"You can." He runs a hand up her back again, her skin warm and slightly damp under his palm from the heat of the day. "I meant it, earlier. This is your home now too. You're the only person I want to share it with."

He let so few people know the secrets and charms of Black Elm. Only the ones who understood the hold it had on his heart, the love he carried for a place that had been his refuge. Out of all of them, it's still only Alex that he'd ever want day to day within its halls.