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“He apologized, but in the same breath, he told me it was my fault. Told me if I ever tried to leave him, he’d kill me. He’d find my family. He’d make me pay.”
A shudder rocks my frame, but Davis holds me tight.
“Aiden’s the perfect monster. Calculating and charming. You never think…men like this…”
“He’s not a man.” The frozen rage in Davis’s dark gaze steals my breath. “He’s a piece of shit. A coward who tried to manipulate a strong woman because he was never good enough for you.”
I let his words settle. Let my breathing steady. Then I say, “The next week I found out I was pregnant.”
Davis swears.
I look down at my belly. “Squish woke me up. He saved me. I stayed with Aiden for another week, getting my things ready. And then we got in that huge fight and…well, you know the rest. It all burned down.”
His hands shift to my shoulders, holding me closer. We sway in the headlights, under the glow of the moon. That last unfinished dance from Nowhere. “Tell me,” I whisper against his broad chest. “Are you mad at me? Do you think less of me for staying with him?”
“I’m fucking furious.” His voice grates out.
I look up, feeling vulnerable, but when I see the fierce flash of protection in his eyes, warmth spirals through me.
“I am fucking livid that a man thinks he has a right to lay hands on you. To take that happy from your eyes. I hate myself for not being there and protecting you.”
Tears sting my eyes at the raw rage in his voice. “I didn’t love Aiden.”
I swear he stops breathing. His massive body goes still, fingers clenching tighter around my shoulders.
The weight of his gaze on my face singes as I go on. “I thought I did, during those first few months. But it wasn’t love. It was something to fill the space. Your space.”
His big hand curls around the back of my neck. “That’s because you never should have been his.”
Butterflies explode in my stomach. “And why’s that?”
“Because you’re mine,” he says gruffly, and my heart tumbles. “And I’m the fucking fool who let you go.”
“Why did you?” The words wrench from my very soul. I’m aching to know, even if it hurts.
He stares into the dark and says, “I wanted to make you happy, so I let you go.” This time, he looks at me. His throat works. “I let you go because I love you.”
I gasp. “What?”
“I love you, Dakota.” His hands move to cup my face. “I’ve loved you since that summer before you left.”
Tears fill my eyes. The aftershocks of his words ring in my ears. “I never—I never knew. You never said it.”
“And I’ll damn myself until the end of my days for that.” A tortured groan wrenches itself from his mouth. “I know I fucked up and lost you. I know I—”
I let out a sob. “No, you didn’t fuck up.” I search his eyes, push him back when he tries to take me in his arms again. Because it’s my turn. “I love you too. I have always loved you, Davis.”
For a long second, he looks stunned.
On a roar, he slams his mouth on mine, devouring me as he lifts me off my toes. Our tongues battle for control. I slide my hand up the chiseled wall of his chest and hang on for dear life.
Davis’s mouth leaves mine long enough to murmur, “I love you, Dakota. So fucking much. I can’t breathe without you. So fucking long, I’ve been lost without you.”
I whimper. My heart wants to explode out of my chest.
Those words. My wildest dream.
He loves me. He loves me.
