Chapter 74 — After The Easy Choice

By nightfall, Cedar Draw felt like itself again.

The visiting party was gone. The signed agreement had been put away where Caleb could find it tomorrow. Someone had already complained about a stores count, someone else had left muddy boots where they did not belong, and dinner had ended with three separate arguments that had nothing to do with politics.

Hallie had missed ordinary problems. She finished helping clear the long table and looked toward the corridor. Grant had disappeared sometime after the meal.

Not avoiding her. She knew the difference now. Hallie found him in his room with his sleeves rolled to his forearms, folding a shirt that had no reason to require that much attention.

She leaned against the doorframe.

“You know that’s already folded.”

Grant looked down at it.

“So it is.”

Hallie smiled. The room was quiet.

For days, every meaningful conversation between them had seemed to have someone else standing just outside it. Austin’s bond. The young Alpha’s offer. The expectations of recognized packs. The marriage itself, still carrying the shape of the decision that had created it.

Tonight there was no rival left in Cedar Draw. No negotiation waiting in the morning. Just Grant.

Hallie stepped inside and closed the door. His attention sharpened. She crossed the room slowly.

Grant put the shirt aside.

“Hallie.”

“I know.”

He studied her face. She stopped close enough that their knees almost touched.

“What do you know?” he asked.

“That you’re about to ask me if I’m sure about something I haven’t done yet.”

A breath left him.

“Probably.”

Hallie reached for his hand. Grant gave it to her.

She threaded their fingers together, the same way she had done when she first asked to sleep beside him. Back then, the choice had been about closeness without demand.

This felt different before either of them moved. Hallie’s pulse had already climbed.

“I don’t want to talk about him,” she said.

Grant’s thumb shifted against her hand.

“All right.”

“I don’t want this to be because he left.”

“It won’t be.”

“And I don’t want you thinking I owe you something because I chose you.”

Grant’s expression tightened.

“I would never—”

“I know.”

She moved closer.

“That’s why I’m here.”

Grant went very still. Hallie lifted her free hand to his face. His jaw was rough beneath her palm.

She had touched him before. Kissed him before. Slept in his bed with his hand linked through hers.

This was the first time she let herself stand there without planning the limit in advance. Grant did not close the distance for her. Hallie did.

She kissed him. His response came carefully at first, warm and controlled. Hallie hated the control within seconds.

She released his hand and caught the front of his shirt instead, pulling him closer. Grant broke the kiss.

“Still sure?”

“Yes.”

The answer came before he finished the question. His eyes searched hers. Hallie touched his mouth with her thumb.

“Yes, Grant.”

Something in him gave way. Not restraint. Only the part of it that had been waiting for permission.

He kissed her again. This time Hallie felt the difference immediately. His hands settled at her waist, firm enough to hold, loose enough that she could step away whenever she wanted.

She did not. She moved closer until there was no space left to misunderstand. Grant’s forehead rested briefly against hers.

“Tell me if you want me to stop.”

“I will.”

“And if you want anything different.”

“I will.”

Hallie kissed him before he could add another rule. His quiet laugh disappeared against her mouth. They moved without grace.

Hallie bumped the edge of the bed with her leg. Grant caught her before she lost balance, and she laughed into his shoulder.

The sound changed something. The moment stopped feeling enormous. It became theirs.

Hallie tugged at his shirt. Grant lifted his arms so she could pull it away. Her breath caught.

He noticed. Of course he noticed. But he did not turn her reaction into confidence he had not earned.

He waited. Hallie placed both hands against his bare chest.

Warm skin. A heartbeat that was faster than his face suggested.

“You’re nervous.”

Grant gave her a look.

“So are you.”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to stop?”

“No.”

“Neither do I.”

That answer mattered more than certainty. Hallie kissed him again. After that, the room narrowed to choices made one at a time.

A hand moved and waited. A kiss deepened only when the other person answered. Clothes were set aside without hurry.

When Hallie hesitated, Grant stopped. When Grant’s restraint returned so hard it almost became distance, Hallie drew him back.

No promise made at the ceremony required this. Behind a closed door, with no one to satisfy but themselves, Hallie was certain of what she wanted: Grant.

Later, they lay beneath the blankets with Hallie tucked against Grant’s side, both of them still catching their breath.

Afterward, the marriage felt different. They had crossed a line together because they both wanted to, and nothing about the ceremony had required it.

Grant’s hand rested flat against the middle of her back. He had not asked her for love. Had not asked whether this meant forever.

Hallie was grateful enough to press a kiss against his shoulder. Grant looked down at her.

“You okay?”

“Yes.”

“You sure?”

She smiled.

“You’ve used that question enough for one night.”

“I can find another.”

“Don’t.”

His mouth curved. Hallie let her eyes close.

Tomorrow there would be work. The agreement would become routine instead of possibility. Other packs would still find Grant difficult to understand, and Cedar Draw would not become easier to explain because Hallie had made a private choice in a closed room.

None of that belonged here. For once, Hallie did not need to define what came next. She only moved closer.

Grant’s arm tightened around her after she did. And this time, neither of them left space between them out of caution.