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She narrowed her eyes at him over her shoulders as she walked over to what seemed to be the starting point of the maze. She stood in line behind several kids who were waiting to take a chance on the maze. While she stood there waiting, she realized that normally only a few kids would play on the playground after school. The happy buzz floating around the schoolyard was kind of rubbing off on her, and before she knew it, she was smiling.
Jonathan tugged on her hand and said, “Wanna go together?”
She smiled down at him and agreed. “Yes, I was hoping you’d ask me to go with you.”
“I know how to go to the end. I’ve done it three times already. Just follow me,” he boasted.
Kate guffawed. “Okay.”
He tugged her hand, and before she knew what was happening, he led the way across the playground. Left, right, and another right. He then paused and made a quick turn left. She had to keep up with him in her heels, and she wasn’t paying much attention to her surroundings. She had to keep her eyes in front of her to not trip over Jonathan or her damned heels.
Suddenly, Jonathan stopped them, and she saw two brown designer shoes peeping from under dark blue jeans. As her eyes traveled up, she saw the black button-down shirt and his signature rolled-up sleeves over his strong arms.
Donovan smiled somewhat shyly at her when their eyes found each other. He had the most peculiar expression. Was he nervous? That couldn’t be right. But he swallowed and cleared his throat in an uncharacteristic matter.
“We did it, Miss Kate. We’re at the end in one try! Told ya we could do it,” Jonathan spoke from somewhere.
She suddenly remembered that she still held Jonathan’s hand and squeezed before she let it go. She turned to him and said, “Thank you so much. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jonathan said.
Donovan snorted, and Kate returned her attention on him. Jonathan said goodbye and Kate mumbled, “Bye,” while staring up at Donovan.
“You’ve found your way back to me,” he said.
The double entendre wasn’t lost on Kate. Before she could react, he grabbed her hands in his and stepped closer.
“I fucked up,” he stated as matter of fact.
She nodded. “I was—no, I’m still angry with you.”
Now it was he who nodded in response. “I understand. You have every right to be pissed at me. I’m pissed at me.” He let go of her hand and pointed his thumb at his chest. Then he brought that same thumb to her jaw and trailed it to her bottom lip. The urge to bite him was immense, but she wasn’t going there. This conversation was too important to her.
“I’ll do whatever it takes, and I’m going to show you that you can trust me, cupcake.”
“I still have so many questions.” She sighed. “But I talked to your brother yesterday, and I realized I can’t walk away from you at this point. But you have to promise me you’ll stop trailing everything I do.” He wanted to answer her, but she went on. “If you’ll stop monitoring me, stop going through my private stuff, checking up on me without me even knowing… only then will we eventually get there and be okay. Can you do that for me? Can you give me that?”
“Yes. I can and I will give you that. I want you to know that I’ve made an appointment to see a professional.”
She raised her brow in question, and he continued. ”Yeah, I figured that all the shit I’ve seen while doing PI work, all those innocent people who were terrorized by crazy freaks, who were hurt not only by stalking weirdos but sometimes even their own family….” He shook his head. “I’ve helped so many women and children while working for the shelter. You have no idea what kind of world we live in. All I want to do is keep you safe, to shelter you from all the monsters out there.”
She was in the middle of pushing her tears aside with her index fingers but halted midway. “You can’t—” she started.
“Yeah, I guess that’s why I need to talk to a pro. I know that I can’t wrap you up in Bubble Wrap. I know that you need breathing room and all that shit. But I have trouble with trusting the world and giving you that space.”
She let out the breath she’d been holding for the last few days or so it seemed. Finally, she nodded in understanding.
“I’m so lucky. I don’t deserve you. But I’m going to try,” he solemnly said.
She nodded again before he gave her a soft kiss on the lips. It was such a sweet kiss that she was disappointed when he ended it. He smirked in recognition and held up his index finger as a sign for her to wait for a moment. He stepped away from her and grabbed the TV-screen like item from the floor.
“If it’s okay with you, can I take you home and give you this there? I know that you don’t really like all the attention, so I’ve packed this up for you to reveal in the privacy of your own home.”
“Yes, take me home.” She shyly smiled at him.
