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And right now, AJ, the beautiful, strong, confident man before her…was uncertain. Scared. Of what?
Holding her breath, she pried open the box lid and pulled something from the nest of white tissue paper. Realizing what was in her hand, she couldn’t help the bark of laughter.
“A mug?” she laughed. “You bought me a mug.” The mug was pure white and just the perfect size for a 16oz coffee—just like she liked.
AJ grinned and took the empty box from her, placing it on the bar top. “Turn it over. Read the other side. I hope you like it.”
“Oh.” There was more?
Carefully, she turned the mug over…and nearly dropped it.
There, right there before her eyes, was the imprinted image of two swans, their beaks touching, their regal necks curled into the shape of a heart. Beneath the image, a quote.
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength. Loving someone deeply gives you courage.
—Lao Tzu
She stared, reading and re-reading the quote beneath the striking image of a mated pair of swans. Tears prickled the backs of her eyes, demanding to be spilled, to burn a river down her cheeks.
She gasped, shuddering. “AJ?” She dragged her gaze from the mug and met his eyes.
Love. Love burned there in brilliant emerald green.
“What does this mean? You know….”
He was there, gripping her head in his hands, pressing his forehead against hers to peer down into her flushed face.
“You are my Swan. My love. The one who gives me courage. The one who brought me to life when I’d been dead inside for so long. You, Maeve, are everything I’d ever wanted for myself but never dared believe I deserved.”
Gripping the mug tightly, she held it against her chest as if to absorb it into her being.
Without looking away from AJ’s raw and intense gaze, she effused, “You deserve everything, AJ. You are the most amazing man I’ve ever known—and I’ve known some assholes.”
He smiled sadly, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again. A sorrow shone there that wasn’t there before.
“We chatted so much in those emails, and I really wanted to tell you everything, to share all the ugliness of my life with you, but…. There’s things about me you don’t know, Maeve. Things I haven’t had the courage to tell you until now.”
Pulling back just enough to see his whole face, Maeve tipped her head to the side and asked, “Like what?”
There wasn’t a damn thing he could tell her that would make her think less of him.
Carefully placing the mug on the bar beside its box, Maeve flattened her palms against his chest. His wildly beating heart was slamming against his chest. Whatever it was that he had to tell her terrified him.
“Tell me, AJ,” she murmured against his lips, her own courage pushing her to touch him, comfort him, show him that she was there for him when he needed her.
AJ sighed, closing his eyes once more, cutting her off from the clear view of his vulnerability and fear. Pulling her fully against him—chest to chest—he pressed a soft kiss to her temple, breathing deep.
Finally, he spoke.
“My father was a cheating asshole who only cared about his money and getting his dick wet. He didn’t even try to hide his affairs from my mother, throwing his other women in her face, fucking them in their bed, flaunting his hatred for his wife and his marriage wherever he went.”
Maeve gasped, disgusted. “Why even get married?”
AJ grunted. “Money. My mom’s dowry was a company my dad wanted. So, he romanced, seduced, and then married my mom. As soon as the ink was dry on the legal documents, my dad couldn’t get away fast enough. The thing was, though, my mom actually loved my dad. She’d fallen hard for him.” He laughed humorlessly. “What you’ve got to understand about my mother was that, when she loved, she loved hard. She fell for my dad’s lies, and she gave all of herself to him. Her body, her heart, her soul. She loved him deeply, and no matter how terribly he treated her, she stayed with him.”
“Oh, AJ….” What else could she say? The woman obviously married the wrong man, but if she hadn’t, AJ and Sallina wouldn’t have happened. “What happened?” Because she just knew something did.
AJ pressed another long, soft kiss to her temple and sighed. “She drank to numb the pain. Sally dealt with the brunt of that, though. And that’s her story to tell. But, for me, that pain, my mother’s pain, was something that hit me hard. When she committed suicide, the one thing I thought more than anything else was that her love was wasted on a man who didn’t deserve it. That my mother’s deeply loving heart was given to the wrong person, someone who couldn’t appreciate the beauty he’d been given. And I swore, standing over her grave, that I would never be like my father. If I ever found a love like my mother felt for my father, I would cherish it. I would hold on to it, and I would make sure I lived and loved worthy of it.”
AJ dropped his arms and pulled away just as the sounds of a car door slamming fractured their moment.
She glanced at the door then back at AJ. “What’s happening?”
“Maeve,” he breathed, reaching out to caress her overwarm cheek with his thumb. “This is me, being worthy of it.”
“What—”
Before she could ask him what the hell he meant, the doors to the empty bar swung open.
Denise Walters sauntered in.
