Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 20660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 103(@200wpm)___ 83(@250wpm)___ 69(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 103(@200wpm)___ 83(@250wpm)___ 69(@300wpm)
"Dear Jack,
Today it rained all through recess, so I sat under the awning and watched the puddles fill up. I thought about how dumb it is that you get to live in the mountains and I’m stuck in flat, boring Michigan. It’s not fair. But also, I kind of like that you’re out there. It makes it easier to picture you when I write."
Her voice breaks on the last line.
She sets the letter in her lap.
“I read them to Josie sometimes,” she says. “I told her it was written by a boy I knew a long time ago. I never said his name.”
My chest tightens.
She reaches into the box and pulls out another. “I have all yours too, you know. Every damn one. When things got bad, I’d reread them. Especially the one where you drew that dumb little sketch of Devil’s Peak and told me it was the most important place in your world.”
“It still is,” I say, voice low.
Her eyes meet mine. “Because it’s where I found you?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
She exhales. Shaky. Raw.
“I remember when you told me you were joining the military,” she whispers. “I cried so hard my mom thought someone died. There are tear stains on that letter.”
I reach over and take her hand. “It was the first time I realized I had something to come home for.”
She sniffles. “And that Spring Break… my first year in college. I knew I had to come. My parents thought I was staying with a friend. But I got on a bus and came here. I needed to see you in person. I needed to know it was real.”
My heart twists.
“That night,” she says, voice shaking. “You gave me Josie. The best thing that ever happened to me. And I never told you. I let them keep her from you. I let them convince me it was better this way.”
Tears spill down her cheeks.
“I’m so sorry, Jack. I should’ve fought harder. I should’ve found you sooner. I should’ve—”
I shut her up with a kiss.
Because she’s here now.
Because the past is a pile of ashes.
And this? This moment, with her shaking in my arms and the fire warming our feet, this is the only thing that matters.
She melts into me, clinging tight, burying her face in my neck.
When she pulls back, her voice is steadier. “We’re here now. We’re back. And we’re not leaving.”
I nod.
And silently, I swear to never let her go again.
Chapter Thirteen
Holly
The ring’s still warm on my finger.
He kissed me like a man who knew he’d been starving—and just rediscovered breath.
And now we’re alone. Inside. Just the two of us. Again.
He doesn’t say anything right away. Just watches me with those slow-burning eyes like he’s carving me into memory.
“I’m so sorry–I just didn’t know how to tell you about her. I have so many regrets now.”
“I know, you’ve already apologized. It’s in the past.”
Silence stretches between us like a chasm.
Then he steps closer.
“I was scared,” I say, almost too soft to hear.
Jack lifts his gaze to mine. And his answer is quiet, gruff, raw. “Me too. But I’m not anymore.”
My breath catches.
He closes the space between us in two strides, takes my face in his rough palms, and lowers his mouth to mine.
And this kiss—
This kiss is nothing like the ones before. This one is slow. Intentional. Honest. It tastes like everything we never said and everything we still might.
He backs me toward the open floor of the cabin’s unfinished room, where the planks are smooth and sanded, still smelling like cedar and sweat. His hands move down my back. My shirt comes off. His flannel lands beside it. Then his mouth is on my throat, my collarbone, the swell of my breast.
“God, I missed this mouth,” he murmurs against my skin. “I missed you.”
“Then show me.”
He lifts me like I weigh nothing. Lays me out on the cool wood. His jeans scrape mine. His chest brushes my bare skin. And when he finally slides his fingers beneath the band of my underwear, I don’t flinch. I open for him.
“I want to learn every part of you again,” he rasps. “Every sound, every shiver. I want to know what you look like when you fall apart for me, because this time I’ll remember every fucking second.”
I reach for him, nails scraping his spine, breathless and shaking.
“Then stop talking,” I whisper. “And do it.”
Chapter Fourteen
Jack
I pull her into my arms, attach my lips to hers in a kiss that tells her exactly what I want and how I want it. Her hands shoot into my hair, her soft whimpers and moans beginning almost instantly as I hold her face in my palms and plunge my tongue past her lips. “You make me so fucking hard when you tease me. Seeing you walk around my cabin in my flannels–taking over my life–making me want things I didn’t know I wanted. Hell, you’ve ruined me, Holly.”