Jackson turned to Mia and slid an arm around her waist. “How are you holding up?”
He searched her face. She’d nearly been killed by the man who’d raised her. She’d been hunted. Targeted. Right now, she looked utterly exhausted, dirty, and bruised.
But he’d never seen anything more beautiful than Mia.
She half turned toward him, letting the arm around her waist draw her closer to him. He slipped the other arm around her back and tugged her closer. Laying his cheek on her hair, he sighed. She was alive. For a moment, he held her, breathing in her familiar scent.
Mia moved in his embrace. He loosened his hold and waited to see what she’d do. She backed away from him but didn’t completely leave the hug. Instead, she lifted her hand and rubbed it along his jaw.
“I’m so happy Dylan is safe,” she whispered.
What a woman. She’d nearly died, and she was still thinking of others.
He couldn’t hold off any longer. He leaned in, slowly, communicating his intention.
He waited for her to step away or tell him to stop, but she didn’t. Instead, she licked her lips. He groaned. He bent at the same time she rose on her toes, fusing their lips together. A kiss of healing and promise.
He pulled back and gazed at her.
She shivered in his arms, but he knew she wasn’t cold. Heat smoldered in her glance. He moved in for a second kiss, longer, deeper.
When they broke apart, they were both breathless.
“Mia, I know that Dylan is safe and you’re safe, but I don’t want to go our separate ways. I don’t know where this will take us, but I want another chance with you.” He cupped her cheeks in his hands. “I’m falling in love with you.”
He held his breath, waiting for her answer.
Would she agree to give them a chance to discover what they could become, or would she tell him to go away, now that her life was back on track?
Mia’s heart pounded. She could barely hear over the blood pumping in her ears, but she understood his expression.
When he’d asked for another chance, her heart had melted.
“Are you sure? I have so much baggage. And you need to focus on getting custody of your brother.”
“I’m sure. You don’t have any more baggage than I do. Everyone has some trauma in their past. That’s part of life. And as for my brother, there’s no reason I can’t try to get my brother back and have a girlfriend at the same time.”
For some reason, the word girlfriend made her giggle. It seemed such a childish term for the strength of her feelings for him.
He frowned at her giggle. “Unless you don’t want?—”
She bounced up and kissed him quickly. “I do. I’m falling for you too. So hard. High school was nothing compared to what I feel now. I want to see where this takes us. And now that we both have God leading our lives, I think we can avoid some of the mistakes we made before. However, I do think we should take it slow.”
“Slow?”
She nodded. “It would be nice to go out to dinner or take a walk without worrying about someone trying to kill us. That kind of thing.”
He chuckled. “I think we can manage that.”
Jackson grabbed her hand, and they walked toward his truck. He waved to some of the emergency workers on the scene as they called out to him.
“So, what happens next?”
“I need to go to the hospital to check on Dylan. He was sleepy, so I’m sure he’ll be out like a light. But I don’t want him waking up alone.”
She nodded. “I get that.”
“What about you?”
