Things she just knew were him.
Like romance books turning up on her bedside table.
The bits and pieces that were added to the playroom or her wardrobe.
Trying to sleep in the bed with them even though he struggled with sleep.
“Am I really yours?” she asked. “Or are you just keeping me with you so I’m safe? I heard you say that you needed to reassess. And that maybe you should have left me where I was.”
“Because you would have been safe with Zander,” North told her. “Not because we don’t want you.”
“I’m not letting you go,” Jared stated. “I have told you this. And when North said we had to reassess, that had to do with how we introduce you to the family while keeping you safe. Because you are ours.”
“Oh. It seems I might have acted a bit hastily.”
North raised an eyebrow. “You think so?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I just overheard you and it brought up all those feelings of being unwanted. Rejected. All my life, all I’ve ever wanted was for someone to call mine. For them to call me theirs. For them to claim me. I’ve got Keira, but she’s also got her own family and I don’t feel like I fit in. With you guys . . . with you guys . . .” She had to pause for a moment and take a breath. “With you guys I feel like I fit. For the first time in my fucking pitiful life I thought I had a place where I belonged. And I was . . . I think I was falling in love with you. With both of you.” She looked from Jared to North, unsure how North would take this.
“You weren’t,” North said.
Ouch. The rejection started to build in her chest although she should have been prepared for that.
“You already love us,” Jared added. “Just like we love you.”
She shook her head as a sob escaped. “Don’t say that unless you mean it.”
“You don’t seem to have learned much about us,” North commented. “Have you?”
“What do you mean?”
“We don’t say anything we don’t mean,” North explained.
But he still hadn’t said it, had he? Maybe he never would. Did North know what love felt like?
Do you?
It’s not like you had any good role models to teach you.
No, but she’d watched Keira and Zander with each other. The way he took care of her, looked after her, kept her safe. The way she lightened him, the way she stared up at him like he was her entire world and she couldn’t believe she was this lucky.
Yeah.
That’s what she wanted.
“We love you, baby girl. I love you,” Jared told her.
“You . . . you do? You’re sure? You’re not . . .” she trailed off as Jared glared down at her.
“If you ask me if I’m just saying that then as soon as you’re healed I'm going to put you over my knee,” he warned. “On top of your punishment for running off tonight.”
She swallowed heavily. “Right. This is me not saying that.”
“It better not be. I love you. You and North are my whole fucking world and no one is going to come between us, understand? Not the rest of the world. And certainly not you. So the next time you think about running from me, you better think twice. Because I will not take kindly to you leaving me. You are not allowed to leave me. Understand?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Yes, Daddy. I will not leave you.”
