The quiet admission hits harder than anything else she could’ve said. Harder than the way her body fits perfectly against mine. Harder than the way she looks at me, like she trusts me with the parts of herself no one else gets to see.
Steadiness and consistency are what I’ve always had to offer. They’re also the things my ex once called suffocating, as if my devotion was a heavy weight instead of a gift.
So, I learned to temper and hide those parts of myself. To soften the edges of my instinct to protect, pretending I didn’t need to hold on so tightly, even when it was the only way I knew how to love.
But Kia doesn’t see that as a flaw.
She leans into my natural instincts.
Into me.
After a beat, I drag my fingers lightly up and down her back. “We should probably decide what we’re going to tell people.”
Her head lifts slightly from my chest. “About us getting married?”
I nod. “People are going to ask questions. Your family. The team. The media when this gets out.” My hand skims over her waist. “We don’t have to tell them more than you’re comfortable with, but I think the simplest answer is the truth.”
She studies me in the dim light. “Which is?”
“That we fell hard for each other,” I say quietly. “And getting married just made sense.”
Her lips part, and for a moment she only looks at me.
“That’s what you’d tell them?” she whispers.
“It’s what I’d tell anyone.” I brush a strand of hair from her cheek. “Because it’s the truth.”
Something softens in her expression before she tucks herself back against me.
Her breath is warm against my chest, her body relaxed and trusting, like she’s no longer waiting for the other shoe to drop or bracing for the moment I pull away. It won’t take her long to figure out that’s not the kind of man I am. Once she gives herself over to me, she’s mine to cherish and keep.
My arms tighten around her, not to trap, but to remind myself she’s real.
That this is real.
My gaze drifts to the ceiling, but my mind is nowhere to be found in this room. It’s somewhere in the future. To the one I stopped allowing myself to imagine. The one I never thought I’d get a chance to have.
A life that feels full.
A home that feels steady.
A woman who fits into the empty spaces inside me.
I press my lips to her hair, breathing her in, as a realization settles deep in my bones.
Maybe I’ve been searching for the wrong thing all along.
Maybe I wasn’t meant to find someone who could handle me in pieces.
Maybe I was meant to find the person who makes me whole.
As Kia falls asleep against my heart, I know with an aching certainty that I didn’t just find her.
I found my other half.
33
Kia
