Only Mine (Honey Mountain #5)(87)

He held up his fist, and I gave him a pound.

“Go get her!” he shouted as I took off.

I intend to.

It was cold as a horse’s balls in the winter, but I’d been through worse. I didn’t even care because I just wanted to see her. Talk to her.

Explain myself.

Tell her why I did what I did.

I’d had a few days to think since I’d last seen her.

Days outside of that cave before we got Bullet out, wondering if we were going to get home alive.

Days after wondering if Bullet was going to make it.

Time to think.

And every thought I had, had been about this girl.

Dylan Thomas.

The most stubborn, strong, infuriating, beautiful woman I’d ever met.

The missing piece I didn’t even know I needed.

It’s like the first time you come up for air after being underwater for a long time, and you suck in that first long breath.

It’s your lifeline.

She’d become my lifeline.

I closed the distance as she stormed down the hill.

She was fast.

I was faster.

Because I was now on a mission to catch her. The snow had stopped falling briefly, giving me a clear view down the mountain.

She skidded to a stop at the bottom of the hill as I swerved around and circled her before snowplowing and coming to a complete stop right in front of her.

She lifted her goggles from her face, and her eyes widened as she took me in. Her gaze moved down my body before moving back up to meet mine.

Her dark brown eyes were wet with emotion before they hardened, and she glared.

That was her. Hot and cold. Ice and fire. Love and hate.

“What are you doing here?” she hissed, before her hand reached out to touch the large bandage over my chest. “Oh my god. Were you shot?”

I moved forward and dropped my poles before reaching for her gloved hands. “No. Well, yes. But not in the chest.”

“Are you okay?” Her voice wobbled.

“I’m fine. Better now that I’m here with you.”

She shivered and I tugged her jacket together and pulled the zipper all the way up, just beneath her chin.

“You’re practically naked and you’re worried about my neck being cold?” She shook her head with disbelief.

“Yep.”

“I hate you so much,” she said, and the tears started to fall. “Look at what you’ve done to me. I cry now. All the freaking time.” She yanked out of my grip and held her chin high.

“Minx,” I said, tugging off my gloves so I could touch her. I used the pads of my thumbs and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “No more crying.”

“You don’t get to decide when I cry and when I don’t. We’re not together. Remember? You ended it.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“I did that to keep you safe because I know you. You’d have gone there, thinking you could help me. But you couldn’t. You aren’t trained to help me. So, I did what I did to keep you safe. And you did what you did to keep me safe, right?”

Her nose was red, and her gaze watched me cautiously.

“How did I keep you safe? You didn’t allow me to do anything to help you.” She rolled her eyes.

“You didn’t tell anyone where I was. You could have caused a whole lot of shit for me, but you chose not to.”

She shrugged. “I heard Bullet is going to be okay. It would have been nice for you to call and tell me.”

“Dylan.” My voice was firm, and she straightened.

“What?”

“I love you. I told you a few nights before I left, but you were sleeping.” I reached into my briefs, and her jaw fell open as I pulled out the folded-up piece of paper. “I wrote this to you before I went into that cave to get Bullet. I didn’t know if I’d be coming out.”

Her eyes softened, and another tear rolled down her cheek as I handed her the note.

“You wrote me a letter?” She tugged off her gloves and dropped them in the snow and held out her hand.

“I did. You know I’m a man of few words, but when it comes to you—I’ll always break the rules.”

She unfolded the paper and read it aloud, probably just to torture me.

“Minx. I love you in a way I didn’t know was possible. My life doesn’t work now without you, and I want you to know that if I don’t make it home, you were my last thought. My only thought. I know you’re pissed because you’re always pissed at me, right?” Her words broke on a sob, and she smiled up at me, tears streaming down her pretty face before she looked back down at the paper. “I left you because I would die before I’d let anyone, or anything, hurt you. This is what I know. My need to protect you is innate. And if I survive this, I’m coming for you. I’ll always come for you, Minx. You’re mine, and I’m yours. No more secrets. No more exit strategy. And if I don’t come back, I hope that you won’t date anyone else because I will hunt that fucker down from the grave. I love you. The big, bad Wolf.” Her voice shook, and she broke down right in front of me.

This strong, stoic woman was making herself vulnerable for me.

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her against my chest.

“I love you. I love you so fucking much,” I said again, making sure she knew it. Moving forward, I planned to tell her often. Because the way I felt about this girl had been what I thought of when those two bullets pierced my skin before I dove into that helicopter.