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“So if I have a worry . . . say someone at work was causing problems for me. I’d just tell you and then the worry would magically disappear?”
“Nothing magic about it, darlin’. I’d make the worry disappear.”
“And how would you do that?”
“By taking care of it for you.”
She waited.
But he didn’t grin or wink or laugh.
He was . . . he was serious. How could he seriously think that was an option?
“I can’t tell you my problems and have you take care of them for me.”
“Why not?”
“Because I . . . that’s not how things work.”
“That’s not how what things work?”
“It’s not how anything works! And don’t you think you’d get sick of taking care of all my concerns and worries?”
“Hmm.”
Okay, now she had him. She waited for him to tell her that she was right.
“Do you have that many, darlin’?”
“Currently, it seems like I’m drowning in them,” she muttered.
Shit. What the hell was wrong with her? Had she entered some alternate universe where she just blurted stuff out?
He drew her even closer. “Fuck, baby. I don’t like that.”
“Yeah, try being me, then.” It was an attempt at a joke. But it fell epically flat.
“Baby, if I could take it all away from you, put it all on me, then I would.”
She shook her head, sadness filling her. “Why couldn’t this have happened before . . . why now?”
“Maybe the universe had a different plan in mind for us,” he said.
“Do you really believe that?” Did the universe really think she had to go through everything she had in order to find Raid at the end?
If so, the universe sucked.
“No,” he said in a tight voice. “I think this is my fault for not seeing what was right in front of my nose.”
“It’s not your fault, Raid.”
“Maybe not fully,” he admitted. “Most of it is your ex’s fault. But for not making a move on you earlier, yeah, that’s mine. And what I’ve learned from that is that when you want something you don’t waste time, you don’t fuck around, you go after it and you take it.”
“And I’m the thing you want?” she asked faintly.
“Baby, you’re everything I’ve ever wanted. And more.”
10
Raid knew she was exhausted.
He knew this because she looked it, she sounded it, and because she had stopped fighting him. She’d dropped all her shields; no doubt she had no energy left to keep them up.
He needed to get her to rest and eat.
And he really wanted to have her checked out.
He stood with her cradled in his arms.
“Whoa, you’re strong.”
He was, but she was also too light. However, he didn’t tell her that. Raid was a man who could learn from his mistakes.
Luckily, he made very few. Probably like one or two a year.
He set her back on the counter and placed his hands on either side of her, grabbing hold. “Right. This is what’s going to happen.”
She eyed him with surprise.
“I won’t take you to the hospital on two, no, three conditions.”
“Just three?”
“Let me think about that for a moment. I could make it four, but that seems overkill.”
“No. You think?”
“Hmm. We’ll start with three, you brat.”
She bit her lip. “I’m not a brat.”
“No, you’re a . . .” Fuck. He couldn’t call her a good girl. But that’s what she was. He hated that those words were lost to her. “You’re my precious girl.”
Relief filled her face, then it flooded with anger. “I hate that he took those words from me. They were once mine. Once, they made me happy. I was a . . .” Her nose screwed up as though she’d tasted something bad.
He fought back his temper. That was the last thing she needed. Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly.
“Then we’ll take them back.”
“What?” she asked.
“We’ll take them back. You and me. I might not know what he did to you, but I will one day. He doesn’t get to keep those words. He doesn’t get to continue to use them to hurt you. If you want to be a good girl again, then that’s what you will be. Understand?”
“I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Did you think it’d be possible for me to be here like this in your apartment?”
She shook her head.
That’s what he’d thought.
“And did you think it’d ever be possible that I’d get to hold you in my arms as you cried without you having a panic attack?”
She bit her lip. “I had a small one. Deep inside.”
He just raised his eyebrows at her.
“No, I didn’t.”
“And did you think it would be possible for me to do this?” Reaching up, he cupped the side of her face with his hand. He knew it was risky. It could make her go back into her shell. Bring up the ice queen. But he had to try. To show her that she didn’t need to fear him.
