Page 70 of The Rebel

‘I heard. And for the record, I get it. You push people away as a protective mechanism and it’s so ingrained you can’t shake it.’ My fingertips graze his cheek. ‘I’m sorry that you didn’t get the chance to truly open up to your grandfather. And I hate all the horrors you had to endure growing up. But I’m here. I love you. And I won’t leave you.’

He stiffens, his neck muscles protruding. ‘You’re insane to love someone like me.’

I grin like a lunatic. ‘Yeah, I am, crazy in love.’

‘Fuck me,’ he mutters, but his lips curl into a soft smile that wipes years off his face. ‘I guess that’s okay because I think I love you too.’

My heart leaps and my stomach goes into free fall. ‘Not exactly a rousing endorsement but I’ll take it.’

His expression is dazed, like he’s just woken up, and he shakes his head. ‘I never thought you’d take a chance on an emotionally stunted asshole that has done everything in his power to push you away since we first met.’

‘You’re not emotionally stunted,’ I deadpan.

He grins at my quip. ‘You know, during all the time I hung out with foster kids, during all my travels, even during the good times with Pa, I never felt as comfortable as I do with you.’

He blinks but he can’t hide the tenderness that almost undoes me. ‘You’re truly unique, Daisy, because I don’t want to run from you.’

He thumps his chest with one hand. ‘Something weird is happening in here, because for the first time ever, I want to take a risk on someone, because I feel…safe when I’m with you, and that has never, ever happened before.’

I start blubbering again. I can’t help it, as tears leak out of my eyes.

‘So I’ll make a deal with you. I won’t push you away anymore, and I’ll love you as best I can, if you promise to tell me if you’re not happy or if you want out at any time.’

He clasps my chin and eyeballs me. ‘I need to know if you want to leave me.’

‘Deal,’ I murmur, burying my face in his chest and wrapping my arms tight around his waist.

He hugs me back and we sit there, locked in our first purely honest embrace.

The first of many.

Epilogue

Hart

Itake Daisy’s hand as we step onto the beach. It reminds me of the first time I offered her my hand on this very spot seven months ago.

‘Who would’ve thought my emotional recluse would have a romantic streak a mile long?’ She swings our linked hands, her expression pure mischief. ‘I mean, there’s only so many dusk walks along a perfect beach a girl can take.’

‘You love it,’ I say, enjoying our banter now as much as I did when we met.

‘And you love checking out your handiwork.’

She knows me too well. Since the vacation programme for foster kids launched a week ago, we’ve taken a stroll along the beach every night at this time so I can check on the first batch of visitors.

Daisy has accused me of being like an overprotective father but I can’t help it. I want the best for these kids because they deserve a break.

It took months to renovate the old villas, which gave Daisy time to launch our campaign in spectacular fashion. I even let her use several shots of me as the unofficial poster boy for this. The response has been overwhelming and the Gem Island Kids Vacation Club is booked solid for the next eighteen months, with so many foster families and kids craving a slice of paradise and a break from their daily drudgery, even for an all too brief week.

‘Don’t you mean our handiwork?’ I drop a peck on her cheek. ‘I couldn’t have done all this without you.’

‘BS and you know it. You did this.’ She pats my chest over my heart. ‘Straight from here.’

‘We did it,’ I reaffirm, enjoying being part of a team for once in my life.

The terror that I’ll eventually lose her hasn’t left me. I don’t think it ever will because it’s as much a part of me as those damn knife scars.

But I’m getting better. With each passing day that I wake to see her smiling face on the pillow next to me, the fear is abating. I can live with it. I can’t live without her.

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