Redemption Hills: The Complete Collection

17. Tessa

SEVENTEEN

TESSA

A low roll of thunder pulled me from sleep. I’d been riding just below the surface of coherency, anyway, caught in one of those dreamlike states where you were partially aware of reality. Where the pictures in your mind were distorted by the fears and what-ifs and unknowns, twisting them into untold horrors.

I wouldn’t deny it.

I was nervous.

I was usually the rush right in and experience life kind of girl, but my spirit warned of what was riding on tomorrow, and it’d manifested itself into every terrible thing that could go wrong.

Mainly the idea of letting Milo down. That he wouldn’t find the fullness of this life. That what he was missing might not be restored.

Tossing off the covers, my bare feet hit the floor, and I padded out into the lapping darkness of the main room. Rain pattered against the roof, and lightning lit at the bank of windows that overlooked the back. For a flash, the mountains were alight and the blackened lake alive with the torrent that pummeled from the sky.

Thunder rolled, and my spirit shivered when I heard the distinct rumble of Milo’s old pickup truck approaching in the distance.

I glanced at the clock that glowed from the microwave in the kitchen.

3:14 a.m.

A thrill slipped beneath the surface of my skin.

Every time he came home, it was the same reaction.

Excitement.

Another week had passed, living in his home. Each day, I wanted him more. Each day the idea of him increased.

It was no secret I’d lived vicariously through my friends.

I’d always played it a joke. Like I was just being a nosy friend who wanted to goad them for the dirty details in their lives.

But the truth was, I’d been afraid I might never experience it for myself.

That I might not ever realize the desire to be touched.

To be pleased and adored and revered.

To understand what it was like to be taken by an all-consuming need.

To understand freedom in ecstasy.

To me, it was a mystery.

A fantasy I’d played through my mind a million times but had never known for myself.

Through them, I wanted to believe it was real.

The kind of connection they shared with their husbands.

I wondered if Milo touched me if I…

My stomach twisted, and I forced myself to stop that dangerous train of thought and turn back to the gorgeous scene of the summer storm bearing down on the mountain.

I had to reel in these feelings that were getting out of control.

Stop myself from believing this hoax could become something real.

I was setting my heart up to get broken.

I knew it.

That didn’t keep it from racing when I heard the tires of his truck crunch over the gravel as he came to a stop in front of the cabin. The spray of his headlights lit through the front windows.

A charge of energy sparked in my spirit.

That expectation was only amplified when his engine shut off, and I could all but hear his big boots pounding up the steps to the front porch, though it was dulled by the constant drone of the rain that pounded the roof.

A key slipped into the lock, and crap, my nerves zapped in anticipation.

Excitement and need and a thrill.

A little fear, too.

No question, what I was feeling was reckless.

Fraudulent and a clear contraindication to this bogus relationship that we’d fashioned.

Because it felt all too real when the door slowly creaked open and I felt his presence wash over me from behind.

Bold.

Severe.

Potent.

All that intensity was nothing but a lure because I couldn’t do anything but turn to look at him from over my shoulder.

He’d frozen in the doorway when he saw me there. His black hair was wet and dripping down his face to crawl into his beard.

His face so gorgeous it’d become a direct threat to the strength of my knees.

His black T-shirt was drenched at the shoulders, the fabric stretched tight over his wide, wide chest, though his jeans were barely wet, the top of him taking the brunt of the downpour battering the earth.

It was those honey-dipped eyes that did me in.

Tender.

But I swore I saw them flame with greed.

The man was an absolute hazard to my heart.

He might as well have had me on a lead because I was compelled by his movement as he stepped the rest of the way inside and clicked the door shut behind him, and my body turned in anticipation of his approach.

“Tessa, what are you doing up so late?”

I shrugged. “I think the storm must have woken me.” I glanced back through the windows. “It’s absolutely gorgeous.”

He edged in farther, his big boots thudding on the hardwood floors. His steps were measured, as if he recognized he needed to be careful, as if he understood he was treading into dangerous territory.

Where my heart had gone haywire and the dirty ideas in my mind had spun out of control.

Tension thickened the air, and everything felt too full and tight.

“Gorgeous, yeah,” he rumbled, but those eyes never strayed from me.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the room in a strike of energy.

His aura glowed within it.

The warmth now a slow-burning fire.

He edged closer.

The man was all dark Viking and sexy manipulations.

Seriously, he made my mind mush.

“How was your night?” I rushed.

“Long. Couldn’t wait to get home.”

“Right. You have to be exhausted.”

“Not really,” he rumbled in that low voice.

“Oh,” I peeped. Brilliant, I know.

Milo took the last step until he was a towering shadow that eclipsed me, his big body vibrating with this severity that knocked every rational thought from my brain.

“Don’t like leaving you here by yourself night after night.”

My mouth went dry, and every drop of blood in my body raced to forbidden locations. I felt like I could step forward, disappear into the man, and I might get lost and never find my way back to sanity.

I wouldn’t mind staying there forever.

“I can handle myself just fine. I already told you I’m used to being alone.”

He angled down, his breath a hot wisp over my cheek.

Honey and the woods and the fall of summer rain.

