Page 32 of Wandering in Love

Once things settle down and I’m left alone with my thoughts, the fear sets in.

What if she doesn’t wake up? What if she does and she hates me? What if she leaves?

I still have unanswered questions that are plaguing me. Do I have a kid out there somewhere?

At some point, I fall asleep. When my eyes open, it’s dark in the room. Eva is still against me, her arm now around my waist and her thigh between mine. She’s shivering a bit and her color is coming back. Thank fuck.

“Eva?” I run my hands down her back, seeing if she’ll wake for me.

“Mmmm.”

The grumpy sound makes me smile. Knowing she’s getting better helps the tension in my neck and the vise grip around my chest relax. She’s going to be okay.

Chapter Thirteen

EVA

I’m sweaty. Suffocating in the heat. Hair is stuck to my face, my eyelids.

Why am I naked?

When I pop my eyes open, it takes me a second to recognize where I am. Log walls with nothing hanging on them, a brown shag rug, bare log furniture. Ian’s room at the ranch.

I spent so much time in this room growing up.

Shoving the blankets off, I sit up and wrap an arm around my chest to cover my nakedness.

“How ya feelin’, Wildflower?” Ian’s sleep-rough voice has me turning toward him.

“I’m hot.”

A little smirk lifts his lips as his eyes drag down my body. “Can’t say you’re wrong.”

Even though he’s seen me naked more times than I can count, my cheeks blush. He sits up, the blankets falling to his waist, putting those delicious muscles on display. His arms flex as he moves the blankets off him as well. My eyes drink him in: the scars on his skin from growing up on a ranch, down to the slight rolls of skin on his stomach, to the tent in his boxers. My eyes snap back to his, my cheeks flushing a much hotter blush this time.

Pieces of my ride out into the snow start flashing in my head. Bandit slid on an icy patch and I fell off. I tumbled down the embankment and into the water. The temperature stole my breath, tiny knives piercing my entire body.

If it had been any deeper, I would have drowned. I’m kind of fuzzy on getting out of the water, but I remember thinking I needed to.

“Is Bandit okay?”

“He’s fine. He found you. Led me straight to you.” His fingers trail down my spine.

“You found me?”

He wasn’t even here.

“Of course I did.” Ian sits up, turning me to face him. “Will called me when Bandit got back and you weren’t with him. When I got here, Dad and Johnny were out looking for you. I jumped on Bandit and took off. Will stayed behind in case anything else happened.”

He saved my life.

His face is blurring through the tears filling my eyes. He came back to help me. I was in danger and he came back, even though I told him to stay away from me and I slapped him.

Ian cups my cheek in his big rough palm and leans to claim my lips in a soft kiss.

“I love you, Eva.” His forehead presses against mine.

Reaching for him, I cup his soft, beard-covered cheek and sob. “I love you too.”