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Bree sits back in her chair, a look of utter disbelief on her face. She opens her mouth to say something but closes it again, apparently unsure what to say.
“I—I don’t understand,” she was finally able to mutter.
A frown touches my lips. “With both of your parents gone, your dad wanted to make sure that you always had somebody here for you,” I tell her. “The job we do is dangerous, baby girl. And no matter how careful we are, there’s always the chance that something can always go wrong. Your dad knew I don’t need that job and asked that I do something else—something safer—when he went. He suggested I go back to my family firm.”
“But you said that kind of work didn’t interest you.”
“It didn’t. Not when I was younger,” I say. “But now that I’m older, it’s not so bad. And I’ve still got a knack for it.”
She shakes her head. “Bastian, I feel awful. My dad didn’t have any right to ask you to turn your life upside down like that. Not for me.”
“He was my brother. Of course, he had the right to ask,” I tell her. “And there is nobody I think is more worth changing your life for than you, baby girl.”
Her eyes well with tears and she sniffs loudly and looks away. I reach across the table and take her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“That’s how much he loved you, Bree. He wanted to make sure you were well taken care of when he was gone,” I tell her.
She sniffs again and wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. “I miss him,” she says, her voice quavering. “I miss him so much.”
“Me too,” I reply. “And the best thing you can do to honor his memory is to live your life to the fullest. To chase your dreams and to be happy. That’s all he wanted, baby girl. He wanted you to be happy. And I intend to help you do just that.”
She buries her face in her hands and cries softly, the full weight of her grief finally settling down on her. I stand up and pull Bree to her feet and wrap her up in a tight embrace. She melts into me, resting her forehead on my chest as she cries. Her body trembles and her shoulders heave as the sobs burst from her mouth. I just hold her and stroke her hair, letting her cry it out. Letting her unload her grief and the emotions that have built up inside her all these years.
It takes a while, but she finally starts to settle down. I let go of her and grab a paper towel, letting her dry her eyes and blow her nose. Bree sits back down and takes a couple of minutes to gather herself again. When she’s ready, she looks up at me.
“Thank you, Bastian,” she says softly. “Thank you for everything.”
“There’s nothing for you to thank me for, baby girl. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you,” I tell her. “There’s nothing I won’t do for you. Like your dad, I just want you to be happy. I want you to live a big life—the life you want. Whatever you want to do, I promise that we’ll find a way to make it happen.”
She looks at me with gratitude in her eyes and a smile on her lips. “Why are you so willing to do so much—to change your entire life—to help me?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
She shakes her head. “Not to me.”
“I love you, baby girl,” I tell her. “I love you more than anything in this world.”
She rocks back in her seat and looks at me with wide eyes and her hands clamped over her mouth. Bree is silent for a few moments as she seems to process what I said.
“You love me?” she asks, her voice faint.
“With all my heart.”
“I’ve loved you all my life, Bastian.”
She gets up and comes over to me and sits down on my lap, wrapping her arms around the back of my neck and holds me tight. I melt into her body, relishing the softness of her skin and savoring the scent of her. There is nothing about this woman I don’t love and nothing I’ll ever get tired of. To me, she is perfect. Absolutely perfect.
“Do you think my dad would approve of this?”
“All I know is he wanted you to be happy and for you to find somebody who treated you like the princess you are,” I reply with a shrug. “I might simply be trying to justify it to myself, but I’d like to believe that as long as I did that, he would approve. And I plan on doing that.”
“You do that," she says softly. "You treat me like a queen, and I can honestly say I’ve never been happier.”
“Then maybe you’re right. Maybe he’d approve of us,” I say.
“I hope. I hope he’s looking down on us and is happy for me as I am with you.”
She places a gentle kiss on my lips and nuzzles her face into my neck.