A needy sound slipped between my lips without my permission.

“I know you can take care of yourself, Tessa, but that doesn’t mean I’m not goin’ to worry about you.”

“Well, that’s what good fiancés do.” I struggled for light.

“Well, I do plan on treating my girl right.” His delicious mouth tweaked into a half smile.

Snap. Crackle. Boom.

My tongue raced over my parched lips.

I searched for space because at this rate, I was seriously going to make a fool of myself.

Climb him like a tree, like I was aching to do.

I took a fumbling step back and hit the long pane of cool glass.

Milo erased that space, too.

Like maybe he couldn’t stand the distance.

I gulped as my belly flipped, and that sweet spot between my thighs throbbed.

Was he thinking the same things as me? What it would be like to run his hands over my body? Tear my clothes off like a wild beast? Take me?

With Karl over and done with, every sordid fantasy I’d kept tucked away of Milo had been unleashed and had taken on a very vibrant new life.

Heat burned up the bare space between us, and I could see the way his chest was jutting with each panted breath.

His jaw was clenched in restraint, and his eyebrows slashed downward in severity.

But his lips—they were plump and soft and full and, oh my God, was this mountain man going to kiss me?

His big palm went to the side of my face. The contact sent chills scattering far and wide, and I was most definitely getting lost in this fantasyland that I wanted to make my home.

Stake a claim in it.

Discovered terrain never known before to exist.

Tessa’s territory.

It had a really nice ring to it.

A frown dented his brow. Close to pain. “Are you ready for tomorrow?”

Oh.

Right.

That’s where this severity was coming from.

He was worried about the visitation with his kids.

I so got it, and I refused the disappointment that wanted to sprout up between the hope.

I met his fierce gaze through the shadows. “I think it’s likely that’s what really woke me up. I’m pretty nervous, honestly.”

His nod was tight. “Me, too.”

“Do you think we can pull it off?”

“I do.” He stated it without question.

Like it was fact.

And his hand was slipping farther up my jaw, his fingertips just dipping into my hair.

“Is it wrong I’m excited for you to meet them?” His smile was almost shy.

I gulped. “No, because I can’t wait to meet them, either. I just hope they like me.”

“Don’t think it’s possible for someone not to like you, Tessa.”

“Oh, I’ve had a few foes in my life. Third graders can be total bullies. Terrifying, if I’m being honest.” My voice was a wisp of light.

A deep chuckle rolled from his chest. “That so?”

I nodded frantically.

Gah.

Why was he tucking me closer?

Another slow roll of thunder rumbled the sky, driving the intensity between us. Waves of vapor that was completely intoxicating.

He hesitated for a second before he murmured, “I was afraid to hope before you came here, Little Dove, and now…”

My fingertips found the spot where his heart hammered at his ribs.

Violent yet steady.

“I want to help you find your joy, Milo. I’m not sure I’ve met anyone who deserves it the way you do.”

“You hardly know me, Tessa.” A warning tolled in his gravelly voice.

My blunt nails scraped at his chest. “I don’t need to know the details to know you, Milo. I don’t need any of it to feel who you are.”

A flash of guilt speared through his expression before he urged, “And if it comes to gettin’ on the stand and testifying to that? Taking an oath that’s a lie?”

“Are you trying to run me off again?” I forced a shaky smile.

He pressed my hand flat to his chest, covering it with his in a desperation that made me want to weep. “I want it so badly, but this week, it’s become abundantly clear what I might be putting you through.”

I huffed like it was nothing. “Pssh. Lying under oath? I’ve done it a hundred times.”

It wouldn’t be a lie, though. What I felt for him. Who I believed him to be.

The smallest grin curled his lips. “A hundred times?”

I shrugged a small shrug and peered up at his intimidating beauty, struggling with all the needy bits inside me to keep this thing light. “What can I say? I’m a rule breaker.”

He gruffed out a chuckle, his voice so low and smooth.

Raw liquid silk.

I wanted to roll around in it.

“Rule breaker, huh?”

“Yep, of the worst kind.”

Because my thoughts about him were slanting criminal.

“Murder?” His eyes widened with the tease.

“You’ll never know,” I played right back.

Somehow, he’d drifted even closer, and his free hand had found its way to my hip, and crap, the other was lifting my hand that sported the ridiculously gorgeous ring that I only could have imagined in my dreams. It was so perfect for me it kind of made my heart hurt looking at it.

One he’d picked himself, like he knew me, inside and out.

He held it up between us, watching the big diamond shimmer in the flashes of light. For a moment, we both stared at it before his gaze drifted to mine.

“You don’t seem like much of a rule breaker to me,” he mumbled so low, the words ripe with affection.

My tongue swept over my dried lips, my voice cracking on the truth. “I think I’d break any rule for you, Milo Hendricks.”

He pulled me against him then, to the hard, hulking planes of his gorgeous body, and he pressed his face to my neck, his breaths harsh and shallow where he exhaled them just behind my ear, his hold fierce and unrelenting. The man was as close to me as he could be without taking me, but I wondered if it might be just as intimate.

“Thank you, Tessa. Thank you for saving my heart and what’s left of this life.”

And I knew right then, I’d give him anything he wanted.