Page 259 of Tell Me Something True

He hadn’t let her go.

Sliding his hands up to cup her head, he skimmed his gaze over her face. Searched her eyes. “I was going to fight for you. I will fight for you. For us. Every day of my life if that’s what it takes. I know you can get up on your own,” he continued, reminding her of what he’d said to her last night when he’d said she was strong and resilient and brave. That she didn’t need him. “But you don’t have to. Whatever happens with Reed and your mother and anything else that comes your way, I’ll be here. By your side. You’re not alone. You never have to face anything alone again.”

This, this was her real dream, the one it had taken leaving him ten years ago to fully understand. Not the whole knight in shining armor swooping in to save the day bit.

But a man who stood by her side while they saved it together.

She didn’t need to be rescued from her past. Didn’t need someone to fix her.

She’d needed to learn how to love herself.

And she was so glad she did. Because now, she could finally let Miles love her, too.

“Whatever comes our way,” she corrected, then gave him a promise of her own. “I’ll be there, in whatever way you need me, when you tell the rest of your family the truth. When your anxiety gets the worst of you. When you need help getting back up. You are not alone. Not ever again.”

He pressed his mouth to hers, his kiss as soft, just as sweet, as hers had been.

He pulled back but kept them close enough that each of his exhales became her next inbreath. His lips moved against hers as he spoke. “You asked me not to tell you I love you and I get why you did. I respect your reasons for wanting me to keep those words to myself and I’m going to do my damnedest to honor your request.”

He lifted his head, his hand going under her chin, his thumb brushing her lower lip. “But I need you to know, here and now, that I am yours. I was yours ten years ago. I was yours when I thought I was over you. I was yours when I didn’t want to be. I.” He kissed her. “Am.” Another kiss. “Yours.”

A third kiss and then he lifted her hand from around his neck, pressed a fourth kiss to her palm and laid that palm flat against his chest. Directly over his heart. “This is yours. And it always will be.”

The tears she’d thought she was long over, rushed back as she stared into Miles’s eyes. This man. This gruff, brave, wonderful man was giving her his heart. Was trusting her with it.

Again.

It was the most precious gift she’d ever received.

This time, she wouldn’t doubt he wanted her to have it. Wouldn’t fear the responsibility of accepting it.

She’d cherish it.

“Mine,” she whispered, then kissed him again, awed and amazed that she was loved by him.

So unbelievably grateful that it had happened a second time.

Epilogue

VALENTINE'S DAY

Miles added a ladle of warm seafood stock to the pot of risotto simmering on the stove, then stirred it.

He’d had to promise to wash Toby’s Jeep once a week for the entire summer to get his brother’s recipe for Shrimp Etouffee Risotto, but if it turned out half as good as the one Toby made at Binge, it would be worth it.

Shrimp Etouffee Risotto was Tabitha’s favorite dish on the menu.

Making her happy was his favorite thing in the world.

A win all around.

These past six months with her had been the best six months of his life.

But they hadn’t been the easiest.

Whoever said love should be easy—and that it meant never having to say you’re sorry—was full of shit.

It’d been a sentiment Miles had firmly believed when he and Tabitha had been together before. One based on nothing more than the fact that the only successful relationship he’d seen had been that of his parents. And he’d been too young, too naïve, and biased to understand that they hadn’t let their kids see the messy parts of their marriage.

---