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“Come on, Little Trespasser. Get out of the car. You don’t want to make this harder than it has to be.”
but there was no missing the strength she radiated. A fighter. A survivor.
“I think you’re capable of many things, Savannah, but maybe you need to realize that just because you can do it all yourself, you don’t have to.”
“Like I said before, everyone needs some help every once in a while, Savannah.” “And do you give it to everyone who stumbles into your path?” Those eyes both flared and softened. “Only to the ones who deserve it.”
“Because I consider myself a good judge of character. Because I can see there’s something going on in your life. Because there’s something about you that makes me want to be there for you.”
Stop this before I wound up in a position that would only hurt me in the end. Getting close was dangerous. History had promised me that.
“Maybe I do want to keep an eye on you, Little Trespasser. Maybe I like looking at you.”
It was funny how it took one moment in time…one incidence…one atrocity to reconfigure who we were. I’d always been a firm believer in mercy. In second chances. Hoping to reform those who’d gone astray because it wasn’t like a single one of us could claim that we hadn’t made mistakes.
“We might not be able to rely on anyone else in this world, but we rely on each other. It’s just you and me. Always and forever,”
How many times had it been said that life wasn’t fair? The proof of it was right there, standing in front of me,
“It’s okay, you know? You don’t have to keep going it alone. There’s a time for grieving, but there’s also a time when it becomes clear your heart might have space for more. None of us are going to judge you for that, Ezra. We want it for you. Support you in every way.”
“Yeah, I keep finding you, don’t I?” Everything about her softened in a tenuous sort of vulnerability, and she gazed over at me. Seeking. Searching.
That laughter never stopped as her gaze caught on mine, though for a beat, it slowed. Awareness glided through the air. A burn that ignited when it reached my skin.
I couldn’t help but think how happy I was that she was there.
Aqua eyes creased at the sides as she gazed up at me. A swilling sea. A storm. Paradise. “I don’t believe there’s a single bad bone inside of you.” Dangerous. This woman was dangerous.
think I do just fine when you’re carrying me.”
God, I was stupid enough to even let it touch my soul. I knew better. I knew better. I knew better than to get too close. To want. To even allow the tiniest flicker of hope to ignite. Because I knew full well no one ever truly cared. Knew they would leave me in the end. Knew they would never stay.
Even in my buzzed state, I was sure I should refuse the way it made me feel gooey inside. The way I was falling. Falling for these people.
“Well, I care. You just…pushed me away when we were dancing like you couldn’t handle the sight of me, and now you’re asking me to come live a hundred feet from you? I don’t know what you want from me, Ezra.” Vulnerability seeped out with the admission.
“Everyone deserves a safe place, Savannah. Let me be yours, even if it’s only for a little while.” His voice was rough when he issued it. A promise.
“For giving me this little bit of peace.”
It looked like a tornado had hit, but I had a notion that storm was the woman who crept in behind us.
My chest constricted with the impulse to tell him. Lay it out. Why I was here. Let him hold my fears. How could I fully trust him, though? With the very thing most important to me?
“It’s called me taking care of the ones who mean something to me.” Ruined. This man was going to ruin me.
“I want you to consider this your home, Savannah. Your safe place. For as long as you want it.” “And what if I get in the way?” This was his family we were talking about. His kids. And I was some stranger invading their space. “You’re not going to get in the way,”
Love burned like a flame in my chest every time I looked at the child.
“I’m sorry if I feel different to you, Livvie. If I act different. Losing your mom changed something inside me, but it didn’t change how much I love you or care for you. You and your brothers are the happiness inside me, and I want you to know there are a billion smiles inside my heart when I think of you. When I look at you. They’re just a little more hidden than they used to be.” She tipped her sweet face back to look at me. “As many as the stars?” “As many as the stars.”
Sorrow lanced through her features. I saw it. Felt it. Through it, she smiled a smile I’d never seen her use before as she looked down at my tiny son. One that was both tender and filled with grief. “You want me to look at it, huh?” “Yes,” he said through his adorable voice, the single word flooded with a giggle.
“I’m imagining you’re more than a handful, Ezra Patterson.” “Watch yourself, Little Trespasser, or you’re going to find out.”
“What is it about you that has me losing my mind? What is it about you that has me wanting to cross every line?”
Maybe we both were just fucking lonely, and it felt good to stand in someone else’s space. Someone who might understand in some twisted form. But it went deeper than that, and I wasn’t fool enough not to realize it made her dangerous. Dangerous to my resolve. Dangerous to my sanity. Dangerous to everything I was committed to.
I was here for a reason, to fight for the one thing that I believed in, for the one person who had ever truly loved me.
“Little Trespasser, what are you doing to me?”
“What happened to Brianna was a fucking tragedy, Ezra. Heartbreaking for all of us. But for you? I know it was devastating. Crushing in a way no one can imagine unless they’ve experienced it for themselves. You lost your wife, man. And you being the Sheriff on top of it? I know the burden you carry. The guilt you wear when there was absolutely nothing you could have done to stop it.”
“Are you sure about that? Because I’m pretty sure I see a guy who is clinging to the past when his future is calling for him, and I hope to God he doesn’t make the mistake of getting stuck searching for something he can never get back.”
“How else am I going to keep my eye on my favorite little trespasser?” “Is that what I am? Yours?”
“Why do you look like you just danced with the stars?” “I don’t even know what that means,” I told her.
Loving that she wanted to come out and play. I also knew whatever was brewing between us was far too intense to write it off as inconsequential.
Fear sparking in the middle of the mayhem that propelled me forward. Possessiveness rising high. “Why do you think it was unlocked? Because I saw you out there. Because I wanted you. Because I’ve been waiting for you.”
“This is what you did to me, Ezra. With that kiss. With those hands. With those eyes. With your care. You made me need something I know better than needing.” Dangerous.
“Look at you, Little Trespasser. Sneaking into all the places I’m not supposed to let you go.”
“You stole my breath the second I saw you, Savannah Ward. The moment I shined my flashlight into your car and found those eyes staring back. It gutted me, looking at you. And now, seeing you like this? I’m afraid I’m completely wrecked.” Wrecked.
Knew what the other needed. This connection unfound and unsafe. So intense I didn’t know how we’d ever break it.
There was something about her that compelled me. Beckoned me. Something that made me want to gather her up and never let her go. Take her. Claim her.
“Little Trespasser, what am I supposed to do with you?” Because I’d been afraid of putting my heart on the line. And now that I had? I wasn’t sure that I could ever go back.
clung to Ezra Patterson like I could hold onto this connection forever. Lost to the comfort. To the closeness. To the steady beat of his heart that drummed against my ear where he held me tightly to his chest. To the rhythm of his breaths that panted into the top of my head and stirred through my hair. It was strange, finding peace in his proximity,
This grumbly teddy bear who could go from a demanding savage before he was right back to revealing that soft, sincere soul.
And that’s what it felt like…dancing. Like we were dancing with the stars. Elevated above reality. Where it was glitter and light and ecstasy.
“Because you’re the last person I want looking at me with pity. The last person I want looking at me and thinking that I must be consumed with grief.”
“I’m here for you, Savannah. You’re holding the biggest broken part of me. I promise I’ll hold yours, too.”
