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“Exactly,” he told her. “Everything that has character.”
“So, it’s got to be old, rusted, rotted and damaged?” When she said damaged, she wondered whether he was one of those people who liked damaged goods. She hadn’t realized, but she’d sighed when she thought that.
“Not at all. Old, rusted, and rotted doesn’t mean damaged.”
He’d caught onto what had triggered her reaction. He was so perceptive. It was scary but in a good way. She thought that sometimes he knew her better than she knew herself.
“I can see the beauty in a life lived. Maybe it’s because of what I’ve gone through, knowing that the scars of the mind are more painful than the scars on the body,” he said.
Everything he was saying was going to the heart of the person she’d become. She knew what cut the deepest and bled the longest…and she’d found the only person she knew who understood that too.
“And when I see something that has character and is stunningly beautiful…well, that…that’s something so special no photo can ever capture it,” he told her. “That is the something you allow yourself to etch on your mind.” He held her hands then, bringing them up to his lips, and kissed them.
* * *
“I'm starving,”Cruz said.
“For?” Eden asked. They’d both worked up an appetite and Cruz always seemed to be hungry. He was always eating, but it all seemed to turn to muscle.
“You, silly,” he told her.
She rolled her eyes. “Food more likely.”
“Well, I wouldn't say no to that. Let’s head out and get some.”
She had a look on her face…like embarrassed?“What’s up, babe?”
“Do you think anyone heard?”
They’d made so much noise having sex that if anyone hadn’t heard, they’d have to be deaf. “No way,” he said slowly, then his face broke out in a wide smile.
“Oh…My…God. I am so embarrassed,” she said. “I’m sure Boots will have something to say.”
“So, no food then?” he asked.
“Can we just sit here and talk for a while?” she said.
“Sure, we can do anything we like,” he told her.
A light bulb came on in his head and he jumped up off the bed so fast, she asked, “What’s wrong?”
He was already tipping the contents of his backpack out onto the bed when she said that. There was no need to answer. A selection of candy bars fell out onto the sheet, and he said, “Take your pick.”
She laughed, but she was famished, so she chose one and ripped it open before taking a bite and closing her eyes. “Mmmm…that was one hell of a workout.”
“A few of these and we can start round two,” he told her. He’d already finished his one and was ripping a second one open.
They ate in silence for a while, then Eden said, “Ask me anything.” Her biggest secret had been revealed and she felt like the burden of shame had been lifted. She’d pulled the sheet up over her chest…she still felt self-conscious. She knew that would take some time getting used to yet.
“Do you like my tattoos?” he asked.
She was surprised that that was the first question he would ask. She’d thought it would be something about her.
“I absolutely love them,” she said.
He smiled. “Ever thought of getting any yourself?” He bit into another bar and took a mouthful of water at the same time.
She swallowed the water she’d taken a sip of herself, and said, “I never thought I would. Grant hated them. Maybe that would be a good reason to get them now.” He raised his eyebrows, and she could tell what he was thinking. “I would never do anything to spite someone. Not that he would ever know anyway.”
