One minute Aidan was dreaming about Lily falling off the mountain the same way Ashley had, and the next he was wide awake. Heart pumping, he looked around. Given the darkness of the room it was the middle of the night. Unsettled, still shaken, he lay on his back in a bed that wasn’t his with a woman who wasn’t his snuggled in at his side. Lily had thrown one of her legs over his, her hand low on his belly.

And damn, in that moment it sure felt like she was his.

He’d been here with her for more than twenty-four hours. He had an arm around her, an arm that was half numb, his hand settled all possessively over her ass.

He really wished he could feel that hand.

Willing the blood back into his extremity, he squeezed experimentally and Lily shifted with a soft sigh.

Then went utterly still. Slowly, she lifted up to look down into his face. “How are you doing?” she asked.

He thought about it. His side ached, but not bad, considering. He owed Hud. “Never better.”

She bit her lower lip. “I’m all over you,” she said. “I’m sorry—”

“I like it.”

She snorted. “You like everything.”

Hard to argue with the truth. “I especially like having you back in Cedar Ridge,” he murmured, watching the emotions his words caused play across her face.

Pleasure. Arousal … and uncertainty. It was hard for him to know she didn’t believe or trust in emotions. Hers.

His.

But he understood. He’d set them back. “Are we okay, Lily?”

She met his gaze, her own uncertain.

“Huh,” he said. “I was sure me nearly bleeding out was going to change your mind.”

“I just need some time, I think. Not because of our fight, just because of me. I’m not used to this. To … being an us.”

He could understand that. He was surrounded by family who drove him crazy and lived to torment him, but they’d lay their lives down for him.

Lily didn’t have any of that and hadn’t for a long time. He did his best to be quiet, to just feel the relief that she was no longer pushing him away. That she was trying in the only way she knew how.

“I like being back,” she finally said softly. “I like being in this world again.”

“It’s your world too.”

She shrugged, and he lifted her chin to look into her eyes. There was no way to go back and comfort the devastated, grief-stricken girl she’d been. But he had the grown woman right here in his arms. “You belong here as much as anyone.”

He could tell that made her feel good but was also far too serious for her, because she changed the subject. “I still can’t believe Hudson stitched you up like that. Let me see your chest.”