Page 122 of If We Never Met

"I don't want you to sacrifice anything for me."

"I don't want you to sacrifice anything for me," she returned.

"Where does that leave us?"

She gave a helpless shrug. "I'm not sure. There's so much to think about. I need to talk to my mom and see the house and catch my breath. I need time, Dante."

"I understand. A lot has happened in the last twenty-four hours."

"It has. And I think you were right. Being in love is the easy part."

He hated the note of despair in her voice. "But neither of us has ever picked the easy way, have we? We're fighters. We like challenges—the bigger, the better."

She gave him a faint smile. "These challenges are a little bigger than I like."

"The bigger the obstacle, the sweeter the victory."

"You don't accept less than what you want, do you?"

"Not without a fight." He paused. "I know you're emotionally spent, Keira. I don't need anything from you right now. Just let me be there for you. Let me support you."

"That sounds really nice. I just need a minute, Dante, to get myself together. Although, we may not have that many minutes before you leave—"

He cut her off with a shake of his head. "We're not going to worry about anything that isn't happening within the next few hours. I'm going to grab a quick shower and then we'll go see your house and meet up with your mom. That's all we need to think about at the moment."

As he got up, she said, "Dante?"

He looked back at her, seeing the spark of light in her eyes. "What?"

"I just want you to know that I can fight, too. And I want to fight."

Relief flooded through him. "Then we'll see where we end up. With the two of us fighting together, I don't see how we can lose."

Keira thought she was ready to fight, but when Dante pulled up in front of the smoking remains of the burned structure that had once been her home, she felt overwhelmed by the battles ahead of her. Her relationship, her home, her life—there was a lot to consider. But for this first step, she was very glad she was not doing this alone.

She got out of the car and stood on the sidewalk, her insides churning. She felt sick at the sight of the destruction, and a wave of anger ran through her. Dante put his arm around her shoulders.

"Breathe," he said quietly.

She forced herself to do just that, because it was the only thing that kept her from screaming in pain and sorrow. And she was afraid that after the screams would come the tears, and she needed to put off that cry because her mom and Mark were walking across the grass from the house next door. She had to be strong for her mother. And focusing on that was what kept her upright. That and the fact that Dante's solid presence gave her added strength.

She felt mixed emotions as she looked at Mark. It wasn't his fault, but she still wished he'd come clean about Mandy earlier. Maybe they could have stopped things from getting this far. But they couldn't go back in time and blaming Mark wouldn't make things better. In fact, it would just make things more difficult for her mom.

"Keira," her mom said, her gaze running down her body and coming to rest on the boot on her foot. "How bad is it?"

"I told you last night it's a minor fracture."

"You always downplay your injuries. Dante? Is she telling me the truth?"

"She's not lying, but I think the pain is a little worse than she'll admit."

She frowned at him. "Whose side are you on?"

He smiled. "Yours. Always yours."

She turned back to her mother. "I'll be okay, Mom. What's going on around here?"

"I spoke to the fire marshal. His crew left about an hour ago," her mom replied. "He said we can go inside, but he warned me that it's not good and we won't be able to go up the stairs."

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