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A few weeks ago, I’d defended her to Hunter DeLaurentiis, and now, I was in the position of defending her to myself.
She wasn’t an easy person to love, but when she loved, there was no denying that you were welcomed into a unique club with incredibly few members.
That didn’t make it any easier to accept what she was willing to do to achieve her goals, but the only option was not to be with her anymore and that wasn’t going to happen.
She was mine. Even the bullshit moves she was capable of, as hard and as difficult as they were, didn’t change that.
“I can feel you thinking. You’re not going to rage quit me, are you?”
Her whisper had me tilting my head down as I contemplated her pensive expression.
In their time, my brothers had done worse shit than Star did on the regular, but I had never questioned my love for them.
Why was I questioning my love for her?
That was a dumb question because I wasn’t.
I’d had a hair-trigger reaction and that wasn’t on her—it was on me.
Needing to erase her worry, I whispered the only thing that mattered, “I love you.”
I couldn’t imagine that it was easy for Aoife to love Finn after the lies he’d told her. I couldn’t believe that Ma had found it easy to forgive Da when his actions led to her kidnapping and gang rape.
So, no, love didn’t have to be easy.
She released a soft breath. “I love you too. Is that enough?”
“I’m allowed to disapprove. Just like you can disapprove of the stunts that I pull. We have to work together to get over the bumps in the road.”
“We do,” she whispered.
“No rage-quitting allowed.”
“I’ve never been in a long-term relationship before where forever is the end goal.”
“You think I have?” I let my fingers move in a circle, the tips brushing her skin, soothing us both I hoped. “This is new for us. We’re bound to fuck up.”
She swallowed. “I don’t want you to leave either.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“That means you have to eat right.”
I stilled. “What?”
“You have to eat right. I don’t want you to die.”
Because I was at a loss, I asked, “What makes you think I’m going to die? I mean, everyone dies, but…” Flustered, I rumbled, “What do you mean?”
She peeped at me. “When I tell you that I love you, what I’m saying is, ‘Please, don’t die.’”
My brow furrowed as I took in her unusually open expression.
She meant it.
She goddamn meant it.
“I wish I could promise you that I won’t,” I said eventually, finding it hard to uncover the words that would make all this better when that was impossible…
