Page 10 of Capturing Hearts

Chapter Nine

Brendan

Me: stunned. Annie: shaking. Tommy: in handcuffs, moaning as he’s carted off.

We give an abbreviated statement and agree to come down for an in-depth one in the morning. I hold Annie, my arm protectively around her little super-hero body as she and I watch them leave. She leans her head on me, her arms wrapped around her chest, her shaking body falling quiet as I stroke her arm. As soon as we’re alone, we face each other. I’m staring into her eyes, stroking her cheek. “You are amazing, Annie. You knocked him off you.”

She smiles under tired eyes. “It was nothin’.”

I chuckle. “Uh-huh. Nothin’ short of incredible.”

“Then we make a good team,” she offers, her eyebrows twisting up in a cute way.

I smile, but it fades away quickly. “Look.”

“Yes?”

“I know Christiano’s a good guy, and he said he loves you,” Her eyes round slightly, and she opens her mouth to speak, but I barrel through, “but I don’t think he’s the one for you. I think I am. I think I’m the one for you.”

She gives a few confused blinks as her pretty face melts into a smile. “I think you are, too. You really think that, Brendan?”

With my heart on the outside of my chest, I nod. “I do. And if you need time to find out, that’s fine. But you have to leave him. It’s got to be just us.” I take her face in my hands and my voice deepens. “I love you. I haven’t been able to sleep, to laugh, to do anything worth anything. Without you, I don’t want to live. I need you. I’m sorry for reacting the way I did. And when I saw you tonight, before we found out about Tommy, I knew there was no way I was going to let you go. I knew it! You have to leave him.”

She’s smiling up at me. “That’s a pretty easy thing to say yes to, because he’s back in Italy. I told him I love you and couldn’t be with him.”

“What?! He didn’t stay?”

She shakes her head. “No. How did you know he was here?”

“Wait, let me get this right. When did he leave San Francisco?”

“He only stayed one night.”

“He hasn’t been here with you these past weeks?”

She looks at me like she wishes I’d known that, that I hadn’t been tortured, and shakes her head again. “No. And you should know, we didn’t... do anything.”

A tidal wave of relief hits me. I laugh! Grabbing her, I kiss her hard. She responds to my kiss, sliding her hands up the back of my neck to pull me closer as she stands on her tiptoes.

She tastes exactly like happiness.

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