Page 55 of Veiled Yearning

After a quick glance, she gives a little nod. “Yes. Thank you. I’m sorry. I just… sometimes…”

“Stop.” I can’t listen to her apologize for things that aren’t her fault. Like being held captive. Traumatized. Being just one person, who can’t fix everything, no matter how strong she is. “You are perfect.”

“I’m not—”

“You are.” She’s crying now, and I would do anything—anything—to take her pain away.

I have never in my life felt so protective of someone. Of Chiara.

She’s sagged against me, hiding her face in my shoulder, and I lift her into my arms; one arm under her knees and the other behind her back. I carry her over to the bed and sit down, keeping her cradled against me. “Gorgeous, you are. To me, you’re beyond perfect.”

Peeling her face from my neck, she looks up at me. Cheeks tear-streaked and flushed, her eyes slightly pink, and her lips stained with blood—she’s still breathtakingly beautiful. And I know I want her to be mine.

“Gav…”

“I know I’m probably not what you dreamed of.”

“What?”

I brush my mouth over hers before continuing. “I’m not sensitive. Or funny. I see things that give me nightmares. Things I have to do something about. I’ll never be able to turn my back on that.”

Chiara touches my cheek. “I know that.”

“I’m too rough. I’m not handsome. I’m too big. Too threatening.”

Her brows come down in a V. “Gav.”

Heart pounding, I stop to kiss her forehead, her cheeks, her lips. “I know all those things don’t make me the best man for you.” And I lay myself bare for the first time in my life. “But I want to be with you, just the same. I know it’s still early, and things are new. I don’t expect anything from you, not now.”

“Gavril.”

“I just want you to know. That I might not be the best man, but I will do anything for you. I’m falling in love with you. You don’t have to say the same, it’s okay if you don’t feel—”

“Gavril.” Her fingers cover my lips. “I’m not perfect. I never will be. But with you, I feel… like it’s okay to not be perfect. And I don’t want you to say those things about yourself anymore. Because to me? You are perfect. You fit me. I’ve never felt happier than I have been with you.”

Is this what my friends felt? When they were falling in love?

I never understood.

Now I do.

Chiara kisses me, then pulls back and holds my gaze. Some of her fire is back, along with an intensity of emotion I’ve never seen before. “I’m falling in love with you, too. And you are the best man. You’re the best man for me.”

Heart overflowing, I capture her mouth with mine, not tender this time, but a claiming.

Maybe I’m not falling. Maybe I already fell.

After all these years.

I’ll do anything to keep Chiara safe. Anything.

18

A Connection

CHIARA

I’ve never felt this before.

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