Sable Peak (The Edens)

That son of a bitch Cormac Gallagher was breaking Vera’s heart.

“Want me to fly another loop?” I asked Vera.

“No.” She glanced out her window, peering toward the terrain below the plane. There was nothing but trees and fields and rugged Montana beauty. “Let’s just go home.”

“All right.” I banked the plane and put us on a heading for Quincy’s airfield.

There was no way to spot anyone from up here. The forest was too thick to spot a shelter. The weather had warmed enough in early June that, even though the nighttime temperatures were chilly, there was no need for Cormac to have a fire burning during the day. And other than a plume of smoke, there’d be no way to see one man through the trees. I should have warned her this would be pointless.

But when Vera had asked to fly around Sable Peak, I hadn’t been able to tell her no.

It had been a month since we’d found that snare line. Since she’d left that note.

Cormac had taken it. And ignored it.

We’d gone hiking ten times since. The first trip had been three days after she’d left her message. The snares had vanished. We’d scoured the area, searching for other signs that Cormac was around. But rather than face his daughter, rather than show her he cared, he’d disappeared.

Clearly, Cormac had abandoned the spot where he’d been living, but on foot, there was only so much ground we could cover. Hence today’s flight. We’d left Alaina with my parents and come to the airfield at sunrise to fly for a couple of hours.

I was giving this two more weeks. Then, regardless of how much Vera resisted, I was putting an end to the madness.

Every time we came home empty-handed, some of the spark would fade from her eyes. More than once, I’d seen her fighting tears on the drives home. She’d retreated this past month, pulling deeper and deeper into herself.

Her arms wrapped around her middle. Her shoulders curled inward into the straps of her harness.

“Sorry.” I put my hand on her thigh.

“Thanks for trying.” She shrugged and kept her gaze aimed outside as we flew past Sable Peak.

The highest ridge was still capped in white. The small mountain lake was a bright aqua beneath the morning sun, a circle of blue against the sea of evergreen.

When the peak and mountains were behind us, as we flew over the open plains that surrounded Quincy, Vera shifted to face forward, her hands clasped in her lap. Her disappointment was louder than the plane’s engine.

A lone tear streaked down her cheek. She caught it, but not fast enough for me to miss it.

Fuck the two weeks I’d planned. This was enough. We were ending this today. Cormac didn’t deserve her.

What the hell kind of man would do this to his daughter? Did he think he was saving her? Setting her free? How could he have spent so many years with her but not know her at all?

Vera’s loyalty knew no bounds. She’d torture herself for his absence until the end of her days.

“Want to take the controls?” I asked, needing to do something to make this better. “Fly for a bit?”

“That’s okay.”

“Are you sure? You could do some steep turns or maneuvers, something fun. We could go buzz the cabin or Mom and Dad’s house.”

“Let’s just finish up at the hangar. I kind of want to clean the loft today. You can just drop me off when you pick up Allie.”

The loft didn’t need to be cleaned. She was hardly there these days other than to grab clothes. At most, there was a bit of dust. But this was Vera wanting to run. To hide from me so she could deal with the emotions alone.

“Quincy traffic,” I announced into the common traffic advisory frequency. “Cirrus Four Zero Six Delta Whiskey. Ten miles south. Inbound for a full stop.”

She wanted to clean? Fine. Then we’d both clean. And if she didn’t want my help, then I’d camp out on her sectional and pore through the piles of paperwork for the flight school.

As a certified instructor, I could train student pilots, but to actually start a flight school, there were different rules and requirements from the FAA. I’d spent the past month establishing a business and getting the necessary insurance. Then I’d spent countless hours developing training curriculum.

I’d missed teaching too. I hadn’t realized how much until I’d sat with Vera for our few study sessions. The last time I’d had a student pilot under my wing had been in college. Vera might have groaned at the ground school material, but I’d missed those books. I’d missed breaking down the basics and explaining the aerodynamics.

It would take months, maybe longer, to put the flight school’s plan together for approval. There was no rush to start, but I didn’t want to wait. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing. That I was moving in the right direction.

That feeling was more than just the flight school. It was Allie. It was Vera. Life was good. Now if I could only take away the sadness hiding behind Vera’s sunglasses.

She stayed quiet as we landed and taxied to the hangar. The drive to the ranch was equally as silent. When we stopped at Mom and Dad’s, she surprised me by staying in the truck while I went in to get Allie. I’d expected to find her gone when we came out.

“Thought you wanted to clean.”

“I’ll do it later.” She knew I wasn’t going to leave her alone.

By the time we made it to the cabin, Vera had curled herself into a ball in the passenger seat. Did she even realize how far away she’d huddled toward the door? The instant I parked, she blew outside, hurrying for the house.

Allie had drifted off on the ride home, and since it was her naptime, I carefully lifted her out of her seat and carried her inside, taking her straight to bed. With the sound machine cranked to drown out any noise, I closed the door and came out to find Vera in the kitchen.

Keys in hand.

“I think I’m—”

“No.” I planted my hands on my hips. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Mateo, I’m in a bad mood. Let me go deal with it somewhere else before it ruins your day too.”

Instead of talking to me, she was going to run.

Not today.

“Put the keys down, darlin’.”

She sighed. “Please.”

“Keys down.” Either she dropped those keys or I’d blockade the fucking door.

It took a moment, but she tossed them onto the counter. Without them to hold, it looked like she didn’t know what to do with her hands. She lifted them, dropped them. Lifted them again, her fingers splayed in the air, until they dove into her hair, pulling at the red strands. “I don’t want to be here.”

That stung. But it wasn’t about me.

Vera didn’t know how to talk through the big emotions. She’d spent too many years hiding from them, burying them.

There wasn’t a lot I could do. But I could love her. I could be here.

