Page 177 of That Rush

He nods slowly. “I’ll ask.”

“Thank you.”

He looks toward the trees beyond the porch, a muscle ticking in his jaw before he brings his attention back to me.

“So what are we building here, Paige?”

The question reaches deeper than a key or a cookout. “It looks like this. Your house and my cabin. Time with Josie. Time alone. Nights together because we want them, family events we choose, and room for both of us to remain ourselves.”

“For how long?”

“I don’t know.”

His expression tightens. “That’s the part I hear.”

“I’m being honest.”

“I know. I’m trying to understand what we’re growing toward if everything stays separate.”

“Everything isn’t separate. You’re in my home. I’m in yours. Your daughter has books on my shelves, and I have a drawer beside your bed.”

“But you need an out—a life that’s waiting for you without me in it.”

“That isn’t what this cabin means.”

“It’s what it feels like.”

I leave the hammock and crouch between his knees. “This place reminds me that loving someone doesn’t require handing over every part of myself. My choice to be with you has to stay voluntary.”

His hands settle carefully on my hips. “And to me, it means building something that would hurt to walk away from. Something we’d both lose.”

My cabin gives me the freedom to love him honestly. To Aiden, it sounds like an exit I insist on keeping unlocked.

I touch his face. “You would already be a loss.”

His eyes close, and a breath shudders out of him. He leans into my palm for a second before they open again, ...something quieter replacing the guarded tension.

“Do you want me to go home?” he asks, his voice rough.

“No.”

“Do you still want me tonight?”

I rise, step between his legs, and answer with a kiss that he meets with equal force. “Yes,” I whisper against his mouth. “I still want you.”

Aiden rises from the chair without breaking the kiss, his hands sliding around my waist as he backs me toward the open door.

“Inside,” he says against my mouth.

“Bossy so soon after a conversation about asking?”

He stops at the threshold. “Paige. Inside. Before I fall off this chair trying to kiss you properly.”

I smile. “Since you asked so nicely.”

I grab my book and key ring on the way in. Aiden notices the book and takes it from my hand as I step inside.

“What were you reading before you invited me over?”