Chapter 15
Tessa
one week later
The firehouse smells like smoked brisket, cinnamon rolls, and whatever Axel burned on the grill but refuses to admit he burned.
String lights stretch across the rafters. Folding tables crowd the bay doors. Someone’s kid is chasing a dalmatian puppy in circles around the ladder truck while three firefighters argue about cornhole scoring like it’s a federal offense.
It’s loud. Messy. Alive.
And I’m standing in the middle of it holding a paper plate of potato salad like I belong here.
Lacee grips my hand, tugging me toward the dessert table. “They made brownies with caramel inside,” she whispers like it’s classified information.
I laugh. “Lead the way, boss.”
She beams at that and pulls me through the crowd, weaving between boots and turnout coats and coolers. She doesn’t hesitate. Doesn’t question. Her fingers are warm and sure around mine.
She chose me faster than I was prepared for.
The first time I braided her hair for her dance class, she studied herself in the mirror and said, “You do it better than Dad.”
The first time I showed up at her recital, she ran into my arms before she ran to Sawyer.
And tonight, she’s wearing a little sundress and keeps introducing me to people as, “This is Tessa. She lives with us.”
Lives with us.
The words still make my chest tighten.
“Don’t eat too much sugar,” Sawyer calls from across the bay, his voice carrying easily over the noise.
Lacee rolls her eyes dramatically. “He says that but then he eats half the brownies.”
“I heard that,” Sawyer calls.
I glance over at him.
He’s leaning against the side of Engine Two, arms folded, sleeves pushed up. The evening light cuts across his shoulders. He’s laughing at something Ash says, head tipped back, throat exposed.
He doesn’t look braced anymore.
He looks open.
When he catches me staring, his mouth curves slowly.
That look isn’t new. But it’s different now. There’s no apology in it. No restraint.
Just claim.
My stomach flips.
Lacee tugs my arm again. “Come on.”
We load up two brownies and I wipe caramel off her fingers with a napkin. She doesn’t pull away. Doesn’t stiffen.
She leans into me like it’s natural.
“Do you think Dad’s happy?” she asks suddenly.
The question lands soft but heavy.
I crouch a little so we’re eye level. “Yeah,” I say honestly. “I do.”
She studies my face like she’s checking for cracks.
“He laughs more.”
“He does.”
“He doesn’t get that quiet look as much.”
My throat tightens slightly. “You notice that?”
She nods seriously. “He was always sad about mom before.”
Mom. The word still carries weight. Not sharp. Not accusing. Just real.
I don’t flinch. I don’t rush.
“I think loving someone new doesn’t make the old love smaller,” I say carefully.
She considers that. “Like when I got a stuffed puppy and still loved my old teddy bear?”
“Exactly like that.”
She nods, satisfied.
“I like you,” she says, simple and direct.
My chest warms.
“I like you too, Lace.”
She grins and darts off toward the kids building a tower of paper cups.
I straighten slowly, eyes finding Sawyer again. He’s watching us.
When I walk back toward him, he doesn’t move away from the engine. He waits.
“You survive the sugar rush?” he asks.
“Barely.”
He steps closer. Not touching. Just close enough that the air shifts.
“You okay?” he asks quietly.
“I am.”
“You sure?”
“Why do you ask like that?”
He studies my face. “You handle this well.”
“This?” I gesture around us.
“This.” His voice lowers slightly. “My world.”
I hold his gaze. “It doesn’t feel like I’m borrowing it.”
His jaw tightens briefly.
“Good,” he says.
“Why?”
“Because I’m not offering it on loan.”
The words settle deep in my stomach. Heat rises under my skin.
“You’re bold tonight,” I murmur.
He steps even closer now, crowding my space deliberately.
“I’ve been holding back long enough.”
“You’re at work,” I whisper.
He smirks. “I’m off shift.”
“The crew is ten feet away.”
“They already know.”
“Know what?”
His hand brushes my hip lightly, possessive but not crude.
“That you’re mine.”
My breath catches despite myself.
“I’m not something you own,” I say, but it comes out softer than intended.
He leans down, mouth near my ear. “I don’t own you,” he murmurs. “I choose you.”
My knees weaken slightly at that.
“You’re playing a dangerous game, Sawyer Rivers.”
“I’ve walked into worse.”
I swallow, trying to steady myself. “You used to pretend this wasn’t happening.”
“I was a coward.”
“You weren’t.”
