She prowled forward, and they retreated toward the truck.
“Alethia is telling you that it is over,” Grey told him. “And if you’re too stupid to figure that out, I guess that shouldn’t surprise me.”
The doors had barely closed before the truck tore away down the driveway.
Grey turned to Alethia. “Was that the sort of consequence you wanted?”
She was glaring after the truck, but at his words, she shimmered back into her human form, and turned to him. “Yes. Thank you. And thank you for holding back. I wanted to see him humiliated, and I got that in spades.”
“I wouldn’t have killed him,” he reassured her. “I have more self-control than that. And he wouldn’t be worth so much trouble, anyway.”
That made her laugh a little. “I guess you’re right,” she said. “After all, he doesn’t matter anymore, does he?”
“Nope,” he said, putting his arm around her. “Come on, let’s go back inside.”
***
Ali had never had anyone do anything like that for her before.
Grey had fought Matt because he’d hurt her. And he’d do it again if she was hurt in the future. She knew it in her bones.
After they got inside, Grey sat down in the big overstuffed chair in front of the fire, and tugged her until she sat down on top of him with a squeak. “Wait, that can’t be comfortable, I’m too heavy.”
“Are you kidding?” Grey cupped her hips in his hands. “You can sit on my lap any time. You’ve got just the right curves to hold onto like this.”
She smiled helplessly, her self-consciousness melting away, and turned to kiss him.
“Mmm.” Grey kissed her back, again and again before he pulled away. “Ready to leave this town? Ready to come up north with me and find our own place together?”
Ali pictured leaving Prescott. Just picking up and leaving it behind. Her crappy job, her judgmental relatives, her bad reputation. All gone.
And in their place, Grey Landin, who was looking at her with warm silvery eyes, lit in the firelight.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes. Yes!”
Grey wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her fiercely. “Thank you,” he whispered against her lips.
“You know,” she said. He pulled back to listen. “When I was with Matt, I thought I knew what love was. It was this desperate wish to be noticed. It was this feeling that I wasn’t good enough, and I had to be better so he’d love me back.”
Grey’s arms tightened around her.
“Then after we broke up, I thought love was a con. That people only ever said that they loved each other to get something. That was when I was dating so much. Because I thought there was nothing more than that.”
He kissed her temple.
“Then, as I got older, I thought that there might be something more out there…but I didn’t know what it was and I didn’t think I’d ever get it.”
Ali pulled back just enough to look him in the eye. “I love you,” she said. “And it’s like a rock under my feet, it’s like a fire to warm myself at, it’s like a roof over my head. It’s the best thing I have ever felt. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
His eyes kindled into silver flame as he kissed her again. “I love you. And I can’t wait either.”
Epilogue
Alethia had never been anywhere as beautiful as Glacier National Park.
Grey was talking to his friend Cal, but Alethia wasn’t listening to a word they said—she was too busy admiring the mountains stretching up into the distance.
She could live here for the rest of her life and that view would still take her breath away.