Blue eyes darted my way before snapping back to the building in front of us. “My brothers always called me that, using it to mock me whenever anything happened that proved I wasn’t as strong as them—which wasalways. Eventually, my dad started doing it too.”
Right.
I reached for her again, curling my fingers around her chin and turning her face toward me until she was staring at me with all those shields I’d come to know so well over the years.
“For the record, Princess Peach might need to be rescued every now and then, but she’s a fighter and can hold her own.” Leaning closer to her, I searched her stare and lowered my voice. “So, let them mock you. Let them doubt you because you’re a woman. Let them underestimate you because of your size. You’re still the first and only female SEAL. You’re still the strongest, fiercest woman I know.” I jerked my head toward the building and amended, “That any of us knows. You’ve taken down Rush.Ican’t even claim that.”
“I can’t take you down,” she reminded me.
“But you try,” I said, my mouth lifting in a grin as I informed her, “I watched you train with Rush and Briggs for a solid week before training with you. I had an advantage.”
Betrayal flashed in her eyes before one of her hands shot out, but I caught her palm with my free hand before it could slam into my chest and leaned in to kiss her bottom lip, where it had fallen into a stunnedO.
“As always, Peach, I’m happy to tell you, your dad is the worst,” I said as I released her. “So are your brothers.” Clicking her seatbelt to unlock it, I leaned back and did the same for mine, but had only gripped the handle of the door before adding, “Mrs. Gray,” like an answer.
When her stare shifted to me that time, it was wide with intrigue and question, all those shields having fallen away.
“That night was—and still mostly is—a black hole. But those words kept tearing through my thoughts like a memory, and I knew I’d had to have said them at some point.” One of my shoulders lifted. “You don’t have to take my last name, but it felt wrong every time I called youMonroeover those three months when I could hear myself claiming you asmine.”
“You called me Monroe in the meeting yesterday.”
And it felt wrong.
With a firm nod, I reminded her, “We go by last names at work.”
She studied me for long seconds before a soft hum rolled up her throat that didn’t give any indication to what she was thinking.
Grabbing her drink and the trash, she said, “We’re late,” before slipping out of the truck, leaving me sitting there, staring at the place she’d been and wondering if I’d ever get used to this newMallory. The one who showed every emotion as she readily gave more information than ever before, only to hold back the next minute.
But I’d take it.
I’d take her shields. I’d take her tears. I’d take the reflective silences. I’d take every piece of her she was willing to give me, and offer the same up to her.
Once I’d grabbed my coffee, I hurried out of my truck and after her, my gaze eagerly dipping over her the way it always did. Only now, she was mywife.
If only she knew how many times I’d gotten caught up in watching her justwalk. Tall and fierce and daring anyone to so much as look at her the wrong way. Strength and warning coating her deceptively slim build, all while that unmatched beauty she didn’t seem to know she possessed drew everyone in.
The corner of my mouth twitched when she spared a glance at me as she swung open the front door of Shadow and sauntered in, her blue eyes narrowed with a challenge that I wanted to meet.
Jogging the last few steps, I grabbed the door before it could shut and nearly barreled her over when I slammed into her back.
A curse slipped free as I wrapped my arm around her waist and steadied us. “You okay?”
“I was just asking that,” Chloe said, snapping my attention to where the nerd was standing halfway around her desk, arms folded across her chest and glaring at me accusingly.
I wondered if Thatch knew his wife wasn’t always all sunshine and rainbows.
Just as a bemused huff started leaving me, Chloe bit out, “She’s clearly been crying.Whyhas she been crying, Hudson?”
A smile tugged at my mouth, fueled by irritation and surprise at this defensive Chloe. “Take a breath, Nerd,” I began just as Mallory said, “Not—no.”
“Stop looking at me like you’re about to throw one of your books at me,” I continued. “It isn’t what you’re thinking.”
“Right, no. I apparently just cry now,” Mallory muttered, sounding wholly embarrassed and irritated by the fact.
If I hadn’t been waiting for Chloe’s response, I wouldn’t have noticed the way her eyebrows shot up, her gaze quickly bouncing between Mallory’s stomach and my stare before falling to the floor.
But I had, and it had those suspicions and longings and denials storming through my veins as my hand instinctively curled tighter against Mallory.
