Foolish decision, good outcome. This time.
Behind him, in the tent, Gage heard stirring. Probably Ella tossing in her sleeping bag. He’d dozed off in front of the fire for a while, the heat from the flames melting the snow around the circle he’d built.
Although Oliver’s gunshot seemed to have scared the pack away, Gage couldn’t be sure the wolves weren’t lurking in the ring of forest, watching.
Waiting for Gage to let his guard down, make a mistake.
He ran his hand over his eyes, rubbing the sleep from them. Maybe he should have taken Ella up on her offer to let him sleep in the middle between her and Oliver, but it just felt too awkward. Besides, someone had to make sure they didn’t get eaten.
Behind him, the zipper sounded, and he turned to see Ella climbing out. “What are you doing?” he whispered. “Stay in there and get some sleep.”
She had pulled her hair back and secured it with a wool headband. She wore her ski pants and jacket and now settled beside him. “I can’t sleep.”
“I won’t let the wolves get you.” He meant it playfully, but her eyes widened. “I’m kidding.”
“About saving me from the wolves? I hope not.” Then she smiled, and he surrendered to the sweet comfort of having her sit beside him. She stared up at the stars, the faintest hint of the Milky Way still foggy in the sky. “So, what’s next?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Easy. We wait until morning, get on our boards, and head down. We just have to ski through the rest of the Cathedral, and then there’s a final five-hundred-foot drop down to the base. I call it Bishops Cap because there’s usually a pretty thick cornice at the top. Avalanche country.”
She nodded. “Actually, I meant . . .” She bit her lip. “Well, what’s next . . . for us.”
Us.
He let the word settle in. A smile tipped his face, and he let it show in his eyes. “Us.”
She shrugged, then looked away.
“I like the sound of us,” he said quietly.
“You said earlier that you were freaking out.”
A log fell, and sparks lit the sky. “Yeah, I know. And if I sit here and think about my mistakes, and how I don’t deserve another chance with you, I’ll freak out again.” He glanced at her, painfully aware of his heart, beating and vulnerable, on his sleeve.
She was looking at him, however, so much emotion in her eyes, it took his breath away. “Kind of like how I felt when you walked back into my life—I longed for a way to tell you I was sorry. I’ve spent the last three years wishing to rewind time, wishing I could fix the past.”
“It’s done, Ella. It’s over—”
She was shaking her head. “I need to tell . . .” She sighed, and he frowned when she looked up at him, her eyes wet.
“What’s the matter?”
“You know why I became a lawyer?”
“To make your parents proud?”
She shook her head. “Because I hate injustice. And recklessness. And the fact that people make selfish decisions that affect the lives of others. That’s why I opposed this bill on loosening the regulations on the use of recreational marijuana. People put their personal comfort over the well-being of others and it’s . . . wrong. And there’s nothing to protect people from the carelessness of others.”
She was crying now, and he couldn’t help but reach up, thumb a tear away.
“Yeah, it is,” he said. “Being on the PEAK team has taught me that.”
“I just hate that people like you have to put their lives on the line for . . . people who don’t deserve it.”
“But it happens every day, and just because people are careless, or even intentional in their recklessness, doesn’t change the fact that we have to go out and rescue them. We do it not because they deserve rescue but because that’s what we do. That’s who we are.”
“I know. And that’s why . . .” She took a deep breath. “You have to know that I fell in love with you three years ago, Gage, because you were this guy. The kind of guy who tries to do what is right. I just got confused with all the shock of Dylan’s death. His parents, and then the case, but . . . I realized today that . . .”
He stilled.
“I’m still in love with you.”
Her words rushed over him, taking with them his breath. He could barely scrounge up his voice.
She loved him.
And yeah, the response forming inside felt like leaping off the Weeping Wall or plummeting down Angel’s Wings, a rush of heady adrenaline, even a little fear. But he had come this far. “I never stopped loving you, either.”
She gave him the smallest hint of a smile then, and he couldn’t help himself. He leaned forward and captured her beautiful lips with his. Hers were still warm from the tent, and he reached up and cupped her soft cheek with his hand.