Cautiously, I lift my hand to cup her cheek, ghosting my thumb across her delicate skin as I make sure I have her full attention. “No one harms you like he did and gets away with it.”
With my admission, I instantly hear her heart flutter, and it rings in my ears like a beacon, guiding me to the light.
“You shouldn’t have kept it a secret,” she declares, and I gulp as I nod, hating the hint of disappointment in her eyes, but it doesn’t linger.
“I know, I’m sorry,” I insist, daring to skim my thumb across her lower lip as I shake my head. “But I would do it again in a heartbeat,” I admit, and she gapes at me. The question is clear in her eyes, but it seems I’ve stunned her enough to render her speechless for a moment. “You were dealing with copious amounts of shit already,” I offer, and she finally splutters.
“So were you,” she retorts. I can only assume she’s referring to Laurie because that’s the only shit I’ve had to deal with. Regardless, it doesn’t compare, but I don’t get into that. Instead, I keep my focus on her.
“It’s my job to protect you,” I breathe, and she shakes her head.
“I protect myself.”
I grin at her unrelentingly fierce resolve. She may be an independent woman, but that doesn’t mean she isn’tmyindependent woman.
“I know you do, but now that’s my job too.”
She huffs, but I don’t miss the way her mouth curls a touch. “You’re insane.”
“No more than you,” I retort, bopping her nose with the tip of my finger, and whatever tension still bunched her muscles together subsides.
As she relaxes against me, she presses against my pants pocket, reminding me of the object inside. She must also feel it between us because she peers up at me in confusion. Refusing to let go of her, I drop my hand from her face to her hip, lifting her just enough so I can tug the velvet bag free. I let it dangle in the air between us for a moment as she blinks at it.
I can sense her curiosity, her desperation to ask questions, but it seems her pride has cut her tongue. Clearing my throat, I open the drawstring with one hand as I use the other to turn her palms face up and squish them together. Once she’s in place, I tip the contents of the bag into her hands, watching as the gold glistens against her skin.
“What is this?” she asks, her gaze darting back and forth between the object and me.
“For you,” I answer as she unravels the links to fully expose the amethyst stones that round off the tennis bracelet.
“Why?”
I shrug, feeling my cheeks heat as she continues to stare at the jewelry in question. “Because,” I mumble, and she cocks a brow at me.
“That sounds ominous,” she mutters, and I scoff.
“Hey now, I walked into this carnage and didn’t ask any questions. How about you take the same approach?” I offer.
She doesn’t miss the opportunity to pout her lips at me while she glares, but I lose her pretty eyes on me a moment later as her gaze darts across the room to her father’s brutalised remains.
Her eye is different. My heart lurches, a thousand questions reeling in my mind. Her blue iris is tainted with a red ring, forming a soft purple hue across her eye.
Her pretty blues.
She’s a warrior, and I don’t dare to ask right now. If she’s okay and in my hands, that’s all that matters.
“I killed him,” she rasps, her shoulders deflating once again as she clutches the bracelet tightly in her hand.
Resting my chin on her shoulder, I hum in agreement. “You did. It’s quite poetic if you ask me,” I state, and she shakes her head as I take the bracelet from her and fasten it around her wrist, securing it in place.
“You really are insane.”
“No, Petal. I just see you through pure eyes. There is nothing you can do in this whole entire world that I won’t be able to romanticize because I am in awe of you. I have been since the first time I laid eyes on you in the damn broom closet. You dumbfounded me then, I’m awestruck by you now, and I will forever be floored by your beauty and your grace, inside and out, despite the hurdles you have faced. We both know it’s far more than anyone deserves in one hundred lifetimes, never mind just one, but you continue to face everything like a warrior, and I’ll be damned if I’m not by your side when you conquer the world.”
Her lips part as she stares at me, disbelief flashing in her scarred baby blues as she shakes her head, but she can’t seem to find the words to argue back.
Because they don’t exist.
Running my thumb over her bottom lip, I move first, tracing my steps with my tongue, and she groans, leaning into the touch with a firm press of her lips, and I moan along with her.
