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But I couldn’t help it.
He laughed right along with me—wet eyes and all.
His hand rested on the side of my neck, and he gazed down at me. When his thumb pushed my chin up, he said, “I’m going to say this once. And then I never want you to ask me this fucking question again.”
I nodded and agreed.
“Jillian Parker, I love you so fucking much—” his eyes looked into the darkness for a brief second before coming back to mine, “I can barely see straight sometimes. There is no goddamn doubt in my mind that we were born for each other. And once—” He stopped for a minute to compose himself and it broke my tiny heart to see him struggle.
He took a deep, deep breath and continued. “And once all this shit is behind us, we are going to live the best lives in the world. I guarantee it. Do you know how I know that?”
Cash’s gaze and his voice—and his hold—had me so entranced, all I could do was shake my head.
He exhaled and said, “Because I’m going to make sure of it. That’s how. Every fucking day. I promise you.”
His lips touched mine.
And I kissed him right back.
Under the most perfect sky.
In the most perfect place.
In the strongest arms on the entire planet.
I’m not going to lie.
Moments of doubt crept up.
Like later that night. We were in Cash’s bed when he said, “I didn’t protect you from that asshole. I’m so sorry, sweetness.” He kissed my lips so tenderly I surely would have fainted if I wasn’t laying down.
“You didn’t know, Cash.” My fingers gently touched the side of his face. His skin was hot from our exertions, even though the air was cool. The candlelight flickered over us—and the room, making the most romantic of settings.
“I should have known.” He sighed so deeply I felt the pain in his words. “How the fuck do we get to the other side of this mess?”
And this time, surprisingly, it was me who answered the impossible question.
“We just do, I guess. If you really want to, I mean.”
He kissed me again. “Of course, I want to.”
Gosh.
That one sentence.
That one sentence floated out of his mouth and swirled around my heart. I didn’t understand how he could simultaneously squeeze my heart—and make it grow at the same time.
I gave him as brave a smile as I could muster. “Then that’s what we do. We get over it.”
His eyes scanned my face as though he was looking for answers—answers I hoped he could find. “Can you forgive me? For not looking after you? For not digging deeper? And for all the shitty things I said to you?”
Oh.
This man was breaking my heart. I set my hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat. “There’s nothing to forgive. You didn’t know—you couldn’t have known.” I took a deep breath and asked, “But can you forgive me? For not telling you. For not choosing you.”
His fingers slid into my hair. “Sweetness, there’s nothing to forgive. You were protecting the only family you thought you had left. What you didn’t realize was—I’m your family now, too. I’m here. For you.”
Yeah.
