“I like you enough for both of us. Besides, I’m flawed, too, and there are times I don’t like myself, either.” She rested her cheek against his chest. “You don’t know what it took for meto do this—to get naked with a man, I mean. To have sex. It helps that it’s dark because my body …” Her words faltered.
“Your body is beautiful.” He swept his hands over her subtle curves. “So sexy.” He kissed her shoulder. “You’re irresistible.”
“You can’t see me,” she teased. “I wouldn’t change a thing, because I love Andy so much, but carrying him, birthing him, and being sick for so long left their marks.”
He smiled despite the seriousness of the moment. He locked his arms around her so she couldn’t move, then whispered in her ear, “Honey, I can see just fine.” Predictably, she tried to lurch away. “Shh. You just told me how great I am, so trust me when I say your body is right out of my dreams, so small and sweet, and curved in all the right places.” As she eased, he stroked his fingers over her skin. “You’re so soft.”
“I … I have scars.”
Silly Pixie.“I have worse scars.”
She shoved herself up to glare at him, saying sternly, “Your scars are a part of you, Brogan. They show your bravery.”
What bullshit.“Anyone can get hurt.”
“Not everyone can be a SEAL. Not everyone can deliberately put themselves in dangerous situations. Not everyone can be as resilient as you’ve been.”
“Resilient?” Her unique perspective always threw him. “How do you figure that?”
“Look at everything you’ve been through. Everything you’ve lost—but you’re here, rocking the whole dad thing.”
Though he hoped that was true, he laughed. “Rocking it, huh?”
“Best dad ever, in my opinion. Anyone can father a child, but some people aren’t ready to take on the role of provider and protector. Not everyone knows how to love and nurture.”
“You think I do?”
“I see it every time you look at Shayna, when you hold her and care for her.”
“My little Sugar is pretty easy to love.”And so are you.
Pixie’s warm sigh teased his lips. “You’ll probably deny it, but you’ve been through hell.”
No, he couldn’t deny it, because at times the reminders consumed him.
“I hate the pain you must have suffered from your most recent injuries, but I love that you’re the type of man who faced all that, and you’re still caring enough to take on raising an innocent baby girl. You’re man enough to love her. Man enough,” she whispered, pressing a soft kiss to his mouth, “to come to Bramble and face down more possible hostility so that Shayna could know her brother.” She took his face in her hands and gave him a smile. “You’re enough, Brogan. For anyone.”
Those words sank into him, and in a way offered healing. Like a balm, her sentiment soothed the ragged edges of his guilt and emotional pain. “All of that can be said for you, too, Pixie.”
“I’m enough,” she agreed, though to him she didn’t sound convinced. “But I’d never have made it without Marlow and Cort. That’s a fact.”
He countered with, “I’d never have made it without Shayna. I didn’t want to make it.” Her startled gasp almost made him regret the words, yet they were too important to be left unsaid. “She gave me a reason to go on. I’m ashamed to admit it”—especially since she had such a high opinion of him—“but before Erin contacted me to tell me what had happened, I wasn’t trying to heal. I ignored the doctors’ instructions; I told the physical therapist to fuck off. I lay in that narrow hospital bed, welcoming the pain, wallowing in my misery, and wishing for death.”
He hadn’t felt like enough, not for anyone.
Sounding heartbroken for him, Pixie whispered, “Brogan,no.”
“Yes. I didn’t save Sugar. She saved me.”
“I’m so sorry.” The tears in her voice revealed her distress.
“Don’t be.” The last thing he’d ever want to do was hurt her or make her feel bad in any way. “I was on a self-indulgent pity trip. It was like I’d lost everything when my brothers died, and then I found out about Connie. While I’d been feeling sorry for myself, she’d been dying—all alone.” Reflexively, his arms hugged her tighter. “I bet her last thought was for Shayna.”
“Maybe. But she trusted that you’d do whatever was necessary to give Shayna the love and care she needed. I’m sure that gave her comfort.”
His fingertips drifted up and down her spine, relishing that she was here with him, that she not only understood him, but saw the best in him. “I hope that’s true, but whether it is or not, I’ll always do my best for Shayna. I owe it to her, to Connie—and to myself.”
Pixie kissed his mouth, then each cheekbone, the bridge of his nose, and his chin.
