Page 70 of Single Mom's Firefighter SEALs
I flatten my palm over my chest. “I’m in this. All the way.”
There’s silence after that, but it doesn’t feel empty. And it’s only a moment before Buck steps toward me with his expression stripped bare.
“You should have been a part of the conversation,” he says. “That’s on me.”
Weston follows it with a quiet, “Me too.”
Calder huffs out a laugh that breaks in the middle. “I don’t have a defense that doesn’t sound stupid.”
Despite everything, I almost smile.
“You’re not a liability.” Buck’s voice is filled with conviction.
“Then stop treating me like one.”
He keeps looking into my eyes. “All right.”
“I wasn’t trying to leave you out.” Weston’s voice is low and rough. “I was trying to imagine every way to keep you alive.”
“I know you meant well,” I say. “You just forgot I’m a person in the middle of all this, not a prize at the end.”
He winces as Buck’s gaze drops to my bare feet, then back to my face. Even now, part of him is cataloging details like cold, exposure, and risk.
“You should go inside,” he says.
When I stare back at Buck, Calder chuckles under his breath.
Buck closes his eyes for a second. “That came out wrong.”
“It really did.”
“Come inside with me,” he says, and I let him guide me back into the house. Weston and Calder come, too.
Things go silent again, but the room feels full of banked heat now, like one good breath could make everything flare. I can still feel the echo of what I said hanging in the room between us, and my pulse hasn’t slowed. Judging by the way all three of them are looking at me, neither has theirs.
All at once, I realize I don’t need permission to choose them all.
I cross the room and stop in front of Buck first. His eyes darken as I slide my hand up the front of his shirt and feel the hard line of his chest beneath it. “Do you understand me now?”
“Yes,” he says, his voice ragged.
“Good.”
I rise onto my toes and kiss him like I’m sealing a deal, and he responds immediately, cupping the back of my neck with a big, warm hand, and holding me close as he takes as much as he gives. A sound rumbles up from deep in his throat as his restraint breaks open under my mouth.
It’s not easy, but I pull back before either of us can getcompletely lost in it.
When I turn to Weston, his gaze goes to my mouth, then back to my eyes. I touch his jaw, feeling the roughness of it and the slight tension in the muscle beneath my fingers. “Do you?” I ask.
He covers my wrist with his hand, his thumb pressing into my pulse point. “I’ve understood it for a while, but I was scared to trust it.”
My chest squeezes. “Trust it.”
Weston presses his lips to mine with a reverence that only lasts a few seconds before it changes into something hungrier. As his mouth moves on mine, his hands slide to my waist and hold me tight until I pull back.
Calder’s been standing near the wall like he isn’t sure whether to stay or bolt. Or like he’s braced for impact.
When I walk over to him, his throat works. “Elena.” The way he says my name almost sounds like a warning.
