Page 63 of Her Wicked Hero

“I was stupid. I should have been able to see through him.”

“What do you mean?”

“He always said what I wanted to hear. He pretended like I mattered. He listened to what I had to say like it was important. I should have been able to see he was too good to be true.” Marcia looked around, then set down her glass of wine on the night stand and started to grab the sheet. Zed took her hand in his.

“Honey, how were you supposed to be able to see he was bullshitting you?”

“Because nobody’s really like that.”

He watched her carefully as she pulled up the sheet with her other hand.

“How long were you and Rick together?”

“A little over two years. I thought. I thought…”

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “What did you think, Marcia?”

“I thought we were going to get married.” It took everything she had to hold back a sob. Why was she being so emotional about something that was done and dust? Somehow, the tray was on the floor and her head was resting on Zed’s shoulder, the sheet over both of them. He was stroking his fingers over her shoulder. Her breathing was getting back to normal. At least she hadn’t done a full-on cry. What an idiot.

“Be nice to my woman,” he whispered into her hair.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re too hard on yourself. Everybody else in your life, you will bend over backwards for and do everything in the world to make sure they get a soft spot to land, but you are amazingly hard on yourself.”

“Don’t be nice to me,” she mumbled into his chest.

He tilted her chin up to meet her eyes. “Marcia, let’s get one thing straight, I’m not Rick. I’m not pretending to be nice to you.”

“You’re nothing at all like him, I know that. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“I’m scared. I want you too much. I need you too much. You’re already a thousand times more important than Rick ever was to me, and if he couldn’t really love me, how can you?”

He pulled her even closer. “You’re kidding, right?” he rumbled.

Marcia’s skin was chilled, so Zed stroked her bare arms with his hands, trying to warm her. Her sherry brown eyes looked up at him expectantly. What should he tell her? The truth? Should he tell her when he first saw her photo, he knew they were destined to have a future together? What would she think of him if she knew he had those kinds of premonitions? He decided to go with something that was true, just not the full truth.

“Marcia, from the first moment I saw you, I knew you were going to be someone special in my life.” She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her. “Without my instincts I wouldn’t be alive today, they have pulled me through ten years of special operations, and those instincts were very much spot on when they told me what a remarkable woman you are.”

He watched her consider his words. He could see her entire process, it was one of the things he loved about her, she truly didn’t have a poker face. First, there was the fury he would lie to her, then the hurt, then he saw her wheels turn even further.

“Zed, you’re not the type of man to lie, but you’re wrong,” she said slowly.

“What am I wrong about?”

“I’m not remarkable.”

He cupped the back of her head and brought her forehead to rest against his.

“So, says the woman who adopts a young mother and a baby in the jungle, fights a python, and babysits the nations NSA Director. Sure, there’s nothing remarkable about you.”

Zed saw her eyes widen. “Well when you put it like that,” she drawled. “Maybe you should like me a little bit.”

“Let’s not forget the part where you are dynamite in bed,” he reminded her.

He had never in his life seen someone blush from the tips of their hairline down to the tops of their breasts before. Lord have mercy.