Chapter 20
Jane
Caleb looks at me, and his shoulders drop slightly, as if a little of the fight leaves him. “You okay?”
“I’m okay,” I reply, and this time it’s true. I’m not small. I’m not trapped. I’m here because I choose to be here.
Boone’s eyes search my face like he wants to argue and protect me from my own choices.
Then he exhales hard and looks away. “Fine. But I’m not happy about it.”
Weston sighs. “Boone.”
“I said fine,” Boone repeats. “Which is basically me being supportive. Don’t ruin it.”
It’s so Boone that a laugh bubbles up through my tears.
Caleb looks at Tex one last time. “Take care of her.”
Tex’s hand squeezes mine. “I am.”
Caleb nods and steps back.
Weston follows.
Boone lingers, his gaze on me, a thousand words in his eyes.
Finally, he grunts, “Text the group chat. So we know you’re alive.”
“He means he loves you,” Weston mutters.
Boone flips him off. “I mean, she should text the group chat.”
My laugh comes out wet and broken. “I will.”
Boone turns and stomps down the steps like he’s mad at the snow for existing.
The trucks start a minute later.
When they finally pull away, my legs go weak, like I’ve been holding myself upright on adrenaline alone.
Tex slides his arm around my waist. “Breathe.”
I do. I lean into him, my forehead pressed to his chest.
“You did good,” he murmurs.
My voice comes out small. “I didn’t.”
“You did,” he repeats, firmer. “You stood your ground.”
A lump rises in my throat. “I hate that I still feel guilty.”
Tex’s hand strokes my back slowly. “Guilt is a habit. We can break it.”
We.
The word lands with comforting clarity.
I pull back enough to look up at him. “You really chose me. Claimed me. All of me,” I say, half-disbelieving.
He shakes his head. “Not claimed. Loved.”
Heat crawls up my spine for reasons that have nothing to do with the cold.
Loved.
My eyes sting with the sheer reality of it. Of having the man I love tell me he loves me too. Choosing me.
Because yes. I love him.
The realization doesn’t arrive gently. It crashes in all at once, like my brain finally connected dots it’s been circling for days. My stomach flutters, and my breath catches because this feeling is big.
Tex tilts his head slightly. “You okay?”
I swallow. “I’m… overwhelmed.”
“Talk to me.”
“I love you,” I blurt.
“Jane, you don’t need to—”
I place my hand over his mouth to stop him. “No, let me explain.”
Taking a deep breath, I dive in. “What I feel for you is a full-body thing. And it’s the part of my brain that notices patterns and feels truth before logic catches up.
Which is how I know this isn’t infatuation.
It isn’t novelty or adrenaline or the rush of being wanted.
It’s recognition. The way my nervous system quiets when you’re near.
How my thoughts line up instead of ricocheting.
The way you don’t try to fix me or fence me in, you just hold the space steady so I can exist inside it. ”
I pause, still holding my hand over his mouth.
“Loving you doesn’t feel like losing myself.
It feels like finding the place where I don’t have to keep bracing for impact.
Loving you feels inevitable, like my heart recognized you long before my brain had the chance to argue.
It’s this enormous, impossible thing, and for once, I don’t have to make myself smaller to hold it. ”
I finish, breath shaking, my hand still plastered over his mouth like if I let go, the whole moment might make a break for it.
Tex’s green eyes soften in a way that should come with a warning label. “Jane—”
“I love you, Jackson ‘Tex’ Briggs.”
His breath hitches against my hand. His eyes flutter closed, as if hearing his full name did something deeply unfair to his nervous system.
Then he tries to talk again. “Mmmph.”
I blink. “What?”
One eye opens, humor threading through the green as he mumbles, “Can’t breathe...”
“Oh, fuck!” A laugh bursts out of me, loud, sudden, and uncontainable. “Oh, shit. Right. Sorry.”
I yank my hand back, mortified and grinning like an idiot.
He doesn’t waste a second. His hands are on my face immediately, his thumbs warm against my cheeks, grounding me like he always does—like he always will.
