Page 72 of Protective Heroes

“You okay?” Trevor asked.

I glanced at him and then found it impossible to look away. At that moment, I felt like I could spend the rest of my life just looking at him.

“I’m fine.” And if my voice cracked a little bit and contradicted my words, well, there wasn’t much I could do about it.

He took his eyes off the road for a few seconds to give me one of his penetrating looks. He returned his attention to the road, but at the same time reached over and took my hand, enveloping it in his much larger one. “You sure, baby?”

Energy crackled over my skin with my awareness of him. Every inch of me felt alive in a way I’d never experienced before. And I craved more.

“Yeah. I’m sure,” I said. That time my voice might have been quiet, but it sounded certain as I laced our fingers together.

“I missed you, Trevor.”

His fingers tightened around mine and I could feel the thousands of unspoken emotions between.

“I missed you, Kami. Fuck, baby. I missed you the second I left town.”

“Then why did you? Leave I mean.”

There’s a long pause. “I needed to be better than my old man. He put my mother through hell barely scraping by. You deserved better. I wrote you a letter every week. Did you get them?”

I nodded. “I did up until I left Hartwood. And then I told my aunt to trash them.”

I could sense the pain my words caused permeate the cabin of his truck.

“I don’t blame you. I was a fool for leaving but you were not. You deserve to be happy.”

But I’m not, I realized. New York City felt big and the persona I put on to make myself seem happy was a farce. This place, the mountain air, the trees and water are where my heart calls home.

“I still love you, you know.” I’m scared to admit the truth but the second it entered my mind I put it out there. I’m nearing twenty-eight years old and I want to finally know what it is like to wake up next to someone I love.

“I never stopped loving you. The thought of coming home to you kept me alive nights I thought I might meet my end.”

Shadows of pain passed over his expression.

I blinked and they were gone.

He flashed me a grin that made my heart pick up speed and he squeezed my hand. I thought he might let go, but instead he picked up our joined hands and rested them on his hard, muscular thigh.

I might have forgotten how to breathe for a few seconds there.

“Hartwood has changed a little since you were here. The place I want to show you first is right up here.”

I blinked and made a concerted effort to act normally. No easy feat when every new look he gave me, every word he spoke in that incredible voice, sent my senses scattering.

I squeezed his hand. “I can’t wait to see it,” I said and moved a little closer.

The spot Trevor took me to was beautiful. Better than any of the places I'd seen yesterday on my own. But still not quite right.

I hesitated a little in telling him, but it was like he knew exactly how I felt without my having to say a word.

"This one isn't it," he said. He stood beside me as we looked out over a clearing in a field surrounded by towering pines.

"What makes you say that?"

He grinned down at me and raised a finger to trace the spot between my eyebrows.

"You scrunched your eyebrows together while you were looking around. And I know you. There’s no spark in your eyes."

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