So I kiss him back. 

I slide my hands under his layers of winter clothing and pull him close, and we kiss and kiss and kiss as if it isn’t the first time we’ve done it. 

His lips feel like home. 

His soft touch dances along my jaw. 

I want to kiss him forever, but we run out of air.

Startled, I draw back and instantly find myself lost in Jax’s blazing stare. His gaze usually calms me—it really is like the deepest, bluest ocean. But right now, his eyes are stormy and hot. I want to dive back in headfirst, and for once what I want makes sense. 

And it’s right here. I don’t need words. I stand, cup a hand around the back of his neck, and kiss him again. Jax makes another low sound, and the fact that he’s spent the night in my bed to babysit me stops mattering. Shadows fade. Heat draws us ever closer, and it’s easy to pretend we spent all night doing this. I can’t contemplate that it has to end.

But it does end. 

Jax pulls back with a rueful smile, cheeks flushed, breathing hard. “I have to go. I promised Jerry I wouldn’t be late again.”

The mention of Jerry jars something in my brain enough to form a sentence that has nothing to do with how fast my heart is beating. “How did last night go?”

“Okay, I think.” Jax steps away. “Dude talked so much I stopped listening, but the apartment was all right. I can move in whenever I want.”

I should be happy for him. I am happy for him. He didn’t deserve to lose all his things in the hostel fire, and it sucks he had to take help from a stranger when he needed so badly to depend on himself. But I’m still dazed from his kiss. I say the first thing that comes into my head. Raw. No filter. “I’m gonna miss you.”

He gives me a soft grin. “I’ll miss you too.”

Then he leaves, and the reality that it might be the last time we do this hits me like a train. Jerry’s buddy’s apartment is probably outside of the city, closer to where Jax needs to be for his work. It isn’t a million miles away—nothing in Vermont ever is—but it’s not waking up to find Jax in my bed. It’s not drinking his weird tea together or eating dinner on the couch with him. It’s not opening my eyes every morning to feel the comforting hum of his presence.

It’s not being there to let him know, every day, that he fucking matters.

So tell him now.

I lurch from my bed and snag a T-shirt from the clean laundry pile I haven’t even thought about putting away. My shoes are by the front door. I stamp into them and fish my keys from the dish. Then I make a run for it down the stairs and out into the morning gloom.

The sidewalk is icy from the plummeting temperatures that are starting to move in from the mountains. But I’m a Vermonter; I know how to handle that shit. I dash to the parking lot where Jax is waiting for Jerry, his broad back to me as he contemplates the ground.

I grab his arm. “You don’t have to leave.”

REVIEW: 

4 Stars! 

I’m really loving reading all the books from the World of True North, it’s keeping me in this world I love so much while introducing me to so many new authors I might not have had the chance to read previously. Heartscape is no different, this was the first book I’ve read by Garrett Leigh and I don’t think it will be my last! 

Heartscape is Tanner and Jax’s story and unlike the start of the first book in the Vino & Veritas series, this book had some angst! Which I love! This book had the perfect amount of heartache and pain for Tanner and Jax to sort through to get their happy ending and I was so intrigued the whole way through the book. 

This was a really cute story even though it was a bit sad at times thanks to the heartache and pain both of the characters were dealing with and with both of them running away from their pasts. Tanner and Jax were so adorable together even when you thought that they might not work due to the things they were both dealing with separately. 

I really liked how Garrett Leigh dealt with Tanner’s depression and I really appreciate that it didn’t just go away overnight when he fell for Jax. It takes him a while to completely understand his condition and I thought it was written realistically. 

I loved going on this journey with Jax and Tanner and watch them both escape their painful pasts and find happiness together. 

I would recommend this book if you love M/M romance and don’t have any triggers for depression, PTSD and toxic/abusive relationships. 

*ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own*