“Now you’re not blocking my airways,” he says softly, his eyes twinkling, “I love you, Jane Cutter. You’re my emotional chaos tornado trapped in a snow globe of crazy, and I fuckin’ adore you.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Snow globe of crazy? That’s what you’re going with?”
“Shake it gently, and everything’s magical. Shake it too hard, and someone loses a tooth.”
I laugh despite myself. “You’re unbelievable.”
“And yet”—he leans in with a possessive grin that sets my heart on fire—“you’re still mine.”
He states it steadily and sure, choosing me without hesitation. And that enormous, impossible feeling in my chest finally settles into something warm and permanent.
“And you’re mine,” I state with a certainty that echoes in my bones.
Tex’s eyes flash.
I bite my lip, and his gaze drops there, darkening further.
“Come inside.” His voice deepens. “Before I do something stupid on this porch.”
My pulse spikes. “Like what?”
His mouth curves into a slow, dangerous smile. “Like bend you over this railing and make you come until you forget your own name.”
Oh.
“I don’t want to forget my name.”
Tex steps closer, crowding me gently. “Then I’ll make you remember it in other ways.”
My entire body lights up.
God. This man.
He pulls me inside and shuts the door behind us with a soft click that pauses the world for a little while.
The cabin is warm, the fire still crackling. The air smells of pine and coffee and us.
Tex doesn’t rush me. He never rushes the parts of me that matter.
He leans his forehead against mine, breath warm. “Last chance.”
My mouth twitches. “You love asking that.”
“It’s not a game,” he says, voice low. “It’s respect.”
I swallow hard. “Tex?”
He holds my gaze. “Yeah.”
I step into my power. “I want you. All of you. Deep inside me. Hard and fast. Soft and slow.” I pause. “Because any way with you is perfect.”
Tex’s jaw tightens like he’s fighting himself. Something raw flashes across his face.
Then his hand slides to the back of my neck, anchoring us both. “I’m so fuckin’ proud of you.”
Then he kisses me. Hard. I make a soft, needy sound into his mouth, and his hand tightens at the back of my neck.
He lifts me, and my legs wrap around his waist. His low growl vibrates against my lips as he carries me down the hallway without breaking the kiss, his boots thudding on the wooden floor, my hands tangled in his hair like I can’t get enough.
When he reaches his bedroom, he kicks the door closed and sets me down gently on the edge of the bed.
His eyes hold mine, dark and steady. “Still with me?”
I smile. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He steps in close and drags his knuckles down my cheek, a touch that’s almost too tender for how hungry his eyes look.
“You were shaking out there,” he murmurs.
“I’m still shaking,” I admit.
Tex’s mouth twitches. “Good. I want you to feel everything with me.”
He strips off his shirt and jeans with practiced efficiency, but his gaze never leaves my face, checking me, reading me.
Then he reaches for the hem of my shirt, pausing one last time. “Okay?”
My heart hammers. “Yes.”
He pulls it over my head slowly. The rest of my clothes follow until I’m naked. His gaze heats as it sweeps over me, over the soft parts I’ve spent years pretending don’t need anyone’s reverence.
Tex’s eyes darken. “God,” he murmurs. “Seeing you like this will never get old.”
My cheeks burn as I lift my gaze to his. “Not even when we do? When we’re all wrinkly?”
His mouth curves into a mischievous smile.
“Not even when this”—he points to his larger than average cock—“goes from eight inches and one wrinkle to eight wrinkles and one inch.”
That pulls a laugh from me, loud and alive. “Lucky older version of me. I’ll be scooping my boobs off the floor while you’ll be trying to find your Percy.”
Tex tumbles me back on the bed, his chest rumbling with laughter. “My what?”
“Percy,” I repeat. “That’s what my brothers always called it when I was growing up.”
Tex groans. “Can we please not talk about your brothers while we’re both naked?”
I pinch my lips together and mime zipping my mouth.
Which doesn’t last long because Tex dips his head and wraps his lips around my nipple.
