Page 14 of The Mountain Man's Second Chance Bride
“You’re perfect.”
I smile against his chest. Typical Josiah—man of few words, but every one of them counts. I don't need poetry or flowery declarations. Everything important was in the way he touched me, the way he watched me, the way he gave himself to me completely.
"I meant what I said before," I mumble, sleep starting to drag at me like an undertow. "I've always been yours, Josiah. It just took you a while to catch up."
His chest rumbles with quiet laughter. "Seems so."
As I'm drifting off, I feel his fingers stroking my hair so gently, his lips pressing against my forehead. "Sleep well, little one," he whispers, and the endearment that used to make me bristle now wraps around me like the warmest blanket.
I crossed half the country to find him. Risked looking completely crazy and getting my heart stomped on all over again.
And it was totally, one hundred percent worth it. Because Josiah Stone finally sees me not as the girl he once knew, but as the woman who belongs at his side.
The woman who's finally, truly home.
eight
Josiah
WhenIwake,she’scurled against me, one arm draped across my chest, her breathing deep and even. In sleep, she looks peaceful, young, but the marks on her skin tell a different story. The evidence of last night's passion scattered across her throat, her collarbone, her breasts. My marks. My claim.
The possessiveness that surges through me at the sight is both unfamiliar and overwhelming. I've never felt this bone-deep certainty that someone belongs to me. That I belong to them in return.
She stirs, dark lashes fluttering as she wakes. For a moment, confusion flickers across her face, then recognition and a slow, satisfied smile that makes my cock stir against her thigh.
"Morning," she murmurs through a yawn.
"Morning." My hand traces idle patterns along her bare shoulder, unwilling to break contact even for a moment.
Reality hovers at the edges of this peaceful bubble—questions I've pushed aside in the heat of passion, suspicions that needaddressing. But for now, I allow myself this moment of simple pleasure. The weight of her against my side. The scent of her skin mingled with mine.
"You're thinking awfully hard for this early," she observes, tilting her head to study my face.
"Just wondering how I got so lucky," I deflect, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
She snorts, not buying it for a second. "Try again I can practically hear the gears turning."
The directness makes me smile despite myself. Wynonna's never been one to dance around things, even as a young girl. Now, as a woman in my bed, that straightforwardness is both challenging and refreshing.
"There are things we need to talk about," I admit, reluctantly shifting to sit up against the headboard.
She follows, pulling the sheet with her to cover her breasts—an unexpectedly modest gesture after the uninhibited passion of last night. "I figured."
"How did youreallyfind me?" The question that's been circling my mind since she appeared on my doorstep finally emerges. "Through that mail-order bride service. Was it really just a coincidence?"
Her eyes drop to her hands, fingers tracing the pattern on my quilt. A long moment passes, long enough that I think she might not answer.
"No," she finally says, lifting her gaze back to mine. "It wasn't a coincidence at all."
Despite having suspected as much, the confirmation lands like a stone in my gut. "Explain."
She takes a deep breath, shoulders squaring like she's preparing for battle. "After Mom died, I started thinking a lot about what I really wanted. Who I really wanted. Everyrelationship I tried failed because I was comparing them all to you."
"To a memory," I correct. "To someone you knew years ago."
"To the only man who ever made me feel like I mattered," she counters. "I knew you were still in Silver Ridge. It took a long time, but I finally found you on the internet."
"So you, what? Decided to track me down and trick me into thinking we were matched by some algorithm?" The edge in my voice surprises even me, anger rising from somewhere deep and unexpected.
