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Barely holding back my tears, I excused myself and stepped outside onto the back porch. I walk from one end to the other, pacing back and forth as I try to reconcile my feelings. I had been holding onto hope for years that we might get a second chance but accepted that it wasn’t possible when I saw the ring on his finger. To find out it wasn’t real changes…well, everything.
I jump when I hear the screen door slam shut and spin around to see Patrick standing there, leaning against the wall of the house. His arms are crossed, as well as his feet. He’s trying to go for a casual pose, but his body posture tells me he’s guarded. I don’t blame him for being cautious.
“Tell me what you’re thinking, Ari. Please.”
Instead of saying anything, I let the tears flow. I’ve cried more in the last two days than I have in my entire life. As a princess, I’m always supposed to be poised and composed. I’m allowed to break down privately, but never in front of anyone. But Patrick isn’t just anyone to me.
He walks over to me and pulls me into his embrace, tucking my head under his chin as he holds me. I let it all out, even hiccupping for good measure.
Sniffling, I step back and stare up at his handsome face. “I must look like a hot mess right now.”
“You couldn’t be more beautiful. It’s raw and real, the way you should always be with me.”
After a lengthy pause, I ask him, “Did you really wait for me all these years?”
He tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I have. I waited until I married you to show you how much I love you. I would have waited a lifetime to show you again. You’re the only woman I have ever wanted, Ari. You’re the only woman I have ever loved or will love.”
“When I told my father about our impromptu wedding, he wasn’t surprised, you know. He said he could see our love was true when he saw us together. He’s always known about us and has hidden the secret right alongside me. He fully supported my fake marriage to Kiernan but had told me, ‘If Patrick loves you like you and I both think he does, then he’ll wait forever to be reunited with you. When the time is right, I’ll do what I can to make that happen. Just have patience, Baby Girl. After the recent assassination attempt, he was the one who suggested that we hire you. I guess he thought the time was right.”
“Thank God for that!” he teases.
I worry at my bottom lip as I contemplate what I’m going to tell him next. Finally, gathering enough courage, I say, “I waited for you, too. But I don’t know how much longer I can hold out.” I drop my voice to a whisper and request one thing. “Please kiss me, Patrick. I promise I won’t push you away again.” My words have a much deeper meaning, and he understands that. I know that we still have a lot to work out between us, and not everything is easily forgiven.
Although he may understand why I did what I did, keeping his son from him, it doesn’t mean that the trust we once shared will be easily repaired. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it was exquisite, powerful, and everlasting when it was completed. At that moment, I vow to do everything I can to fix what has been broken between us, even if it takes a lifetime to accomplish it.
I expect a kiss similar to last night, but he surprises me by gently placing his lips against mine. He coaxes and teases me, but the raw passion and burning need I expected isn’t there. Instead, it’s been replaced by a tenderness and promise of more to come.
He continues his gentle ministrations until the back door slams open, startling us both from our kiss-induced stupor. Jerry stands there with his weapon in hand and addresses Patrick.
“Grab your gun. We have a perimeter breach.”
Chapter eleven
Patrick
As soon as the words leave Jerry’s mouth, I place myself between Ariella and the outside world, walking her backward toward the door. Once we’re inside, I lock the doors and ensure that the alarms are set.
“What area was the breach?” I ask, pulling up the camera feeds on my phone.
“Bravo four,” Jessie answers. Our grid is set into 16 sections, with the phonetic alphabet identifiers of Alpha through Delta referencing the longitude while the numeric sequence identifies the latitude. We can narrow it down further with exact GPS coordinates if need be.
“That’s northeast of here. Jerry, my laptop is in the living room. Can you please pull up the camera feeds for Bravo four and screen mirror them onto the television screen?”
“On it.”
While Jerry is taking care of that, I look at the terrified faces of Ariella and Alex and do my best to reassure them. “It might just be a few game hunters looking to catch themselves a mountain lion. Hunters that aren’t local sometimes ignore the private property signs posted in the area.”
Everyone follows me to the living room, where Jerry has the live feeds streaming on the big screen. “What do we have?”
“Not much. Whoever it was, they just left on ATVs. I’m pulling up the recording now.” Jerry begins pecking at the keyboard, and soon, we’re watching the video of two men pulling up on ATVs wearing camouflage clothing and pistols on their hips.
“Oh, good. It looks like it’s just a couple of hunters,” Ariella says with relief. We watch as the men stomp through the area and stop just before the edge of the tree line, using binoculars to scope the area.
“When they broke through the perimeter line, our thermal sensors picked them up and identified their shape, alerting us to the intrusion,” Jerry explains.
“Are you telling me that your sensors can decipher human from animal and send the alert based on classification?” Ariella asks. “I didn’t know there was technology that could do that. Brachha has never shared anything like that with us.”
I love talking about this stuff, so I jump in to answer her question. “There are all kinds of camera and surveillance equipment available depending upon the need. You can set some to alert you if an object passes by a sensor over a certain height. This helps to prevent small animals like raccoons, dogs, and chickens from inadvertently setting off an alarm.