“Oh!” My mouth flies open in a gasp.
“You’re mine,” he murmurs against my skin.
Heat floods me, instant and dizzying.
My hands clutch his shoulders, fingers digging into muscle.
He kisses lower, slowly and deliberately, like he has all the time in the world and intends to prove it.
I shiver, and my body leans into him like it was designed for him.
Tex’s palm cups my hip, his thumb stroking in a lazy rhythm that grounds and ignites me at the same time.
His eyes capture mine as I make a small sound. “Tell me what you need.”
The question is easy to answer. “You. Inside me. Now.”
Tex’s eyes flash as heat and restraint collide. “Need to get you ready.”
I reach for him, fingers trembling. “I’m ready.”
Tex catches my hand and kisses my knuckles. “I love you.”
My chest aches. “And I love you.”
He moves between my thighs, and I inhale sharply, already needy.
Tex pauses, eyes holding mine.
I shake my head. “Don’t stop. I need you.”
A low, needy sound rips out of him, and he leans down to kiss me, swallowing my breath like he wants to own it.
But he doesn’t slide inside me yet. He slides his fingers between us, testing my wetness and teasing my sensitive flesh until I’m bucking my hips and begging.
And when he finally sinks into me, slow and controlled, my body opens for him effortlessly.
The pleasure is deeper this time, strengthened by our connection. My throat tightens, and my eyes sting for no reason other than the fact that I can’t believe this is mine. That this man is mine.
Tex moves with a steady rhythm, watching my face the whole time.
“Good?” he murmurs.
“Yes,” I gasp. “Tex… yes.”
He rolls us so I’m on top, straddling his hips, his cock still deep inside me.
“You feel so damn good,” he mutters, and the praise lands like lightning. “Ride me, Jane.”
Now that’s something I know how to do. My thighs grip his hips, and I brace my hands on his chest, swirling my hips to find the right friction.
Tex’s control begins to fray, his breath becoming harsher. “That’s it, my beautiful cowgirl. Take me deep. Oh, Jesus, that feels so good.”
I dig my fingers into his chest, increasing my rhythm, chasing more as he meets me thrust for thrust.
When the edge hits, it hits hard.
“Tex!”
My back arches, breath breaking as pleasure tears through me in waves.
Tex groans my name like it’s the only word he knows.
He drives into me deeper and harder until he breaks with a hoarse shout, his body rigid beneath mine.
For a moment, there’s only heat and breath and the crackle of the fire down the hall.
Then I collapse on his chest, and he wraps the blanket around us like he’s sealing us in.
I lie there, boneless, heart pounding, chest tight with too much feeling.
Tex’s hand strokes my hair slowly and presses a kiss to my temple.
My throat tightens again because the fear still tries to creep in. “What if you wake up tomorrow and regret the mess I bring into your life?”
Tex’s fingers pause in my hair. He cups my chin and tilts my face up to his, his green eyes shining with emotion. “The only thing I regret is every day I lived without you.”
My eyes sting. “That’s not fair.”
“It’s true. And you don’t get to argue with truth.”
A laugh slips out—wet and shaky.
Tex’s mouth twitches. “There she is.”
I sniff, embarrassed. “I’m sorry.”
He kisses my mouth, quick and firm. “No.”
I swallow. “I’m—”
“No,” he repeats. Then softer, “You don’t apologize for existing.”
My chest aches so hard it feels like it might split.
I curl into him, pressing my face into his neck. “I don’t know how to let someone love me like this.”
Tex’s arms tighten around me. “We’ll learn.”
We.
That word again. It makes my whole body relax in a way I didn’t know was possible.
“You really meant it. In the field,” I whisper against his skin.
Tex’s voice rumbles against my ear. “Every word.”
I tilt my face up. “Kiss me, cowboy. Give your snow globe a little shake.”
His warm chuckle vibrates through me as his mouth claims mine.
And then he shakes this chaotic snow globe of crazy just enough to make the whole world blur—sparkling, dizzy, and perfectly ours.