1 year later
She was healing.
That’s what it was called.
Healing.
Over the last year she had slowly come to settle around him. She no longer looked at him like the frightened little bird she had been the day that he had taken her from Ernesto’s home.
He had rented a house in the upper part of the Washington State Forest. What had started as a place for her to heal, had quickly become an oasis and escape for both of them.
He had been there once. Tracking down a man for Sergio and he remembered thinking that it was peaceful. It had always been a place that stuck with him. When the time had come to find a place for them, it had instantly come to mind. It was just a small little cabin with two bedrooms and a bathroom, but it was private.
It had a little pond with a dock.
And plenty of fresh air.
Perfect.
Just like his little bird.
And that’s what she had become.
His.
She still didn’t talk much. But lately she had been doing better. Slowly becoming a different woman. One that was healing and finding her way in life.
It was a beautiful thing to watch.
And it just made her all the sexier.
That was the hardest part for him.
In the beginning, he had set his mind to helping her heal, and that was where his mind had stayed. It wasn’t until later that he started to see her differently.
Her strength, her resilience to what she had delt with, and her stubbornness to heal, all combined with her beauty.
It was a package that he was helpless to resist.
Being so close to her, and not acting on those feelings and desire, was driving him mad.
Like right now, she was sitting out on the deck waiting for him, her face turned up toward the afternoon sun.
Gorgeous.
Beautiful.
