When I woke up, the first feeling I had was of complete and utter bliss - the kind of happiness that is only possible when you feel like you lack nothing. When you feel like every need and want is fulfilled, but that you still want and need more of the same.

That’s the good kind of longing. It’s the longing for everything in your life to stay exactly the same, because everything is already perfect.

And I can’t believe that I have this.

I yawn and stretch as I watch Cole start down the hallway to the kitchen, and I pause for a moment.

Yeah, I can’t believe I have this.

What did I do to deserve this?

I roll my neck, working out the kinks in my shoulders, but I realize I don’t have any. I’ve just had the best night’s sleep I’ve had in months.

And as I’m about to follow Cole and grab my cup of coffee, I notice a thin ray of light shooting across the hallway, coming from Cole’s office.

I want to look inside. Just a peek. I know he said there was nothing interesting behind this door, but I’m still curious.

Pushing the door open, I peek around the corner, and the first thing I see is a huge window, and a gorgeous view of the mountains.

Walking through the door, I go over and gaze up through the window, touching the crystal clear glass. It is not cold to the touch. The thick, bare tree branches just outside the window are dripping with pristine, melting snow.

I can see that today will be warmer than yesterday. I can feel it.

I sigh contentedly. I just want to go get into that hot bath. And I hope Cole will be joining me.

As I begin to turn to leave his office, I pause when my eyes pass over his desk.

The room is dark, the morning light just illuminating the dripping branches outside and filtering through onto the floor of the office. But shining brightly is a series of four large TV screens mounted on one wall.

I can’t believe I didn’t see them before - they are massive, and they are bright, and they are so...conspicuous.

Conspicuous. Obvious.

I take a step closer, dipping my bare toe onto the dark wooden floorboards in front of me. I take another step closer, slower now.

Because the TV screens show the woods. The snow. The icy terrain surrounding Cole’s home.

And my heart stands still for a moment.

I get closer, my cheeks flooding with heat.

Is...is this how he saw first saw me?

Through some security cameras? Over a TV screen? Was he watching me?

I get closer, and my fingers come slowly to my lips as I feel them begin to quiver, matching the beat of my heart.

And as I get closer, I see the terrain I traveled before I saw him. The tree I hid behind, it’s as clear as day. The virgin bullseyes still nailed to the tree trunks that I stalked, that I peered at through my paintball gun.

He was watching me. He saw me. But why didn’t he say anything?

In getting swept up in him, I never even asked what he was doing out there. I didn’t have to. I thought he was on his own property, minding his own business, and that I was doing something wrong.

Confusion rushes through my head, and my thoughts swim. He did nothing wrong. And in fact, my lips begin to pull at the corners when I think about him looking at me, seeing me, and knowing that he had to come and save me.

He did this for me.

And then I start to turn, and something else catches my eye.

It’s a girl in a photo. It’s a beautiful girl in a photo. And the first thing I see are her eyes, big and bright and blue and curious and…

And then my heart sinks as I turn my body back to his desk and start to walk over. I pick up the picture frame and examine the photograph carefully.

And my eyes go back up to the TV monitors, and my thoughts begin to go someplace else.

Someplace ugly. And understanding washes over me like a tidal wave.

I put the photo back on the desk, careful to place it back exactly where I found it, wanting to leave it unperturbed. Wanting to make it seem that I never stepped foot in Cole’s office.

And I turn, and rush toward the door. I grab my coat from the hall closet. I slip my arms through the sleeves, and I hear Cole from across the living room asking where I’m going.

I start toward the door, and I feel nothing. I open the door, and Cole’s footsteps get closer, and I rush outside into the melting frost and the weeping trees, and I feel nothing.

I just want to make it seem that I never stepped foot in Cole’s life.

“Val, wait.”

I hear Cole shout after me as I close the door behind me.

But right now, the last thing I want is to talk to him. The last thing I want is to see him.

“Valoria, stop.”

His hand comes down and I feel his fingers grasp my wrist, and I pull it away, but he takes me by the shoulders gently, turning me around.

“What?” I ask. My tone surprises even me. “Is this a weird, sick game to you? Is this what you do, Cole?”

I can feel my words coming out like daggers, and I can see in his eyes that my words hurt him. But I’m glad.

“No, Val, this is not a game. Just come inside and let’s talk.”

“No, Cole. No. I don’t need to talk. Is this something you do every year? Watch some girl on your cameras and then come and just take her?”

“Val, you’ve got no shoes on. You have to come inside.”

He puts his hands out to me, but my blood rushes through my body as he puts his hands on my arms, threatening to take me back inside his house whether I want him to or not.

And my blood heats inside my veins.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” I shout, shrugging his hands off me.

Cole’s face grows hard, and harsh, but his eyes still show something toward me...he has the very same look behind them that he had when I first saw him.

Fear.

The man I thought was fearless, he has fear in his eyes.

But it melts, and he smiles.

“Watch how you talk to me, girl,” he says, “or I’ll have to bend you over my knee and show you how good girls are supposed to talk.”

I swallow thickly, my body heating at his sexy words.

He takes a few big steps toward me.

But how many girls has he played this game with before?

“This is not some freaking game. I am not a game. I am not a prize.” I swallow again, and I feel my heart drop inside me. “Goodbye, Cole.”

I turn, and I begin to walk away from him.

My heart aches.

And my eyes begin to flood with burning hot tears.

“I’m not letting you go this easy,” Cole says, coming up behind me. But he doesn’t touch me. Part of me wants him to - but then, part of me doesn’t. I know what I saw. And I don’t want to hear what he has to say.

I don’t want to hear it.

“Val,” he says softly. “Her name was Cassie.”

I feel the blood in my head, all the blood in my body drain down and pool inside my feet when he says her name. Cassie. Like she really meant something to him.

“Her name was Cassie, and she was my sister. Val, she was my sister. My twin.”

I stop dead in my tracks, and suddenly, my bare feet on the dirt and the melting snow are freezing. Numb. And I take in a large breath as the hot, salty tears flow down my cheeks.

“She was your sister?”

I turn around slowly, pulling my coat up around me tighter.

“Yeah,” he says.

He looks so strong, yet so vulnerable.

“Was your sister?”

“Sweetheart, come inside. Please.”

I take a step toward him and he wraps me up, wiping away my tears.

“Val, don’t cry. Don’t cry. I’ve got you.”