Page 76 of Protective Heroes

She raised her eyes to mine. “I have to be honest, I’m not a big believer in the idea of soulmates. Not anymore.”

Guilt gripped my insides.

She tucked a few wayward strands of her honey blonde hair behind her ear and it was all I could do not to reach out and touch her.

“What I feel for you hasn’t dimmed. I'll wait as long as you need to wrap your mind around us being fated, sweetheart. We were meant to be. Before Long I’m pretty fucking sure I would have ended up in New York looking for you. You’re mine. You always have been.”

Her eyes grew even wider. “How can you say that, Trevor?”

I couldn’t resist her for another second. I used the back of my fingers to caress her soft cheek. “I can say it because it’s true. The second I laid eyes on you, I knew you were meant to be mine. And then I left. That’s not who I am anymore. The years in the Navy taught me what my father failed to teach me. You needed me at your side, not off trying to prove whatever it was my foolish ass thought I needed to prove.”

That was the best I could come up with to explain my actions and how I feel now. I’d known the moment I laid eyes on her years ago that she was the one person in the world created just for me. She was mine. Now all I had to do was convince her and tread carefully so I didn’t scare her away in the meantime.

“How do I know you don’t feed that line to every female tourist that finds her way to Hartwood?”

I could see wariness fighting with hope behind her eyes. I hated that she felt she had anything to worry about, but I couldn’t hold back the laugh that escaped me. “Sweetheart, you couldn’t be farther from the truth. If you ask anyone on Hartwood that same question about me, they’d laugh themselves silly. All I talk about is you.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re lying.”

I cranked a brow and barked out another laugh. “Ask Mrs. Morgan.”

Her teeth returned to worrying her bottom lip as she weighed my words and I couldn’t help myself. With my finger, I eased her lip out from the hold of her teeth. Then I leaned forward and pressed a hard, hungry kiss to her lips.

I pulled back and continued trying to reassure her. “Most of my time is either spent taking newly retirees out on fishing trips or building my home.” Our home is what I want to say but I don’t want to scare her off.

“You spend a lot of time alone, don’t you?” she said, obviously not realizing exactly how much of her feelings for me she was sharing. “I do too and I’m tired of how that feels if I am being honest.”

“So am I.”

I was now a man on a mission. I had four days to convince her that she and I were fated to be together. Her soul and my soul.

Seven

Kami

Sleep didn’t come as easily that night as it had the night before. I tossed and turned, fitful and restless. And it was all Trevor’s fault.

After I shared that our meadow was the perfect place for the wedding I had in mind, he’d brought me back to town. My stomach plunged with disappointment when I thought he was taking me back to the lodge. And then relief and confusion twisted through me when I realized I was wrong.

He wasn’t dropping me off. Instead, he brought me to several local businesses—a florist, a bakery, and oddly, the local animal shelter. I’d been charmed by Roxxi the woman who ran the shelter and who also happened to be Trevor’s sister and a musician who he thought could help me plan the music for the wedding.

I tossed around under the pretty, soft quilt again. The movement didn’t make me any more comfortable, though. If anything, it brought more attention to how much my body ached.

It had started the minute Trevor left me at the door to my room after sharing another of those mind-blowing kisses. My skin got hotter. My nipples stood up like they were waiting for someone’s immediate attention. Dampness grew between my thighs.

I’d tried to ignore it, going through my normal getting ready for bed routine. But once under the covers, only my thoughts to keep me occupied, thoughts of Trevor’s mouth, his hands pulling me in close to his body, the way his eyes seemed to take in every little detail about me, kept me from sleep.

I’d just started to slide my hands down over my body and dip under the waistband of my panties to try to find some relief when my phone dinged. I paused and weighed whether to continue on my current course of action or distract myself with what was sure to be Asha’s demand for more details.

Asha won. I had a feeling that anything I did in bed alone was going to fall far short of what my body really craved anyway. I snatched my phone from the nightstand and quickly swiped to see my messages.

Only it wasn’t Asha texting me. It was Trevor.

Are you sleeping, baby?

I chewed my lip and for one crazy instant considered telling him the truth—namely, that he’d gotten under my skin so badly that he’d caught me right before I started doing the only thing I could think of to relieve the tension.

But at the last second, I chickened out. No. I’m having trouble falling asleep. How about you?

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