“I was,” he says firmly. “I hid behind duty. Behind grief.”
“And now?”
“Now I don’t.” He pulls back slightly so I can see his face.
There’s no shadow there. No conflict. Just certainty.
“Come with me,” he says quietly.
My pulse kicks.
“Where?”
“Just come.”
Before I can overthink it, he takes my hand and leads me toward the back of the bay, near the old picnic tables set up by the open doors. The mountain air drifts in cool and clean.
The crew’s laughter swells behind us.
He stops near the ladder truck.
“You’re intense,” I murmur.
“I’ve been quiet for too long.”
“That’s not my fault.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re about to do something reckless.”
He huffs a quiet laugh. “You think asking for what I want is reckless?”
“It depends what you want.”
He holds my gaze steadily. “You.”
The simplicity of it knocks the air from my lungs.
“You already have me,” I whisper.
“Not like this.”
The teasing tone is gone. My heart thunders.
“Sawyer…”
He drops to one knee. Everything around us fades. For a half-second, I don’t process it. Then the world tilts.
“What are you doing?” I hiss.
He looks up at me, eyes steady and fierce.
Someone behind us gasps.
“Oh my God,” I hear Axel mutter loudly.
Sawyer ignores them.
“Tessa,” he says, voice carrying but still somehow just for me. “You walked into my life when I wasn’t looking for anything. You didn’t try to fix me. You didn’t compete with my past. You stood there. Steady. And you loved my daughter like she was your own.”
My throat tightens instantly.
“You brought laughter back into my house,” he continues. “You made it warm again.”
The crew has gone quiet now. Lacee is standing near the front, hands clasped under her chin. Sawyer reaches into his pocket.
“I don’t want you as a season,” he says. “I don’t want you as a chapter. I want you as my partner. As my wife. As the woman I wake up next to when the world gets hard.”
He opens the small box. The ring catches the light.
“I’m not asking because I need you to save me,” he says steadily. “I’m asking because I choose you. Fully. Without hiding.”
My hands fly to my mouth.
“You’re serious,” I whisper.
“I’ve never been more serious.”
The crew starts shifting, anticipation buzzing.
“You’re going to ruin me,” I murmur weakly.
A slow grin touches his mouth. “I already did.”
A laugh breaks from me through tears. “You’re impossible.”
“And you love me anyway.”
I shake my head, heart pounding so hard it feels like it might crack my ribs.
“Say it,” he says quietly.
“You’re bossy.”
“Say it.”
I drop my hands and look at him. “Yes.”
The word leaves me breathless.
“Yes,” I repeat, louder.
The firehouse erupts.
Cheers. Whistles. Someone actually howls.
Axel shouts, “about damn time, old man!”
Ash claps loudly off-beat.
Lacee runs forward and nearly tackles us both as Sawyer stands and pulls me into his arms.
He lifts me effortlessly, spinning me once as laughter and applause crash around us.
“You’re shaking,” he murmurs against my hair.
“So are you.”
“Yeah.”He sets me down slowly but keeps his hands on my waist. “You’re sure?” he asks quietly, just for me.
“Yes.”
“No regrets?”
“None.”
His forehead presses to mine.
“I won’t hide you,” he says.
“You better not.”
“I won’t dim you.”
“You better not,” I repeat, a tremble of laughter in my voice.
He kisses me and I fall a little harder for my impossibly stubborn, wildly sexy employer. My lover. My future husband.
When we break apart, Lacee grabs my hand.
“Does this mean you’re staying forever?” she asks.
I kneel and hug her tightly. “If you’ll have me.”
She squeezes back. “Duh.”
The crew descends on us — hugs, claps on Sawyer’s back, teasing about how long he took.
“You were brooding for a damn decade,” Ash says. “We were starting to take bets.”
Sawyer rolls his eyes. “Shut up.”
Margie Warner wraps me in a hug like I’ve always been hers.
“Welcome officially,” she says warmly.
Officially.
I glance at Sawyer. He isn’t standing on the edge anymore. He’s in the center. With me.
Sawyer slips his hand into mine again, squeezing gently.
“You okay?” he asks.
“I’m better than okay.”
He nods slowly. “Good,” he says. “Because Margie said she’d babysit tonight and I’m ready to take you home and have my way with you.”
I giggle, butterflies battering my ribcage with his words. “Okay, Boss.”
And for the first time since I walked up to that cabin with a resume in my hand and nerves in my throat, I don’t feel like I’m stepping into someone else’s story.
