“Jaxon, wait—please just let me explain!”
I nearly tripped over the threshold as I chased after him into the cabin. My heart pounded like a siren in my chest, but he didn’t stop moving. He stalked straight into the kitchen and planted both hands on the counter, back to me, muscles taut.
“Jaxon,” I tried again, softer now.
He didn’t answer.
I crossed the room carefully, phone still clutched in my hand like some cursed object. I wished I could throw it into the lake and erase the photo entirely—undo the headline, the judgment, the perfect angle of that cursed shot. But it was already out there. And Jaxon had seen it. That was enough.
“I didn’t know the media was watching. I swear,” I said quietly. “This wasn’t planned. I didn’t leak anything.”
“I never said you did.”
His voice was cal
