Chapter 13
RYLIN
Iwoke up slowly, enjoying the weight of the muscular arm draped across my waist. When I shifted slightly, Micah’s hold on me tightened as he pulled me back against a solid wall of heat.
A soft sigh escaped me before I could stop it. My legs were tangled with his, my cheek was pillowed against his broad chest, and his breath stirred my hair each time he exhaled.
I’d never woken up feeling so safe and wanted. Or content in a way that made my throat go tight.
I tipped my head back just enough to look at him. His eyes were closed, lips parted slightly, expression unguarded in sleep. For someone who could flatten a grown man with one tackle, he looked almost boyishly peaceful right now.
I let myself admire him for another heartbeat. Yesterday had been a lot. But we’d come through it even stronger, all because of his certainty when mine had fractured.
And the way he’d claimed me had been everything I never knew I needed. I barely remembered the ride back to his place with how my body had felt like it’d been wrung dry, literally and figuratively.
I’d never been as vulnerable with anyone else before. Physically or emotionally. But Micah had more than earned my trust, he’d claimed every part of my heart along with my body.
As though he could hear me thinking about how and when I should tell this amazing man that I’d fallen head over heels in love with him, his eyelashes fluttered. A moment later, his blue eyes blinked open. “Morning, baby.”
“Good morning.” My voice caught at the end when he dipped his head and pressed a slow kiss to my shoulder, right where the sheet had slipped away.
His hand slid from my waist to my hip, his thumb brushing back and forth like he needed the contact. “Feel okay?”
“Yeah.” I shifted to face him fully. “This very bossy football player managed to get my head screwed back on straight.”
“Good.” He stole a kiss—just a gentle brush of his lips over mine. “I’m driving you to work today.”
I blinked. “Micah, you barely slept. You need to rest.”
“Nope.” He kissed me again, firmer this time. “I need to take you to work.”
A laugh slipped out of me. “You’re impossible.”
“And you’re beautiful in the morning,” he countered.
“Thank you.” He meant every word he said, and I was starting to see myself the way he did. Little by little. “I need a shower before we do anything else. Let’s see how much we can fog up your bathroom.”
He flashed me a wicked grin at my suggestion before sweeping me out of bed and into the bathroom, where we put his tankless water heater to good use by staying in there long enough to get clean after dirtying each other up again.
Two hours after we woke up, Micah’s hand stayed warm and steady at my back as he walked me inside The Tight Line, his presence a quiet anchor while the morning prep buzzed around us.
A couple of servers waved, one cook called out a greeting, and I sighed in relief over how normal it all seemed.
Until Micah steered me toward the office he and Raiden used.
My pulse picked up when he knocked once and pushed the door open.
Raiden was inside, leaning against the edge of the desk with his arms crossed. Tammi sat in the chair next to him and looked up with a smile. “Rylin, come in. Stop looking like you’re headed to the principal’s office. You’re not in trouble.”
Heat crept up my neck as I stepped inside. Micah stayed close, his hand brushing my lower back like he knew I needed the reassurance.
Tammi folded her hands on the desk. “We wanted to talk to you together because this affects your role here.”
My heart hammered. “Okay…”
“We’re promoting you to assistant manager. Effective immediately.”
“I—no.” I shook my head before my brain could catch up. “I can’t. I mean—I appreciate it, but I can’t accept a position I didn’t earn.”
Tammi snorted, flicking a glance at Micah and Raiden. “Do you really think I’d give someone this job just because one of the owners told me to?”
My mouth opened, then closed, since I wasn’t sure what to say. I’d seen her push back against Raiden and Micah myself when she thought they were wrong about something.
Raiden straightened. “You’re already doing the work of three people. Pulling double shifts. Coordinating the baking schedule. People come to you with questions before they come to anyone else when Tammi isn’t available.”
I couldn’t deny that I had done those things. Quietly. Without expecting recognition.