I feel chosen.
Twenty minutes later Sawyer is carrying me over the threshold and into our cabin. I still can’t believe it…ours.
When we reach our bedroom, he lowers me gently to the bed, his lips trailing down my neck in tender caresses.
“You know, I didn’t think I could love anyone this much, even if you are a caveman.”
Sawyer growls, rolling on top of me. He pulls my bottom lip with his teeth and nips gently, making my heart beat rapidly. My need for this man seems to overwhelm and consume me.
“You see how hard you make me?” He places the tip of his cock at my entrance. My legs open on their own accord, not willing to resist the feeling of his penetration, needing to feel him deep inside.
“Is my little Sparkplug hungry?” he says, teasing me, a lust-filled smile forming on his lips.
“Yes,” I say under his spell. He growls and pushes inside of me. I love how full he feels, how he stretches and fills me to the deepest depths.
“I love how wet this pussy is for me,” he grunts as he increases his rhythm.
“I’m always soaked for you, one look from you drives me crazy.”
“Mm, that’s a good girl. Who does this pussy belong to?” he demands. My mind has become fuzzy and all I can concentrate on is the pleasure he’s giving me.
And then the unbelievable sensation stops.
“Sawyer, please, please don’t stop,” I beg.
“Answer my question.” He uses his cock to rub my own juices on my clit. “Who’s pussy is this?” he asks again.
“Yours,” I breathlessly whisper.
“What do you want me to do to my pretty pussy?” he asks, continuing the assault on my clit.
“I want you to fuck it.” The words are out as if I can’t control them.
My lust-filled mind has only one thing on it.
My eyes shoot open and I look up into his face.
“Please, Sawyer,” I plead. That is all he needs, he thrusts in me hard and fast. He looks wild and out of control and that only makes my own passion ignite.
Seeing this man lose all control for me is sexy and it gives fuel to my own desire.
“God I love your tight warmth, you feel so good, baby. I want to cover you with cum–mark you like a damn animal.” He sits us up, pulling me on top, tilting in me, moving me up and down on his cock.
My head falls back, he feels larger in this position, the slight pain only enhancing the pleasure I’m pulling from both of us.
“That is it baby, work my cock. Take everything you need so you can give me that sweet juice. I like how juicy this delicious peach gets for me,” he encourages, wrapping my hair in his fist and pulling it back.
“Mm. Your tits look so good bouncing like that.” He slaps my breast and I find that I like the sting.
“You liked that didn’t you? You like a little pain with your pleasure baby?” he asks and does it again.
“Yes!” I scream feeling myself flood even more.
“I think you might be into a little pain,” he whispers as he grabs my nipple between his thumb and index finger and pinches it hard before pulling on it. “It’s our little secret, baby, give it all to me.”
That pull is all I need. My back falls back giving him more access to my nipples, he leans in taking one into his mouth and using his teeth to bite. The mix of pain and pleasure he brings causes my release to hum and then explode inside of me.
“Fuck. Baby I’m never going to get sick of hearing you cum. I love how you soak my cock.” He grunts, thrusting deeper and more erratic as he chases his own orgasm.
“Mm, I’m so close. I’m going to fill you with my cum.” His muscles tense and shake, his thick seed pouring into me in pulsing waves, before he rolls off and pulls me to him.
“You okay?” He places a soft kiss at my shoulder.
“More than okay. Sex with you feels beyond anything I could imagine even existed before. Not just physically but in my head and heart too.” I hum, smiling into his chest.
“So it sounds like you’re saying I fucked you into another universe.” He trails kisses down my arm, doting on me with his lips.
“I think that makes you my sex God.” I giggle.
“I think you’re right.”
“And I’m happy to be your slave.” I kiss and suck at his neck.
“Did we do anything that was too much for you?” His hands pull my head gently up so he can look into my eyes.
“No,” I say shaking my head, “I liked it. It felt amazing. I’m not sure what that says about me though.” Shame creeps into my mind.
“It means you’re fucking sexy as hell. Over time we can explore more things together.” He kisses the top of my head, then hauls me on top of him. I hear the pounding of his heart against my ear, letting the peace and calm of this man shroud me in warmth and acceptance.
I’ve never in my life felt so loved and cherished.
I had no idea that the day I ran into the back of this man’s truck would be the start of my forever, right here in Devil’s Peak with my very own mountain man.