Page 120 of Heart of Stone

It burned—a slow, pulsing ache—filling me with something too big to hold. Sunshine and warmth and happiness, pushing against my ribs, desperate to escape.

I wasn’t cold anymore. Wasn’t the Ice Queen I had forced myself to become.

He made me feel young. Alive.

I didn’t think he had a single clue just how deeply he had stitched himself into my heart.

During my time at Stone Ranch, I learned a lot about myself. Who I wanted to be, the mistakes I’d made. I’d confronted emotions, changed the way I saw myself, and how much I cared about how others saw me.

Love was a funny thing. It could come when you least expected it, when you weren’t ready, when it was the worst possible time. It also gave you the ability to be set free.

I hadn’t come to Stone Ranch looking for this.

Now, there was no going back.

I was in love with Colton Stone—the grumpiest, most infuriating cowboy I’d ever met.

And he could never know.

Because I had a life waiting for me. A job that needed me. Responsibilities that didn’t belong in this small town.

I had no choice.

I’d have to swallow these feelings, bury them deep, and walk away.

Even if it killed me.

“What a fucking relief,” Colton said, sitting back up, a slow smile stretching across his face. Those fine lines by his eyes—the ones I’d memorized, stared at too many times before—deepened as he grinned.

“You deserve a drink after that,” I said, grabbing my phone and folding up the tripod. “My treat.”

“Oh, hell no.” He scoffed, pushing to his feet and rounding the desk until he was right in front of me. Close. Too close.

“If it weren’t for you,” he continued, his voice rough with amusement, “I don’t know how many times ‘fuck you,’ ‘that asshole,’ or other choice insults would’ve come flying out of my mouth.”

I laughed. Yeah, that was probably true.

Colton towered over me now, his presence impossible to ignore. The air between us shifted, thickened, and suddenly, my breath felt unsteady, my pulse hammering against my ribs.