Page 99 of Lace 'em Up

“That’s not it,” I grind out. “We’re not—” I break off because that’s the panic talking.

“Alike?” she asks.

Rory’s nothing like me.

“You’re good, and I’m…not.”

Christ. I inhale, mouth opening. Wanting to take it all back. To not ruin this.

But then Rory’s expression closes down.

And she pulls her hand from mine.

Twenty-Eight

Rory

Has this man lost his fucking mind?

I push off his chest, turn for the edge of the bed, fury on his behalf burning in my stomach.

He saved me.

Literally.

And he thinks…

Unable to keep my eyes away from him, my gaze is drawn back over my shoulder.

And I freeze.

Because the look in his eyes…well it’s not one I thought I would ever see on the cocky hockey player’s face.

I turn and crawl back into his arms, disturbing Zeus, who gives me a small disapproving “woof!”

Mentally promising him all of the belly rubs later, I clamber onto King’s lap, cup his face in my hands, and hold his head steady. “You are a wonderful man,” I whisper, hating the disbelief that blooms in his eyes at the words. “You are,” I say again, brushing my lips over his.

Not deeply.

Not with the intense spark that ends with us both being naked.

But long enough to watch the pain of the past disappear.

He covers my hands with my own, peels them from his face and presses a kiss to each palm. My heart squeezes hard. “Thank you,” he murmurs.

“King,” I begin, knowing that the past is riding him, that there’s some part of him that doesn’t believe me.

A few words in one conversation aren’t going to make that better.

So, I bite back the urge to keep digging, to convince him of the conviction in my heart, to convince him of what I’ve seen through his actions.

Kingston Bang is a good person.

I can have that printed on a billboard and I still don’t think it will sink in.

So…I’ll just have to convince him of that fact.

He deserves more.

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