Page 122 of Heart of a Villain

Their eyes met.

He held his breath.

“I’m getting there,” she said, and he appreciated the honesty. “I really am. I want to be with you so much. I love you so much.”

“You are. You have me.”

“Without the extra shit, you know?”

“I know. I also know something else.” He raised the back of her hand to his lips. “You can do difficult things, Sayeda.”

She made a noise, as if a cry slipped out that she’d been fighting to hold back. It was the only one she let slip, but the tears continued to build in the whites of her eyes.

“I mean that,” he added. “I believe in you. I’ve always believed in you, and I know you believe in yourself as well. Look at how far you’ve come. If you didn’t love yourself, would you try so hard?”

“It sounds,” she sniffed, “so simple coming from your mouth.”

“I don’t mean for it to sound simple. I just want you to know that I will be there with you, and I will bolster you. Fall if you need to. I won’t let you break anything.”

She continued to swipe at her eyes until he took her other hand in his.

“Let those fall as well.”

He kissed her forehead and drew her into a hug, and they both released a sigh at the same time. Then, he eased back and leaned down to place a kiss on her soft mouth.

“Come back to me, please?” she whispered.

“Where did I go?” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I love you, Sayeda.”

“How much do you love me?”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re talking about your gift?”

“Because I am.”

He kissed her again. “Wait right here.”

He left the bed, grabbed the bag from the closet, and set it on top of the covers.

What is this place?” she asked. “I can’t figure it out from the bag.”

“Reach in and find out.”

She removed a white box wrapped in gold ribbon, and he noticed her hand shake. Then, she lifted the lid on the box and gasped and squealed at the same time.

“He’s been waiting for you,” he said. “And, let me tell you, Deiro is very needy. I’m so relieved to be returning him. Every day, he would ask for you. He could wait no longer to be reunited with his one true love, but it’s been some years. He let himself go. So, I dropped him off for a little nip and tuck.”

Deiro was sitting on a bed of orange rose petals, not as pristine as he’d once been—considering they’d gone everywhere together—but in excellent condition on account of his recent “surgical procedure.” With the way he protected that bear, he would have lost a finger or toe first before he lost Deiro.

“You kept him?” she asked, her voice barely audible. “When I realize I’d lost him, I…” She squeezed him to her chest. “You kept him.”

“Two seconds into your reunion, and he’s already touching your breasts.”

Laughing, she extended Deiro again to examine him. “You even got him some little jeans.”

“I was very ashamed. It was not the kind of father I wanted to be, walking around with a pantless son.”

“What kind of father do you want to be?”

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