Page 2 of His Savage Longing

"Good, then I'll need you here to help fix up the place so we can put it on the market." I force myself to sound all-business, betraying no hint of the storm of emotions roiling inside me.

Zane's brow furrows in confusion. "You want to sell the camp?"

"Of course," I snap back matter-of-factly. "This place is a relic. It hasn't been operational in years, and the needed upkeep and renovations would cost a fortune. We'd be lucky to find a developer willing to take it off our hands for—"

"Are you out of your mind?" He cuts me off. "We can't just sell it off to some asshole developer who'll bulldoze over everything."

I bristle at his tone. "Oh, so you'd rather let it all just crumble and rot into the ground instead? How pragmatic."

My words drip with acid sarcasm, but he matches my venom with a scathing look. "At least that would preserve Silverpine's spirit. Which you clearly have no concept of anymore."

Rage surges through me, my cheeks instantly flushing hot with anger. Before I can unleash the torrent of vicious retorts rising inside me, a sudden clap of thunder booms overhead. We both glance skyward as the first icy raindrops begin pelting down.

"We're not done here," Zane growls, his tone laced with a promise. Or maybe a threat. I can't tell through the blur of stinging tears blurring my vision.

I don't wait to find out. Spinning on my heel, I pick up my way too expensive shoes and storm back toward my car, refusing to look back. Of course, he's still the exact same smug, reckless asshole who shattered me all those years ago. I should've known he'd never change.

I angrily swipe at the dampness streaking my cheeks as the downpour intensifies. By the time I reach my car, the rain is pounding in deafening sheets, the windshield quickly fogging over. I crank the ignition and turn up the heat, my breath coming in furious bursts as I try to rein in the torrent of emotions.

But then, a broad silhouette emerges from the rain, and the passenger door wrenches open. Zane's hulking form sliding onto the leather beside me. He shakes his drenched hair out like a wolf shedding water as I stare at him in disbelief.

"What do you think you're doing?" I demand.

He meets my glare, his jaw set in a look of grim determination. "I told you,” he says. “We're not done."

Chapter 2

Zane

"You can't sell it."

The words rumble from my chest with a finality that surprises even me. My jaw is clenched, shoulders tense as I stare out the rain-splattered windshield at the dilapidated cabins beyond. Peeling paint, sagging roofs—it may look like ruin to the untrained eye. But to me, Camp Silverpine will always be sacred ground.

Every gnarled pine, every jutting precipice, every icy stream carving through the valleys—I know them all intimately as my childhood playgrounds. Summers spent forging off-trail, learning to survive on my wits alone. Winters braving whiteout blizzards just to test my mettle against nature's fury.

But most of all, I remember the girl with fiery red curls always by my side, her adventurous spirit a perfect match for mine. We were wild, feral children, fearless in our pursuit of thrills. This place was our awakening, our first love—both for the untamed wilderness and each other.

To let it be razed by some corporate bulldozer, erased from existence like our history never mattered... the thought ignites a primal rage within me.

"You're not thinking clearly," Aspen scoffs, shattering my reverie. "This place has been dead for years. It will never be the same camp you remember from our childhood."

"It could be again," I counter, turning to face her fully. "We just need to restore it, bring it back to the way it was. Give other kids a chance to experience everything that made our summers here so incredible."

She shakes her head in disbelief, a few strands of damp red hair falling across her cheek. The urge to brush them aside is automatic, my hand twitching before I regain control.

"You're delusional," she says. " We'd have to sink millions in just to get the amenities and safety up to code. It would take a total overhaul—modern cabins, climbing walls, a clubhouse with all the modern tech. Not to mention the safety upgrades.”

I bristle at the suggestion, my jaw tightening. "Then it won't be Camp Silverpine anymore. You'd strip away everything that made this experience pure—the connection to nature, the freedom to explore without coddling, pushing your limits and finding strength within yourself."

"Oh, spare me the Grizzly Adams speech." Aspen's tone drips with sarcasm. "You're living in a nostalgic fantasy, Zane. This isn't about reliving some glorified childhood memory. It's about being practical and making hard decisions with a massive investment property that's become a money pit."

I grit my teeth, struggling to maintain my composure in the face of her cold dismissal of everything this place means to me. To us. "Let's at least have a civil conversation about it. Hear me out."

Aspen arches one perfectly sculpted eyebrow, her emerald eyes glittering with amusement. "A civil conversation? Is that your way of luring me back to your remote mountain shack for a little backcountry hospitality?"

I stiffen at the suggestive jab, a reflexive surge of desire tightening my abdomen before I can control it. Dammit. I'd almost forgotten how effortlessly she can get under my skin.

Forcing my voice to remain even, I shake my head. "I was thinking somewhere a bit more public. That cafe in town, maybe?"

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