Page 66 of Forbidden Rancher's Return
"Beck's going to apologize to you," I say.
"He's working up to it."
"Don't make it easy on him."
"Wasn't planning to."
I smile into my mug.
The night is cold and clear and the mountain has gone so still you can hear the silence between the trees.
Rowan's shoulder is warm against mine. The burned frame stands in the yard, and I have stopped seeing it as a loss and started seeing it as a beginning.
"Come to the stream with me," I say.
"Now."
"Yes."
He studies my face. Whatever he finds there makes his expression soften.
"All right."
We take the path through the trees without a flashlight. We don't need one. I know every root and stone, and Rowan moves beside me like he never forgot the way.
The oak appears. Wide and dark. I reach out and find the carving by feel. The groove under my thumb.
C + R.
Rowan stops beside me. His hand covers mine against the bark.
"It kept me going," I say quietly. "More than I ever planned to tell you."
His hand tightens over mine.
That's enough. We don't need to stand here and narrate the history. The tree knows. We know.
I turn toward him.
His hand slides from the carving to my jaw. Tilting my face up, his thumb against my cheekbone. His eyes in the dark are full of everything he is better at showing than saying.
"I love you," he says.
Simple. Direct. No qualification.
My chest fills so fast I forget to breathe for a second.
"I love you," I say back.
He kisses me.
Slow at first. Just his mouth on mine, warm, the oak at our backs and the stream running cold beside us.
Then his hands move and I press into him and the kiss shifts into something deeper. Both of us burning through whatever restraint we had left.
He breaks the kiss. Rests his forehead against mine.
"Not at the stream," he murmurs.
