I sputtered.He pulled his hands from behind his back and held up a gigantic bouquet of blue blooms—my favorite color—wrapped in cellophane.That was the crinkling noise I’d heard.“These are for you.”
“What…what the ever-lovin’ hell is going on?”EvenInoticed the thickening of my accent, which was always noticeable.
“Well, I heard you wanted to be romanced.”His lips turned down and misery entered his intelligent gray eyes.“And I need that to be with me.I can’t stand the idea of you with another man.Dammit, Jasmine.I just…couldn’t stand seeing you so small and sad in that hospital bed.I didn’t want to leave you, but the nurses forced me out of your room.Ever since Aya got that phone call, it’s eaten at me, you being hurt.”
His obvious distress softened me.“That wasn’t your choice.It was mine.And it’s not your decision to feel bad about my choices.”
“I get what you’re saying.”He shifted his bulk.Oh, he was just too cute.“But…”
“Come in.We don’t want to let all the cool air outside.”
I shut the door, sighing with relief that I didn’t have another overzealous asshole to fend off.Steve was safe…to my physical well-being, just not to my heart.Not at all to my heart.My hand shook where I leaned it against the wood.“We can have some coffee in the kitchen and talk over this nonsense?—”
“I steered clear of you all these months because I’m not good enough for you.”Steve stood, chin lifted, shoulders back.Military proud, just like Camden.Just like Jensen.Steve’s military bearing made my knees weak.
“I beg to differ with that statement,” I said.
He tapped the pretty bouquet against his thigh, sending some petals raining down onto the rug that, thankfully, the jerk wad hadn’t bled on.I’d been worried after I bashed him those extra times.I really shouldn’t have done that, but I’d been so terrified…
“You with me?”Steve asked, his voice soft.
“Huh?”
With a mental shake, I brought Steve back into focus.
“You with me, Jasmine?You went white, seemed to fade off.”
“Oh!Yes.I’m fine.”
I noted he was still tapping the flowers against his leg, so I swooped in and grabbed the stems, prying his fist away.I noted the tremors in his hand.Instead of heading into the kitchen to put the flowers into a vase, laid them gently on the nearest surface—the couch’s cushion.Then, I leaned into his chest.
“I’m mostly fine,” I said, my voice hitching.“It’s a delayed reaction, I suppose.I have these moments where the memory creeps over me.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist, desperate for his reassuring touch.After a terrifyingly long moment, he relaxed enough to hug me back.
“You were so brave,” he said against my hair.
“Didn’t feel brave,” I said.“There was simply no way I would let that…that…garbageof a man hurt my girls.”
He tightened his arms around me and swayed me gently.“That right there, Jasmine.That fire in you—you’re so fierce in your love.So damn fierce.It’s such a turn on.”
Tipping my head back, I peered at him.“I can’t imagine why.I’m hardheaded.Stubborn, I think you called me.”
“That’s true.And I love that about you.”
I thrilled at the word, but instead of commenting, I pressed my cheek back to his chest.
“If my mother had been a fighter like you are, Jasmine, I think my life would have been very different.”
I narrowed my eyes.“Is that where you went?”
“Back to my hometown, yeah.Like I said, I needed to lay the past to rest.Finally.It’s been…I didn’t realize how much of an anchor it had become.I was up all night the night you got hurt.All I could think about was how much I wanted to come to you, to hold you, to promise to protect you.”
“You did come, and I appreciated that,” I said.
“I’m glad.But…” He trailed off.
“When you’re ready,” I murmured.
