CHAPTER 26
BLANCHETTE
The crash landing back to reality started the next morning. My eyes blinked open, my mind rested though my body was sore from the previous day’s—and night’s—activities.
Jonathan was sleeping soundly next to me.
When I peeked over, he was lying on his stomach, his face turned toward me, a lock of his dark hair shadowing his closed lids.
The sheets had been kicked off during the night, the gentle summer heat already winding into the cabin even this early.
Rays of a bright, yellow dawn crept up the wall, illuminating peeling, cracked paint.
The makings of a beautiful day, the kind you only got after a storm.
Jonathan was still naked, the grooves and valleys of his muscled back shimmering with a thin sheen of perspiration.
The man slept hot, his body heat like a furnace I could imagine myself welcoming whole heartedly in winter months.
Daydreams of a snowy day filtered through my mind, one of silver breath puffing in icy air, Jonathan’s arms keeping me warmer than any coat could.
Winter seemed so far away in the height of summertime.
What would become of us then? I couldn’t help but wonder.
All I knew was that I never wanted to leave his bed, not so long as he was here.
But I sighed quietly, turning my gaze away from him as a drumming of dread pounded in my belly.
I did just that…silently rolling over and rising from the bed we’d made a bit of a mess of.
I dressed, my feet padding across the wood, which thankfully didn’t creak, as I snuck out into the hallway and beyond into the main room of the cabin.
I went to the old laptop, booting it up, before tucking myself into the couch. I nibbled on my bottom lip, running a hand through the tangled wildness of my hair, as I waited. Once I was connected, I navigated to my work email, signing in quickly.
I had to return to Graymore today, since I was expected back at work tomorrow morning. My long weekend had flown by in the blink of an eye. And while it had been wonderful, I would need to face reality eventually.
The moment I’d woken, I’d felt the familiar press of pressure rise, like a simmering pot about to boil over.
I feared Erik’s ire. Though there was a growing part of me that welcomed it.
The worst he could do was fire me. A mere few weeks ago, that would’ve seemed like the worst fate to someone like me.
A waste of epic proportions, a complete failure of everything I’d worked so hard to achieve.
Now?
I didn’t know anymore. I’d started to dream of another life, another possibility, one I’d never thought I’d choose given my own glass mountain of ambitions when I moved to the city.
Would it really be so terrible if I left Skoll? If I left Graymore entirely?
Returning home after a long time…it was much more apparent everything I’d given up.
I felt like I could breathe here.
Sitting in Jonathan’s cabin as my email loaded up, and I watched a flood of unread messages climb higher and higher, of bolded subject lines written in corporate speak, I realized that this shrinking into myself, this tangle of stress and worry in my chest, this state of fear and feeling trapped… it had been a constant for years.
I felt frozen as more and more emails pinged and dinged, a terrible music that made me tense.
When it was finally done, I inhaled twice and then blew out a long exhale, a breathing technique Bernie had taught me once when he’d found me trembling and overwhelmed in the break room, shortly after Erik had taken over from Eldritch.
“Working already?” came the question, making me jump.
Jonathan’s voice was perfectly gravelly, roughened from sleep, and I watched as he padded into the room before dropping down onto the couch beside me.
He’d pulled on some shorts, and his outer thigh touched mine.
Leaning over, he pressed a kiss to my cheek, his scratchy beard rasping over my skin as he lingered.
“Morning, Red,” he murmured.
“Good morning,” I said quietly, trying to fight a smile, though the thought of leaving certainly helped keep it away.
He leaned back, and then a low whistle sounded between us. “I don’t miss that,” he proclaimed, his eyes lingering on the flood of my inbox. “That bad, huh?”
I signed out of my email before snapping the clunky laptop closed with a satisfying thud. When I met his eyes, he already knew.
“I have to get back today,” I said, the words falling from my lips like a confession, one I didn’t want to utter. I rubbed my hands down my arms, another deep sigh escaping from me. “As much as I want to stay, I can’t.”
Jonathan didn’t say much. He bobbed his head in a nod. “What time do you need to head out? May will be upset if you leave before breakfast.”
“May will be upset if I leave before dinner,” I joked. And then because I wanted to soak up every moment I could, I went to him, curling up beside him and resting my cheek on his shoulder as his arm came around me. “I needed this, you know. Thank you.”
“To be ravaged by an ungentlemanly Lycan all weekend?” he asked for clarification, pulling me closer.
I laughed, turning my face into his warm skin, wanting to bite his hard shoulder, to mark him just as much as he’d marked me. Every touch, every kiss, every glance had marked me.
“A reminder,” I finally settled on. “I needed the reminder.”
That there was a life—a good life—outside of Graymore.
A reminder that I’d felt more like myself here, back home in Everwick, than I had in the decade since I’d left.
A reminder of what fresh forest air smelled like.
How good the wind felt tangling in my hair, sweeping in from the sea cliffs.
A reminder of gentle peace. Of slow mornings and good food and flirting over bottles of elvish wine by firelight.
Of feeling someone else’s heart beat against my heated skin, the press of their solid body grounding me.
His blue eyes shone in knowing, as if he could read every thought, like I’d whispered them across his flesh.
I might’ve been falling a little in love with Jonathan Wolfe, and it felt as easy as breathing.
It should’ve scared me, how swiftly it had happened.
But there was no denying this sense of…inevitability.
Of powerful knowing that seemed to echo through both of us, like it had been written, bound in magic, long ago.
“When will I see you next?” I asked.
“This weekend,” he answered immediately.
No hesitation. And that made me grin. “I can come to Graymore this time,” he said easily.
“Aside from the usual long list of projects, I’ve got something bigger I’ve been meaning to tackle.
Can’t do it alone, so might be perfect timing to bring on a small crew to get it all done quicker. ”
“You’re sure you can get away?” I asked. My gaze flitted to the desk full of paperwork, and my smile died when I remembered the Polaris Equity logo. Another strange thing I needed to puzzle out this week. Clearing my throat, I added, “If anything changes, let me know. I don’t mind the drive.”
Especially if it got me out of Graymore.
He kissed me, slow and sweet, and I let out a contented sigh.
Against his lips, I murmured, “And who knows, maybe the next time I see you, you’ll have a fresh new website and some branding designs I can show you.”
He chuckled, pulling back, swiping his tongue across his bottom lip. “Given the state of your inbox, Red, I doubt you’ll have time for that.”
It would give me something to look forward to though. I’d forgotten the spark of inspiration, and now that I’d found it again, it felt addictive. I wanted to chase it down and see where it led.
I didn’t tell him this though. I’d show him instead, this weekend.
Leaning forward, I pressed my lips to his shoulder, feeling the tick of a clock like it was my own heartbeat. “I…need to find my pants. And then I need to go pack up.”
A soberness had returned to us both at the words. But we were both trying to fend off the sudden gloominess.
He nodded and asked, “You’ll stay for breakfast, yeah? May would just hex your car if you tried to leave before then.”
“Wouldn’t put it past her,” I replied softly. “Yeah, I’ll stay.”
“Blanche?”
I lifted my gaze, the gentle burn of his sapphire gaze steady.
“We’ll figure it out,” he told me. “I promise.”