“And sales are up since we added your recipes to the dessert menu. You’re not just great with customers, you’re good for the bottom line too.” Tammi slid a folder across the desk. “You earned this, Rylin. Period.”
My hands shook as I nodded. “Okay. Thank you. I’ll—I won’t let you down.”
“I know.” She stood. “Congratulations.”
She left with a satisfied grin. Raiden followed, clapping me gently on the shoulder as he passed. “Keep up the great work.”
The door clicked shut, leaving Micah and me alone.
He squeezed my hip, leaning in to murmur against my ear, “Told you. You’re a natural.”
“You did.”
I actually believed him, but my newfound confidence was tested much more quickly than I ever could’ve expected. We’d barely made it three steps out of the office when a raised voice carried through the closed door of Tammi’s office.
“…this is blatant favoritism,” Derek snapped. “Everyone sees it. Micah’s sugar-daddying the new hire, rescuing her like some kind of damsel in distress. She’s playing the part really well—”
Micah stopped so abruptly that I almost ran into his back.
My fingers curled instinctively around his arm, and I whispered, “Micah, don’t.”
He didn’t move. Beneath my hand, his muscles had gone rigid with barely contained tension.
Before he could say a single word, Tammi’s voice cut through Derek’s complaints. “That’s enough. Pack your things. You’re done here.”
“What?” Derek sputtered. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m very serious,” Tammi shot back. “You don’t get to spread lies about coworkers, insult management, or drag my business into your bitterness. Clear out your locker and leave.”
Derek stormed out of her office and came to a dead stop when he saw us.
All the color drained from his face. His earlier bluster evaporated in an instant, replaced by something panicked. Micah took one slow step forward.
He didn’t raise his voice. Didn’t even need to. “Ever speak her name again, and you’ll regret it. Don’t apologize. Don’t explain. Just leave.”
Derek swallowed hard, nodded once, and muttered something that might’ve been an apology before bolting toward the break room to grab his things.
The silence that followed rang in my ears.
Micah turned to me immediately, his entire posture shifting—concern wiping away every trace of menace. His hands came up gently, cupping my arms like he needed to reassure himself I was still there. “You okay?”
I was shaken, but I nodded. Because somehow…I was. “Yeah, I’m surprisingly good.”
Before I could overthink it—or talk myself out of it—I stepped into him and pressed my mouth to his. He stilled for half a heartbeat, then lost himself in our kiss.
When I pulled back, my forehead rested against his chest. “I need you to hear something.”
His palm cupped the back of my head. “Anything.”
“I’m not fragile. I don’t need rescuing.” I tilted my face back to stare up at him. His attention sharpened; every ounce of him locked on me. “You didn’t save me, Micah. You elevated me.”
His breath left him slowly, as though the words hit him somewhere deep.
“You didn’t buy my success. You didn’t fix my life. No matter how badly you wanted to,” I added with a faint smile.
That earned me a crooked grin.
“You believed in what I could build—before I did.” I continued. “And you gave me a platform to prove myself.”
The way Micah looked at me then—like I’d just handed him something priceless—made my knees weak. He glanced down the hall once. Then he grabbed my hand and tugged me into the nearest storage closet.
The door clicked shut behind us, plunging us into darkness and quiet—and he was on me instantly. One hand braced against the door by my head, the other at my waist, his mouth claiming mine as his restraint had snapped.
He nipped along my jaw and down my neck. “Do you have any idea how proud I am of you?”
I clutched his shirt, breathless. “Micah…”
He kissed the place beneath my ear. “You did this, baby. All of it.”
For once, my life didn’t feel like something I was barely holding together. I was building something solid, professionally and personally.
He forced himself to pull back, forehead resting against mine. “I have to go. If I don’t leave now…”
“I know,” I whispered, even though I didn’t want to.
As he slipped out of the closet and back into the hallway, I pressed my hand to my chest.
For the first time in my life, hope didn’t feel reckless.
It felt earned.
The only thing missing was my sister, but the promotion was a giant leap toward moving Reese here.