Page 105 of Unbreakable Love

“She never said she hated us.” She sobbed against my chest as I kept apologizing.

I moved us, stretched out in her bed, and pulled her against me.

Screw work.

Screw the date if we needed to.

I’d lie in this bed all day and night long with her if I had to.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” she said.

I knew I shouldn’t have. Knew she’d want to keep hoping, but there were times to stay hopeful and times to have the blinders pulled from your eyes to see the truth.

“I’m sorry that hurt,” I told her. “But I can’t stand back and watch anyone hurt you.”

“I don’t mean that,” she finally said. She sniffed and pushed up to her elbows on my chest. They dug in, but I didn’t move. Didn’t flinch from the quick bite of pain. “That’s too much money.”

“It’s fine. I have it and I would have given her double if she needed it.”

Penny glanced at her phone, then back at me.

Her eyes went blank. “She didn’t argue or negotiate. She didn’t say anything at all, just took it.”

“I know.” I slipped my hand into her hair, pushing it off her cheeks. It stuck to her tears, and I wiped those away, too.

She glanced at her phone again. “She doesn’t love us. She never did.” Realization swept over her as she closed her eyes and sighed. “I can’t believe I never saw it, even when Maize did.”

“You’re a woman who loves deeply and sees the best in people. That’s not on you, it’s on her for not taking care of it, but I swear to you, I will always protect that softness inside of you.”

She chuckled, an empty husk of a sound. “I feel like I should be mad at you for that, for calling her like that, but maybe I’m also a bit grateful? Like I never would have seen the truth otherwise.”

Thank goodness she saw it that way.

Screw tonight and waiting for perfect moments. There was a time to wait, and like my dad said, a time to live.

“I love you, Penny. Think I’ve been falling in love with you from the moment I first saw you. And I promise again, I will always protect you, always take care of you, even from people you love.”

Her eyes widened, gorgeous blues glimmered and blinked away the tears. “What?”

“You heard me.” I grinned. “I love you. Never thought I’d give that to another woman, but you’re irresistible and I can’t help it.”

“Can’t help it, huh?” she teased and reached out, running her finger across my jaw, over the seam of my lips. I snapped at her and she jerked back her finger, laughing.

“You know I love you too, right? With my whole heart.”

I settled my hand at her chest, exposed above the loosening towel. “Then I’m the luckiest man in the world to have earned the love of a woman with a heart this large.”

She sniffed and her chin quivered.

I leaned up and kissed her before the tears started falling.

TWENTY-EIGHT

PENNY

He loved me.

My head was swimming with whiplash from the last thirty minutes. How was it possible Maize had seen for years what I had missed, and how was it possible I had this man right there in front of me, not only seeing it but taking action? My eyes stung from the pain of my tears and my chest ached, but as Gavin kissed me, gently tugged at the knot at the front of my towel and pressed his hand to my skin, nothing else mattered.

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