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“It is.” I flushed as our eyes met.
“You made a decision without me.”
“I did.” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this.
“I think what pissed me off the most was that you had done exactly what I did to you all those years ago. And now I was finally seeing how that felt. How powerless you must have felt that day you got the postcard and we were done, just like that.” He snapped his fingers on the word ‘that.’
“I’m sorry. I thought I was—”
“Protecting me, I know that. I figured that out in my drunken haze. I had a lot of long conversations with Goat while I waited for them to catch him. But I’m glad they never caught him. I’m glad they killed him.”
“Me too,” I said. “So Goat actually talked to you, huh?”
“Oh, what’s the matter? Hawkeye wasn’t all that chatty?”
I laughed at the way he said Hawkeye’s name. I knew Terry wouldn’t like the idea of me hiding away with a man like Hawkeye. Truthfully, he knew he had nothing to worry about, but the fact that he was a little jealous made me smile.
“He talked some. Mostly told me how stupid I was for breaking up with you. He told me about his wife and his child. I felt bad for keeping him from them for so long.”
Terry nodded. “I wish he would have been able to convince you that you didn’t need to break up with me.”
“Well, it wasn’t for lack of trying,” I said with a laugh.
“I do miss you too. It’s hard for me to see you in the office. It’s hard for me to be in my apartment, knowing you’re in yours all alone. I just wish you hadn’t done it. I wish you’d had more faith in Jackson and his team. I wish you would have had more faith in me—in us.”
“You think I did this because I didn’t have faith in you?” I asked him, confused. “What makes you think I didn’t have faith in you?”
Terry rose and began to pace. “I thought that maybe you didn’t have enough faith I would stick by you through all of this. I had bailed on you once before, and maybe you thought I would do it again. Is that part of the reason you did it?” He paused in front of me and let the words sink in before he began pacing again.
“No, that’s not why I did it. That thought never even crossed my mind, Terry. I didn’t want Chad to hurt you.” It was the first time I had said Chad’s name to him since I got here. His head snapped toward mine at the mention of it. “I thought I was protecting you and letting you live your life unharmed and without the burden of all of this.”
“Mia, you are not a burden.”
“Well, it felt like I was giving you more than you should have to deal with. I didn’t want him to hurt you and take away your ability to do your job. I didn’t want him to take away your life.” Saying the words made tears fall down my cheeks.
Terry knelt down in front of me and brushed them from my eyes. “I thought you were worried I’d cut and run again. I feel like I’ll always be that man who left you. So you decided to hurt me the way I hurt you and make a clean break.”
“Quite the opposite actually. I was trying to save you.”
Terry shook his head and leaned his forehead against mine. “We make quite the pair, you and me.”
I laughed. “We certainly do.”
Terry pulled me into his arms and onto my feet. He was careful with me, making sure he was supporting me. “Can I kiss you?”
I beamed at him. I felt like with those words, a weight had been lifted off my chest. I felt lighter than I had in a long time. Even lighter than I felt when they told me Chad was dead. I had Terry back, and that was all that mattered.
“I think you better.”
Terry captured my lips with his. We moved together in a passionate kiss. He nipped at my lip, asking for entrance with his tongue, which I was glad to grant him. Our lips and tongues danced together, and it wasn’t until a moan escaped me that Terry pulled back.
“I think we better get out of here and get back to your apartment.”
“Our apartment,” I corrected him. The smile I was rewarded with caused heat to run through my body with need.
“Wait, before we go,” Terry said, grabbing his camera bag and pulling out the camera. “I have to take a picture. I want to document this moment.”
“I look a mess,” I said, running a hand through my hair.
“You’ve never looked more perfect,” he said, holding the camera up to his eye and snapping pictures of me. I’m not sure how many he took, but when he reviewed them, I saw the heat in his eyes.
“Let’s get home,” I said in a low, sultry voice.
“Let’s get home,” he repeated back to me. Lifting me, he carefully carried me out of the park and back to our place.
Finally, we were where we needed to be.
We were home.
