Maddie
I’ll miss you, girl.” I pressed a kiss to Bella’s nose and rubbed behind her ears. “Keep your daddy in line for me, okay? Don’t take any shit from him, no matter what.”
Bella barked and licked my face, wagging her cute little doggy-butt like today was just the best day ever.
I couldn’t argue with her. Other than the goodbye on the horizon, it reallyhadbeen the best day. The best night. The best of a lot of things, all thanks to one sexy-as-hell, crazy-ass mountain wolf.
We’d taken our time with breakfast, sneaking a kiss here, a touch there as we worked our way through the feast. We talked and laughed, even as Hawke’s earlier words still hung between us—a question unanswered, potential unmet.
Stay with me, Cupcake…
Holy snowballs, how I wanted to. More than anything.
Our night had been the most amazing of my life. Hidden beneath the snow, time had stopped for us, and somehow we’d found ourselves together, suspended in one beautiful, frozen moment. A perfect snow globe fantasy.
But the sun had risen this morning, bringing real life right along with it. The power and phones were back online, and soon the tow truck would be here. I’d called my parents to let them know I was in town and would be there soon. I was all packed up, dressed once again in my elf costume, excited to spend some time with my family.
By this time tomorrow, I’d be heading back to Denver, then boarding a plane for New York, supernatural capital of the world—a thing I still hadn’t completely processed. And Hawke, my wolf, my mountain man… He’d be here, two thousand miles away from my bed. From my heart.
I gave Bella one more kiss and a belly rub for good measure, then stood up to say the big goodbye. The one that was going to hurt the worst, because everything that came before it had been the best.
“I’m still deciding whether or not I’ll missyou,” I teased. I stood on my tiptoes and looped my arms around Hawke’s neck. “A little bit, maybe.”
“Hmm. Don’t I get a belly rub, too?”
“Is that what my big, bad wolf needs? A belly rub?”
“You tell me.” He grabbed my hand and slid it up inside his hoodie, pressing it against his hot, firm abs.
I sighed. I’d be dreaming about the rock-hard ridges and planes of his body for years to come. The muscles. The scars. The stories. And yes, his wolf form, too—beautiful and majestic. Powerful. A miracle that stole my breath away every time I remembered the sight of it.
“Pretty sure you got enough of a rubdown last night,” I said, forcing some levity into my voice. I didn’t want to leave with tears in my eyes, no matter how badly it hurt.
“When it comes to you, Cupcake, I’ll never get enough.” Hawke dipped his head low and captured my mouth in a kiss, a gentle brush of lips that quickly deepened, turning hungry and all-consuming. It was the kind of kiss I felt all the way to my toes, my heart beating its strong, now-familiar beat.
Don’t go,it seemed to say.Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t go. Don’t go…
I pulled back, taking his face into my hands, memorizing the feel of his stubbled jaw, the look of fire in his fierce, flint-gray eyes. “You, um… You kinda saved my life last night, Hawke.”
He touched his forehead to mine, his whispers falling hot on my lips. “You kinda saved mine, too.”
I kissed him again, then pressed my ear to his chest, listening to the strong, solid beat of his heart as he palmed the back of my head, his touch warm and protective.
The tears I’d been trying so hard to keep at bay finally spilled.
It all seemed so unfair.
I’d grown up in Colorado never having crossed Hawke’s path, and now I lived in New York City. He’d traversed the globe a dozen times over, and now he lived here, in a cabin high up in the Rockies. If not for a freak of nature, an unintentional detour on the road of life, we would’ve continued on our separate paths never having met.
But now that fate had brought us together, Hawke would always be a part of my life, even if only as a memory—one pristine, perfect evening when the world was sound asleep beneath the snow and I was safe and happy in his arms.
I didn’t want Hawke as a memory, though. I wanted the real thing. And now, no matter how many times I tried to pull away from his heartbeat, to let him go, I couldn’t.
We just feltrighttogether. Like we’d been given a once-in-a-lifetime shot at something truly great.
I didn’t know how to make it work—whether humans and supernaturals could be together, whether we could overcome the distance and the differences in our lives, whether it even made sense to try.
All I knew for sure was that if I walked out that door now without telling him how I felt, it would become the single biggest regret in my entire life.
