“Sure I did. Just not the way I notice you now.” He laughed softly. “Now you’re… Fuck.” He whistled. “You’re a knockout. Not just the way you look, either. First night I got back to Silver Ridge, on Thanksgiving, I had no idea what was about to hit me.”
“You make me sound like a natural disaster or something.”
“Am I that far off? It’s useless to argue with the weather, and it’s useless to argue with you. You always win.”
I wiped my eyes, finding my smile again.
Grayden was right. I was a pretty awesome lady with a vibrant personality, and nothing Danny said could change that. I knew who I was.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Just being honest.”
I was staring at his lips again, so I saw the exact moment they creased into a frown.
“Piper, I went too far earlier with Danny. I apologize for that. My temper blew up when I saw him hurting you.”
“You were defending me.”
“But then there’s my prison record. My shitty reputation, far as Ashford and most of the town thinks. Also the fact that I curse too much and I’m not always in the best mood.”
“Cursing is hardly a major character flaw. Orbeing grouchy.”
“What I’m trying to say is, I never want you to be afraid of me.Ever.”
I met his eyes and saw so much sincerity there.
“I think of you as complicated. But if you’re asking if I feel safe with you, I do. I always have.”
“Youaresafe with me.”
“If I didn’t feel that way, I wouldn’t be sitting with you. I’d be using every dirty self-defense trick in the book to bust my way out of here.”
“Glad to hear it.”
But I still had questions. The longer I waited to ask them, the more those unknowns stood between us. The more the questions grew into something I couldn’t ignore.
And then, like he could read my mind, Grayden murmured, “Ask me. You can just ask me.”
I knew exactly what he meant.
Instead of speaking, I got up and went to the coffeemaker to refill my mug, needing something to do with my hands. Grayden stood too, setting our plates in the sink, and leaned against the counter beside me. Waiting.
My throat was thick, and fear gathered like storm clouds inside me. Grace and Callum were afraid of asking this question, and I was too.
Afraid. But not of him.
I had to do this for both of us. Because for some reason, Grayden couldn’t just come out and tell me. Maybe fear was holding him back too.
He’d served his time for involuntary manslaughter. If he felt remorse, as he seemed to, then did it matter what mistakes he’d made? Didn’t he deserve a second chance either way? Forgiveness? Grace and Callum had already given that to him.
I hadn’t known this version of Grayden very long, but my heart told me he was still the good man I’d grown up knowing.
But the truthdidmatter. I had to square the man in front ofme, this man I enjoyed being around, with the man who was supposedly a killer.
When I next spoke, the words came out small. Almost like I was a kid again, on the terrible day when Grace had told me the news. We’d been standing in this very house.
“They said you killed someone in that bar fight. Beat another soldier until he died. Did you?”
