Lovely Readers who are oh-so lovely, I need honest, blunt, opinions. What do you think so far? Is there anything you'd suggest changed or something you'd like to see but didn't? Those who respond to this get added to my list. The good one, not that other one 😂 Enjoy

Chapter 47

Drake tried to come.

The moment I lost the battle to stay awake, he slithered into my mind as if the door had been left wide open.

But this time was different. This time, I wasn't alone.

"There you are." His voice echoed out. A cloud of smoke and thick, heady cologne. The familiar heat of a cherry just before it hit the skin. A cracking whip.

An arm around me. A murmured word. A soft caress across my hair.

Drake faded away, and each time he tried to come back ended the same. He couldn't get me, not when the warmth was there. It acted like a barrier, cocooned me in safety, and I embraced what it offered.

When morning light turned my eyelids red, I opened them to the sight of that warmth.

Bard sat beside me, a pan on the fire, and my stomach rumbled at the smell of pancakes.

He cut his eyes over and smiled softly. "Good morning, Tequila."

I pulled myself up and took in the sleeping bag I never remembered climbing into. "I fell asleep." I rubbed my eyes and yawned. "How'd you get me into this thing without waking me up?"

He snorted. "You were exhausted." He slid a pancake onto a plate and held it out to me. "Here."

I took it, mouth watering. "Where'd you get the stuff to make pancakes? You catch those in the river, too?"

He poured more batter from a tumbler cup into the pan and rumbled a laugh. "It's instant. All you need to add is water." It sizzled and smoked, so he lifted it up and shook it rapidly, then flipped it again as if he'd been training for Iron Chef- Camping Edition his whole life.

I took a bite and chewed slowly while I watched him cook. A shadow of my dreams played across my mind. I hadn't drank the night before, and that should have been enough to let him in. But despite the fact, Drake hadn't found me. The warmth I'd woken with the day before had.

I stared at his profile. "Did you sleep beside me?"

Bard slid his food onto a different plate, and grabbed a fork from beside him. "I didn't sleep." He didn't look over, just focused on cutting off a bite and shoveling it into his mouth. Then another, and again, as if he hadn't eaten in a year.

"Aren't you exhausted? We hiked all day almost, and we were..." I let the sentence hang. No need in bringing up how little sleep we'd gotten the night before. Not with the reason behind it. My skin prickled with awareness.

Bard finished off his food and sat the plate to the side. "You seemed to be having some trouble sleeping so I stayed up to watch over you."

The warmth. I stared down at my plate. It was him. He was the reason...

"Do you always have nightmares?"

I looked up at him, and his eyes dug into me once again. His face remained calm, but I watched his Adam's apple bob, saw the way his fingers curled against his knee.

"Not always." Just when I'm sober.

He was quiet a long moment before he nodded once towards my plate. "Eat up. I want to show you something."

I looked back down to the pancake, took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. Feelings brewed within my stomach and bubbled up into my chest. He'd stayed up all night so that I could sleep...

I've fallen.

I cast a quick glance at his face, and everything about him seemed to flicker across my mind like a reel of film. His booming laugh. That blinding smile. Sweet words and soft touches.

It happened already.

I can't take it back.

I swallowed hard.

"Jessie."

I met his gaze.

"Don't overthink it."

I shuddered a laugh and sat the plate off to the side. "You say that like it's normal for a man to stay up all night and watch a woman sleep."

"I didn't watch you... not the whole time. Just when I heard..." His jaw flexed, and he looked down at his hands. They opened and closed into fists by his knees. His lips pursed. When he finally looked back over at me, his eyes were more intense and darker than they'd been before. "I don't want him there," he said, voice rough. He slowly reached forward and cupped my cheek, then tapped the pad of his index finger against my temple. "He doesn't belong in there, Jessie. He never did."

I held my breath and tried to shut down. I tried to put my wall up and stop him from coming in, but it didn't work.

He had the fucking key.

Bard withdrew and leaned away from me. His hand returned to his lap. "And before you say anything, those aren't just sweet words. I mean..."

"I wasn't going to say anything."

He paused.

I took a moment, a long, hard moment to really look at him. To see him. Not just how insanely attractive he looked with his hair down and wild, and those eyes intent and focused. I looked at him. At the man he'd shown me he could be. The kind of man his father was. The kind of man Zeke was. A real man. Not a boy. Not some asshole.

Fuck it.

I shoved the sleeping bag away from my legs and slowly crawled over to him.

Bard watched me, and he didn't say a word as I straddled his waist. He moved his arms out to his side and allowed me to settled into his lap, eyes fixed with mine and sharp.

I clasped his shoulders. "You're making me stupid."

His arms closed around me tight, and his lips met mine in a kiss full of emotion. So much acceptance. So much warmth.

He wanted me.

It was one thing to be desired. It didn't take much to elicit a physical attraction. But want...

Bard wanted me. All of me, and he'd set his sights to capture what little was left. He took it from me when I wasn't looking, and now he held it in his hand. He had me at his mercy. I couldn't get it back. I couldn't deny. Not anymore.

I love him.

I broke away the moment the realization hit me. I love him. My eyes found his and widened. Panic set in. "You did this..." I clutched his shoulders as the realization spiraled uncontrolled through my mind. Everything that could happen. The thought of walking away when things went bad. Could I do it? Each new day only made it worst. He'd sucked me in, and the depth of it seemed never ending. "You better not fucking hurt me..."

Bard shook his head. "Never." His lips met the corner of my mouth, my jaw, trailed down the column of my throat. His hands ran up my back, gripped my shoulders, then travelled back down again as if I were something precious. "I could never."

My head fell back, teeth clenched, breaths shuddered. I was terrified and joyous all at the same time. I could have laughed, could have cried. Emotions tightened my chest and stole my breath. "You can't say that and make me fall for you. Falling leads to pain. It always has."

"It doesn't if I catch you."

And he did.

I fell, and there he was.

I let go. Not because it was smart. Not because I thought it was a good choice, but because I couldn't resist. Fairy tales weren't real. Love was a disease. Men were like drugs that felt nice until they slowly started to eat you.

But Bard was more.

Another one. Someone please tell me to stop and go to sleep lmao