent all at once. “Forever, petal. We’re being given forever. And I’m never wasting another second of it.”
In our bedroom, I set her down in the middle, where she belongs. My heart hammers faster than a runaway piston. One breath in. Out. In.
Then with a deep exhale I speak the words in my soul. “I love you, petal. I’ve loved you since I saw you trussed up in my snare. Best thing that’s ever happened to me. I love you. So fucking much.”
Tears fill and pour down her pretty cheeks. “Oh, Bear, I love you too.”
Then she holds out her arms.
And this fool? He falls into them.
Heart, soul, and Grizzly Bear.
20
LILY
The mountain is quiet when I wake.
Sunlight filters through the curtains, pale and gold, warming the cabin’s wooden bones. I’m curled in his arms, his chest a wall of heat against my back, his breath steady against my hair.
For the first time in forever, I don’t wake with panic biting at me.
Just… peace.
I lie still and soak it in with deep gratitude.
My Bear, sprawled behind me, heavy and solid, one arm slung over my waist like a chain he’ll never let go. My bruises ache faintly, but I smile at them. They’re proof of something real, something fierce, something that makes me feel more alive than I’ve ever felt.
I think about last night. The wildness in him, in me, the promises whispered against rumpled sheets, the way his forehead dropped to mine like I was his whole world. And I realize—I’m home. Truly.
“Petal,” he murmurs, voice thick with sleep. His arm tightens. “Stop thinking so loud.”
I laugh softly and twist in his grip until I’m facing him.
