Chapter 16
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
The morning broke sharp and bright, the kind of sky that made the last twenty-four hours feel like a bad dream that had already burned off. From the living room window, he could see the water, sunlight catching on the ripples until it looked like the lake had been dusted with silver.
Tessa stepped out of his bedroom just as he poured the second mug of coffee. She looked rested, though there was still a faint tightness in her shoulders. “You sleep?” he asked.
“Better than I expected,” she said, wrapping her hands around the mug he offered.
They lingered over coffee, neither in a hurry to break the quiet. Tessa walked straight to the kitchen window, her gaze fixed on the strip of sand along the fence. He stepped up beside her, close enough to catch the faint sound of her breath easing.
“They’ll keep him in custody for a while,” he said. “Long enough for you to decide what’s next.”
She looked up at him. “And if I decide what’s next is staying?”
The answer came without hesitation. “Then I’ll make sure there’s coffee in the mornings and no one lurking by the fence.”
Her laugh was soft but real, and it landed in a place he hadn’t let anyone touch in a long time. “I think I can live with that,” she said.
He turned to face her fully. “You don’t have to keep bracing, Tessa. Not here. Not with me.”
Something shifted in her expression — not just relief, but the decision to believe him. When she rose on her toes and kissed him, it wasn’t cautious. It was steady. Certain.
The lake murmured against the shore outside, the cottage held its easy quiet, and for the first time since she’d shown up on his doorstep, he let himself think about what it would mean to have her here for more than a few days.
When they broke apart, he kept his hand at her jaw, thumb brushing along her skin. “So… breakfast?”
She smiled. “Only if it’s a truce. I’ll cook the eggs, you make the coffee.”
“Deal.”
They moved around each other in the small kitchen like they’d been doing it for years, sunlight spilling across the counter. For the first time in a long time, the day ahead felt wide open, and whatever came next, he knew they’d face it together.