Damien nearly dropped the spatula he was using to scramble eggs for them.He tightened his grip and drew a breath.“I haven’t really thought about kids much.Why do you ask?”
“Just curious,” Harmony said.
She was absolutely not just curious.Damien knew that.There was a reason she was asking.He just had to figure out how to get her to tell him the truth.“I love my nephews, and I think kids of my own would be amazing, but I’ve never found someone who was willing to accept the life I’ve chosen for myself.My job.It’s not easy.”
“What do you mean?”Harmony asked, setting her coffee mug down and giving him her full attention.
Damien turned off the stove and plated the eggs.He added bacon to each plate and two slices of butter and jelly toast.He carried everything over to the coffee table and sat next to Harmony.
He was stalling.He was falling for Harmony hard and fast, and he didn’t want to scare her away by telling her what his life was like.
But he had no choice.“How things have been for us isn’t what my life is usually like.My boss has given me this time to be with you, to keep you safe, but normally, there’s someone else who needs my protection.Sometimes it’s a female.Sometimes it’s a family.Sometimes it’s a male.But whoever it is, when my number is up, I have to do my job.”
“What you do is important.You’re always helping people.”
Damien sipped his coffee.“It is.I love what I do.But when I have to spend a week in an undisclosed location with a woman who is in danger…”
“Ah,” Harmony said.Her cheeks turned pink, and she leaned away from him.“I get it.You’re single.And when you’re stuck watching someone, it’s only natural you would end up together.I mean, that’s what happened with us.”
“You think I’m sleeping with you because of my job?That I sleep with all my clients?”
“Not all of them, no.I know it’s one of the rules not to.But you’re saying you’re stuck with a woman and things happen.People feel big things when they’re in emotional situations.I misunderstood what was going on between us.That’s on me.”
“No.I’m not… Fuck.I’ve never slept with a client.Not one.Not ever.”
“What?But you just said…”
“I was trying to say I’ve never been with someone who understood my job.Who was willing to trust me not to cheat on them when I’m protecting someone.I can’t share information.I can’t be in touch.I can’t make promises to be home for things.When I’m working, I’m fully immersed in the job.”
“Which is how it should be.You have to keep your focus.”
“I know.I agree.”
“So if you’ve never slept with a client, why are we together?”
Damien snorted.“Well, for me, it’s because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the day we met.Because I started falling for you when you cut in front of me in line.I didn’t want to let go of your hand that day.I wanted to call you mine and never let you out of my sight.For me, we’re together because I’m… I’m in love with you.”
Seventeen
Damien watchedHarmony’s eyes widen.Her lips parted on a silent gasp.She looked at him with an expression he couldn’t read, one he needed desperately to understand.
Clearly, she was shocked by what he confessed, but was it more than just surprise in her gaze?Was it possible she was feeling the same things he was?Or was he fooling himself into thinking she was plunging headfirst into free-fall right beside him?
“I… I don’t know what to say,” Harmony whispered.
Damien shook his head.“You don’t have to say anything.We’ve only known each other for a month.I know it’s insane for me to be saying this to you.”
“No more insane than me feeling the same way.”
Damien exhaled a laugh.“Is that so?”
She shrugged.“My dad told me once that he fell in love with my mom in one second.He said it was love at first sight for him.When he was at the end… The last few days, he thought I was her.He told me over and over again that he loved me and was so happy to see me again.”
“Oh, Harmony.That… That had to be hard.”
She nodded, rolling her lips in.“It was.But it was also beautiful.He told me things he never would have said if he’d known I was me and not my mother.”
“Like what?”
