Page 40 of Guarded

I laugh, pulling her closer, and let her lead me home.

The cabin is warm when we enter, the fire I laid this morning ready to be lit, the bed we share waiting for us to return. Mara kicks off her shoes by the door, adding to the beautiful mess of our combined lives, and turns to me with that smile that still makes my chest tight.

"So," she says. "What's the plan?"

I cross to her, taking her face in my hands, looking into the eyes of the woman who destroyed all my carefully constructed walls and built something better in their place.

"The plan," I say, "is you and me. For as long as you'll have me."

"Forever, then."

"Forever."

I kiss her, slow and deep and full of promise. And for the first time in my life, I stop planning and just let myself fall.

Into chaos. Into love. Into her.

Right where I belong.