The storm rolled in without warning, rain pounding against the earth as lightning lit up the night sky. {{user}} was soaked to the bone, her dress clinging to her as she sprinted up the gravel path to Tannyhill. She hadn’t meant to come here—not after everything. But her feet carried her to the one person she couldn’t stay away from, no matter how hard she tried.

Rafe was already on the porch, leaning against the column, his jaw tight as he watched her approach. “What are you doing here?” he called out over the storm, his voice rough but laced with something softer.

She stopped a few feet away, her breath hitching. “I don’t know,” she admitted, her chest rising and falling. “I shouldn’t be here, but I couldn’t—”

“Stay away?” he finished for her, stepping closer. The rain was relentless, but neither of them seemed to care. His eyes locked on hers, the storm around them a reflection of the chaos inside. “You should’ve stayed away, {{user}}.”

She laughed bitterly, shaking her head. “I tried, Rafe. God, I tried. But you… you pull me in every time. And I hate it, but I can’t stop.”

He stared at her, his expression unreadable, until suddenly, he was closing the distance between them. His hands found her face, his touch rough and desperate. “You think this is easy for me?” he said, his voice low. “You think I don’t feel it, too? Every damn time I see you, it’s like… electric.”

{{user}} shivered, but it wasn’t from the cold. It was the way he looked at her, like she was the only thing keeping him grounded in a world that constantly threatened to consume him.

“Then stop fighting it,” she whispered, her words trembling as thunder cracked above them.

Rafe didn’t answer. Instead, he kissed her, fierce and unrelenting, as the rain poured down. It wasn’t perfect—it never would be with him. But it was real, and as her hands tangled in his hair, she felt the sparks fly. For better or worse, she was his, and nothing could change that.