“And then you come back. You show up here, broken, beautiful, and not mine to love anymore. You left me. You fucking left me, and I needed to get over you. Now the tree line that stopped hurting years ago is like tiny needles to my heart. The pencil mountain is sharper, mocking me as I look out. The people, the ones we gave fake lives to, are living our future while I sit here, pretending that you being right across the tracks doesn’t matter. I bought this land because it was ours. The memories, the path to that spot, the entire thing was ours.”

I lift my hand, bringing it to rest on his arm, needing to touch him. “I left you and could never say your name again. I left you and forbid myself to talk about you because, each time I did, it felt like my heart was dying.”

His hand covers mine, and a million questions dance in his beautiful eyes. I want him to kiss me.

It took one night in his house to chase the nightmares away. All of it because of him.

After another minute of silence, his thumb glides along my palm. “You know, we keep ending up in bed or alone. I have always wanted you, Jess. My resistance isn’t this strong.”

“Maybe we should stop resisting.”

I do everything I said I wouldn’t but wanted to. I kiss him. Grayson responds immediately, pushing me to the bed, kissing me back while his hands hold my face. He rolls us so I’m on top, and I don’t waste a second. Who knows when one of us will come to our senses or remember that the reason we pull back is because this is stupid.

I will leave.

He will stay.

We will break. That’s the reality.

However, this kiss is the dream, and I don’t want to wake up.

He built a house in the place we fell in love, and right now, there’s no way I will pull back from him.

I moan against his lips and kiss the stubble along his strong jawline. He’s so damn sexy like this. Not perfectly put together, just a man—a very sexy one.

I nip at his ear and then go back to his mouth. He was my first kiss. My first lover. My first love, and while I’ve spent a good portion of my adult life pretending we were nothing, my body remembers otherwise.

His deep voice vibrates through me. “You drive me insane. Your mouth, your fucking mouth is everything I remember.”

He threads his fingers through my hair, tugging our mouths back together. I kiss him, letting my body mold against his.

“No stopping,” I say.

“No stopping. I’m going to love you again.”