Page 46 of Fox Around and Found Out

He empties into me with a series of deep, shuddering thrusts, his whole body going rigid beneath me before collapsing back onto the bed.

I collapse against his chest, my ear pressed to the steady, solid thump of his heart. His arms come around me, holding me tight as our breathing slows, syncs. The fire crackles, the only sound in a world that has shrunk to this room, this bed, this man.

His fingers trace idle patterns on my bare back. “The chains are gone.”

I lift my head to look at him. “You feel it too?”

“Like a door slamming shut on a cold draft. It’s just quiet now.” He brushes a strand of hair from my damp forehead. “Just this.”

I snuggle back into the hollow of his shoulder, the warmth of his skin seeping into mine. The wool blanket is scratchy against my legs, but I don’t care. I’ve never felt more comfortable in my life. “All that running. All that fear. For this.”

“Would you do it again?” His voice is a low rumble beneath my ear. “Knowing it led here?”

I prop myself up on an elbow to see his face. The firelight softens the hard lines of it, turns the scars into silver threads instead of battle marks. “In a heartbeat. I’d walk through every fire, Silas. I’d fight every war.”

A slow smile touches his mouth. “Good. Because I’m not letting you go.”

“You’d better not.” I lean down and kiss him, a soft, lingering press of lips that tastes of salt and us. “I think I’d find you anyway. Seems I’m rather good at it.”

He laughs, a real, full laugh that vibrates through my whole body. “You are a menace with a singular focus, Mary.”

“You love it.”

“I do.” He pulls the blanket up over us both, tucking it around my shoulders. The snow falls silently outside, a world hushed and holding its breath. The fire pops, sending a shower of sparks up the chimney. His hand finds mine under the covers, our fingers lacing together. No more searching. No more desperate, lonely nights wondering if the other was alive. Just firelight, warmth, and peace.

“They were never lost,” I whisper into the quiet. “Just waiting to be found—by each other.”