Page 119 of Unexpected Heroine

His face scrunches up. “I had a minor altercation with a closet door. And a wall.” He looks up and to the side for a second. “And two other walls. Basically, an entire room.”

My shocked gasp turns into a guffaw at his monotone delivery. “You did this hitting a wall?” I inspect his hand, drawing the knuckles to my lips for a feather of a kiss. “What did that room do to you?”

As his expression turns stoic, my stomach flip-flops.

Wait, wait, wait.

Perhaps it wasn’t what the room did to him but what went on inside it.

Before he answers, the dots connect in my mind. “It was at the nightmare house, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” he admits, his voice like gravel.

“After you saw Savin and Tasha, you went to beat up the house? Running amuck and pickin’ fights with inanimate objects, huh?” I tsk at him, hoping to keep the tone light.

“I burned it down, Lettie.”

A tiny puff of air gets stuck in my throat with my trembling gasp.

“You did what now?”

The cords of his neck muscles bulge, and he forces down a swallow. “It’s destroyed. Burned to the ground, sugar.”

“Why?” I whisper, positively gobsmacked.

He shifts his eyes upward, raking across the ceiling. “Not entirely sure I have the words to explain it.” He shakes his head, pinching his eyes closed. “I couldn’t stand the idea of that place existing any longer. This probably won’t make sense, but it almost felt like...” Pausing, he opens his eyes. “If that house was no longer standing, then?—”

Recognition dawns, shining at me in a blinding light. I interrupt him, finishing his sentence. “Then all the things that happened there could be forgotten.”

Continuing with his thought, he adds, “And if not forgotten, then at least set free. It was as if I was burning away the pain. In here.” He gingerly pats the spot over my heart.

I do the same on his chest. “And in here.”

He nods, turquoise eyes shimmering and holding me captive with their beauty.

I’ve never felt so seen in my entire life.

It’s as if he was there in that house, suffering alongside me. Sleeping on the cold, hard floor. Curled up in the corner, hiding from the monsters. Hungry, tired, bone-weary. Feeling worthless. Never knowing what torment awaits you or when the nightmare would end.

“Come here, babe.” I wrap my hands around his nape and tug his face to mine.

When I rise on my toes, he lowers his mouth to capture my lips. Our kiss starts out tender and soft but swells and blooms in much the same way my love for him has since the day I met him. Until it overwhelms my entire sense of being.

Not sure if I instigate it or he does, but in the blink of an eye, he’s holding me up with my back against the tile wall. My legs wrap around his slippery waist, locking me in place.

“Take me to bed,” I murmur across his lips, then drive my tongue back in for more.

I hear the water cut off and the shower door open. My eyes stay closed, and our lips sealed.

Then he’s carrying me out of the bathroom.

An errant thought passes my mind—I’m sure you’re as shocked as I am—I hope he doesn’t drop my slippery ass on the floor. Fortunately, he’s the one walking so our odds of injury are far less than when I’m on my own two feet.

We make it to the bed, and he lowers me onto my back. A towel flops onto the mattress beside me, which I assume he grabbed off the hook when we passed by.

Breaking the kiss, he attempts to pull away from me, but I lock my legs around him.

“You’re not going anywhere, mister,” I tease, tightening my grip on his shoulders too.

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