“Why don’t you want to be here?”

“Because I’m … mad.” Her voice cracked. “Sad. Frustrated. Angry. You name it, Mateo. That’s how I feel. It’s too much, and I want to scream.”

“So scream.”

She huffed. “Just let me go and I’ll—”

“Deal with it on your own? No. We’ve got things to discuss.”

“What things?”

“For starters, we’re done searching for your father.” Cormac had blown his chance at a reunion with his daughter.

Her body stiffened. “I’m not quitting.”Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“You are.”

“You don’t get to dictate—”

“I won’t let him keep hurting you. I will not.”

“He’s my father, Mateo.”

“Then he should fucking act like it.” I wasn’t shouting. Yet. But I was damn close. “It’s breaking your heart. What do you expect me to do? Stand by and watch it happen?”

Her chin started to quiver. “There has to be a reason for what he’s doing. He must think it’s for my own good or something, I don’t know. But I’m afraid he’s not in a good mindset. He attacked Lyla, Mateo. He hurt her. He’s not thinking clearly. What if he’s spiraled even more? I just need to find him and talk to him.”

“No.” I raked a hand through my hair. “Damn it. No. He found that note, and he stayed away. He doesn’t want to talk.”

“It might not have been him.”

“Vera,” I deadpanned.

Her expression shuttered, like a wall slammed down in front of her face.

“Every time we go up, it takes a piece of you.” I gave her a sad smile. “I’m scared you’ll give and give until there’s nothing left.”

Tears flooded her eyes. “He’s my dad. He’s my family.”

“I—” My brain screeched to a halt.

She said it. She meant it. She was hell-bent on finding Cormac because she considered him her family. But if she didn’t find him, if she never saw her father again, she knew she had our family, right?

She knew she wasn’t alone, didn’t she?

My frustration vanished. In its place, this crushing regret that maybe I hadn’t done or said enough so she’d see just how much family she had under this roof.

I loved her. More than my own life. Allie loved her. We were her family. With or without her father.

“You did Allie’s bath last night.”

She swallowed hard and wiped at the corners of her eyes. “Yeah. So?”

“She rarely throws a fit for you. You tell her it’s time for a bath, and she thinks that’s the best idea in the world. Because it’s you. You’re her Ve-wa. Every time she says it, she might as well be calling you Mommy.”

Vera’s mouth parted.

“I didn’t think she’d ever have that. A mother. I didn’t even want to let myself dream she could. But she does. It’s you. You are her family. You are hers.” I crossed the room and took her face in my hands, holding those beautiful chocolate eyes. “And you’re mine. We are your family.”

A tear cascaded down her cheek.

I caught it with my thumb. “I love you, Vera. I fucking love you. I won’t leave you. And I won’t let you go.”

It took a moment for my words to creep past those walls, but the moment they made it, the light that transformed her face was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.

“I love you.” The words had barely made it out of her mouth before she jumped, launching herself into my arms to crush her mouth to mine.

I swept her into my arms, slanting my mouth over hers. If all I accomplished for the rest of my life was to kiss Vera every morning and every night, I’d consider it a life well lived.

She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and her legs around my waist, clinging to me as I deepened the kiss and walked us into the bedroom.

I shut the door. She hopped down to flip the lock. Then we stripped out of our clothes, fumbling and frenzied, without fanfare, until she was in my arms again and her soft, smooth skin was warm against mine.

Our mouths collided, teeth clashing and lips frantic, as I laid her on the bed. My cock nudged against her core, aching to slide into her tight heat, but I held off, bracing my body above hers as my elbows bracketed her face.

“I love you.”

Her eyes were like chocolate pools, the gold flecks dancing in the light as it streamed through the bedroom windows. “I love you too.”

Thank fuck she’d kissed me that night at Willie’s.

I took her mouth, savoring the kiss as her body rocked against mine. Tonight, I’d take my time. I’d draw out her pleasure for hours. But right now, there was no telling how long Allie would sleep, and I wasn’t waiting. With a slow, deliberate thrust, I slid inside.

Heaven. “You feel so good.”

She clawed at my shoulders, her back arching off the bed as she stretched around my length. “Mateo. Move, baby. Please.”

All my life, I’d live for the sound of my name while I was buried inside her.

I withdrew and slammed inside again, earning a hitch in her breath.

Her grip on my shoulders only tightened as my fingers dove into her hair. With it threaded in my fists, I pistoned in and out, faster and faster.

“I love you,” I breathed. With every thrust of my hips, I whispered it into her ear like a prayer.

“Yes,” she whimpered as her pussy clenched around me. God, that first orgasm. It always came fast. Hard. It usually came without much warning, sometimes surprising us both.

Vera’s cries echoed off the walls, her body quaking beneath mine.

Pulse after pulse, she shattered. God, the sounds. The feel of her body. The pressure at the base of my spine was almost unbearable. I gritted my teeth, wanting to draw it out for just another minute, another second, but the way she clenched was too incredible.

I came on a groan, muffling it in a pillow as I poured inside her. Every muscle in my body tensed and trembled, my mind going blank as white spots stole my sight. I’d lost count of the times I’d come inside Vera’s body.

But this orgasm was different. This was the release that tore me into shreds, and when the pieces came floating together, nothing would ever be the same again. From this moment on, it was us.

Her legs wrapped around my hips as we both collapsed, boneless and panting. The stars behind my eyes finally faded, and when I cracked my eyes open, lifting up to stare down at Vera, I found her gaze waiting.

The hair at her temples was damp with sweat. Her cheeks were flushed. Her lips were rosy and damp.

Never before had she looked more beautiful.

Never would I love a woman more.

“How’s the weather, Peach?”

“Better than I expected,” she whispered. “It started overcast and gray.”

“And now?”

She smiled. “Clear and a million.”