Chapter 16 – Ronan
The cabin is dark when we pull up. I cut the engine and for a moment neither of us moves, her arms still around my waist.
Then she slides off and hands me the helmet.
I stay beside the bike a second longer, replaying the last few hours—Derek’s confidence breaking under my hand, Judge’s text confirming he’s heading south and that Stone is tailing him to the county line.
It’s done. Harper’s safe.
And standing outside this cabin again, my body remembers exactly what happened here last time. Years of control start losing ground.
I walk up the steps.
She’s leaning against the porch rail, arms crossed, watching me with those dark eyes that miss nothing.
"You okay?" she asks.
"Fine."
"Ronan."
I stop in front of her. Close enough to see the exact way the porch light catches in her hair, the slight rise and fall of her breathing.
"He's gone," I say. "Judge confirmed it. Stone's making sure he keeps going."
Something in her shoulders releases. Relief, maybe. Or just the adrenaline finally letting go.
"Good," she says quietly.
We stand there in the dark and the quiet, and I should go inside, should give her space to process whatever she's feeling, should be the controlled, measured version of myself that handles things without making them complicated.
Instead, I step closer.
Her breath catches.
I put one hand on the rail beside her hip. Cage her in without touching her. Watch her eyes dilate in the low light.
"Harper," I say.
"Yeah?"
"I need you to tell me right now if you're not okay with this."
"With what?"
I lean in. Put my mouth next to her ear. Let my voice drop to the register I've been keeping locked down since she climbed off my bike.
"With me fucking you against this porch rail," I say, "until you forget Derek Sutton ever existed."
She makes a sound. Small. Sharp. Her hands come up and fist in my shirt.
"I'm very okay with that," she says.
I kiss her.
Hard. No buildup, no gentleness—just my mouth on hers and my hand in her hair, hours of wanting compressed into seconds. She kisses me back just as hard, nails in my chest through my shirt, and when I pull back we’re both breathing like we’ve been running.
"Inside," she says.
"No."
I turn her around.
Her hands go to the porch rail automatically and I step up behind her, one hand on her hip, the other pushing her hair aside so I can put my mouth on the back of her neck.
She shivers.
"Ronan—"
"Right here," I say against her skin. "Where anyone driving up that road could see you. Where you can see the whole valley. Where there's nothing between you and the night except me."
I feel her breathing change. Faster. Shallower.
My hand moves from her hip to the button of her jeans.
"Yes or no, Harper."
"Yes," she says. No hesitation.
I open the button. Slide the zipper down. My hand slips inside and she gasps when I find her already wet, already ready, and something in my chest goes tight and possessive.
"Fuck," I say against her neck. "You're wet."
"Your fault."
I slide one finger inside her and she makes a sound that goes straight to my cock.
I add a second finger. Work her slowly, deliberately, learning what makes her breath catch, what makes her grip the rail hard enough that her knuckles go white.
"Ronan—" My name comes out broken. "I need—"
"I know what you need."
I pull my hand out and she makes a sound of protest that dies the second she hears my belt buckle.
I shove my jeans down just enough, pull her jeans and underwear down to her thighs, and the sight of her bent over my porch rail with her ass bare and the valley spread out below us does something to the last piece of control I've been holding onto.
I line myself up and push inside.
One slow, deep thrust that buries me completely.
She cries out. The sound echoes off the pines and comes back to us and I don't care who hears it.
"Fuck," I grit out. She's tight and hot and perfect and I have to stop moving for a second or this ends before it starts.
"Move," she says. "Ronan, please—"
I pull back and drive in again. Harder this time.
She braces herself on the rail and I set a rhythm that’s nothing like before, nothing controlled or careful, just deep, hard strokes that make her gasp every time I bottom out.
My hand wraps around her hip. Holding her steady. The other hand slides up under her shirt and finds her breast, no bra, just soft skin and a hard nipple that makes her moan when I roll it between my fingers.
"God," she gasps. "Ronan—"
"I've got you."
I do. I've got one hand on her breast and the other on her hip and my cock buried deep inside her and she's taking every thrust like she was made for this, made for me, and the territorial part of my brain that's been quiet for years is wide awake and absolutely certain.
Mine.
I pull out almost completely and slam back in.
She cries out again and I feel her tighten around me and I know she's close.
"Come on my cock," I say against her ear. "Let me feel it."
She breaks.
Her whole body goes tight and she says my name like a prayer and I feel her pussy clench around me in waves and it's the hottest fucking thing I've ever felt.
I fuck her through it. Don't stop. Don't slow down. Just keep driving into her while she's still coming and when she finally goes limp against the rail I'm right there on the edge.
"Harper—"
I bury myself deep and let go. My orgasm hits like a freight train, everything going white behind my eyes, and I feel myself pulsing inside her and her body taking it all and for a moment there's nothing but her and me and the mountain night around us.
When I come back to myself, I'm leaning over her, both of us braced on the rail, both of us breathing hard.
I pull out carefully. She makes a small sound and I feel my cum start to drip down her thigh and something primitive in me wants to keep her exactly like this.
Instead, I pull her jeans back up. Button them. Turn her around and kiss her soft this time, slow, the opposite of what just happened.
When I pull back, she's looking at me with eyes that are dark and satisfied and something else I don't have a name for yet.
"That was—" she starts.
"Yeah."
She laughs. Soft and real. "You didn't even let me finish."
"Didn't need to."
I pick her up. She makes a surprised sound and wraps her legs around me automatically and I carry her inside, kick the door shut behind us, and take her straight to the bedroom.
This time we make it to the bed.
This time I take my time.
And when she falls asleep hours later with her head on my chest and her hand over my heart, I lie there in the dark and feel something that's been locked down for years finally settle.
She's mine.