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"Then you need to get your eyes checked."
I shake my head, still baffled that she finds me sexy. I know what I look like, and I sure as hell don't look like the goddess in my arms. Men kill to be close to a woman like her. Women cringe when they're close to a man like me. We are not the same. But she means what she says. I don't doubt her for a minute.
"My eyesight is fine, princess." I pull back to look at her. "It wasn't damaged at all."
Her gaze flits across my face. "I want to ask about that day," she whispers, biting her bottom lip. "But I don't want to push you to talk about it."
"I'll tell you anything you want to know. I don't have any secrets from you, Laura." The time for those is long passed. Shit, I think it passed the second she drew me out of the shadows on day one. "There isn't much to it. The director tried to talk the lead actor's underage sister into a compromising relationship, and she finally confessed what was happening. He snapped when he saw the things this motherfucker was sending her." I swallow hard, forcing back memories. "Damen drove his truck through the director's trailer. He didn't know I was inside."
"Oh my god." Tears of distress well in her eyes.
"I was pinned beneath the truck when the trailer caught on fire. Once Damen realized I was in there, he waded in and dragged me out. He never intended for me to be hurt." I brush tears from beneath Laura's eyes. "No one on set blamed him. I certainly didn't."
"That's why you let everyone believe it was a stunt gone wrong," she says.
I nod. "Damen didn't deserve a prison sentence for what he did. He didn't know I was in that trailer. Hell, I'm not even convinced he thought the director was in his trailer. He was just trying to protect his sister from a fucking monster. Had it been me, I would have done the same fucking thing." Shit, had it been me, I think I would have mowed his ass down right there on set. Men like that…well, they aren't worthy of the goddamn name. They're monsters, not men.
"Oh, Kaiden." Laura throws her arms around me in a fierce hug, her shoulders shaking as she cries quietly.
"Don't cry for me, princess. It was a long time ago."
She jerks her head up, her cheeks wet with tears, her eyes hot with emotion. "I'll cry for you if I want to, Kaiden Huxley," she says, her bottom lip quivering as more tears spill down her perfect cheeks. "You're worthy of being cried over."
"Fuck," I whisper, closing my eyes as a swell of emotion chokes me. Does she even know what she's doing to me? How quickly she's becoming the center of my entire world? She deserves so much better than me—God knows she does—and yet…and yet I'd kill to keep her anyway.
"I want something," she whispers.
"Anything."
Her watery gaze flits across my face, her expression hesitant. "I want you to spend Christmas with me." Her teeth sink into her bottom lip. "Please? It's my favorite time of year, and my parents are on a cruise this year."
The holiday is a few weeks away, but her house is already covered in Christmas shit. I don't even own a stocking. I haven't celebrated Christmas in…shit, not since my dad passed away fifteen years ago. When you're alone, there isn't much to celebrate. Since the accident, there's been even less than that. Truthfully, the whole holiday tends to remind me of how things used to be, which pisses me off. There is no magic in the world. At least there never has been for me.
"Please," she whispers.
Fuck. I can't tell her no. Not with those big, hopeful green eyes on me.
"Yeah," I mutter gruffly. "I'll spend Christmas with you."
Her eyes light up with happiness, stealing my breath.
Christ. If there is magic in the world, I'm pretty sure it's here in my arms. This little star is my magic. She's my Christmas wish.
For the first time since the accident, I pray.
Please, God, let me be strong enough to deserve her. Teach me to be gentle enough to love her. Help me be good enough to keep her.
Chapter Four
Laura
"Have you seen the news?" Roni shouts as soon as I step into her office.
I grimace and rub my ears. Jeez. She's loud. "Um, no?"
"It's everywhere!" she cries, her curly red hair bouncing in frustration as she bends her head over her keyboard and starts clicking away. "Celebrity Teatime was the first to run it, but everyone has it now. They're making a huge deal about it. My phone has been ringing all morning. I finally turned the damn thing off."
Oh no.
My stomach sinks, dismay filling me. They found out about Kaiden.
