had once been a beautiful expanse of trees and walking paths had been reduced to nothing more than splinters of wood and dirt.
They were rebuilding, slow and steady, but it would take ages for it to be what it was.
And she missed it.
She missed walking the trails after a tough day or a tough patient or a tough injury. She missed this.
Cool air on her skin, the soft rustle of leaves on the trees.
“How did you do this?”
Graham nudged her forward out the doorway, and she stepped out on the small patio. “I grew it.”
“But how?”
His front came very close to her back. “With soil and sunlight and seeds.”
She snorted. “You know that’s not what I mean.”
“It’s my place,” he said with a shrug. “I come here to be alone.”
“You’re not alone now,” she pointed out.
He grinned. “Funny how that works. Although,” he added, “one might be able to say that we’re alone.”
“Hmm. Is that right?”
Slightly roughened fingers brushed back the hair from her forehead. “That’s right.”
Her breath caught when those fingers slid lower, tracing the shell of her ear, drifting down her throat. “What’s your favorite flower?”
She giggled. “Really?”
A shrug. “Seems like something I should know.”
“Peonies.”
“Noted.” A beat. “You’re not going to ask what my favorite is?”
“Do you have a favorite?”
He nodded at the lights hanging in the pair of trees filling the small space, highlighting the pots of plants overflowing with brightly colored flowers below. “Yes.”
She waited. “And what’s the answer?”
“Woo me, and I might just tell you.”
Giggles burst out of her. “You’re incorrigible, you know that, right?”
“I may have been told that a time or two,” he said, lips tipped up at the corners. “Come here.” He laced their fingers together, tugged her toward a large basket in the corner. A moment later, he’d snagged a brightly patterned cushion from inside it and set it on the dirt-covered ground. Then he extracted a blanket.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“I’m trying to watch the sunrise and hang out with my bondmate.”
For some reason, that made her smile. Maybe it was the space or the cushion and blanket. Perhaps it was just spending time with Graham, who despite the torrent of emotions he evoked in her, also made her feel . . . settled?
That might be the only way she could think to describe it.
As scary as the thought of having someone so close was, Graham somehow managed to sand down the rough edges inside her, to fill in those jagged pits that took up so much fucking space in her heart. She wasn’t quite so empty when she was with him. So, if she wasn’t thinking about the whole way her life had changed in just one moment—cue another rapid rise in blood pressure—she actually felt sort of nice. Fine. More than nice or fine actually, but regardless of precisely what she felt, in that moment Suz decided she was going to turn off her brain and just enjoy the time with him.
Later, she could worry about the rest of it.
Tonight—or well, this morning, she could just live in the freaking moment.
Which was why she let him coax her down onto the cushion, why she didn’t shift away when he sat down next to her, his side pressed to hers, his thigh flush and strong and hot.
Or maybe that was just Graham—warm and strong and hot.
“You think I’m hot?” he asked, grinning down at her.
“Stop cherry-picking my thoughts!” she exclaimed.
More grinning, the smug asshole.
“I think my smugness is warranted,” he said, slipping his arm around her shoulders. “And I’ll talk to Cody and Mason as soon as I can to figure out a way to shield your mind,” he added when she started to complain about cherry-picked thoughts for a second time. “I know they’ve figured out a way to have some privacy.”
She froze.
“What?” he asked, tucking her even closer.
“You’d do that?”
“Do what?”
“Put barriers between us.” She frowned, shook her head. “That didn’t come out right. I just mean, aren’t men who are recently bonded all possessive and clingy and want to be as close as possible?”
It didn’t make sense that he’d want anything between them.
“I want you to be happy,” he said, shifting so she could see his face. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted, but now? It’s more than just an obscure I hope she’s happy. Now, I want to feel that happiness here”—he tapped the spot on her chest above her heart—“and here”—fingers brushing her temple.
But wasn’t that what everyone wanted? Any good person would want