Page 66 of Rebel Hawke

Her words should ring true.

But something about them doesn’t.

A nagging feeling in my gut that I’ve had for years that finally seems to make sense now.

I give her a sad smile. “Getting shot fucking sucked. At the time, I absolutely thought it was the worst day of my life. All the pain, the fear of almost losing Benjamin and the girls, of what might have happened if I hadn’t taken that bullet. Then Astrid getting shot in the car and almost dying next to me in that warehouse while we waited for Roselli to let us bleed out. All of it was…it was horrible, Wren. But…when I really think about it, it wasn’t the worst day of my life.”

Her brows rise. “Then what was?”

Looking into her warm bourbon eyes, the truth seems so crystal clear.

I brush my thumb across her lips. “The day you left.”

Her gaze softens, and tears return, shimmering across the surface. “Atlas…”

“I’m serious, Wren.” I brush away the tears from her cheeks. “Things were never the same for me after you left. I thought about you all the time, kept that photo from the ‘wedding’ because part of me always thought of it as real. And now that you’re back, I know why I never felt anything for any other woman I’ve been with. Even the ones I wanted to. Because I was always waiting for you.”

Wren opens and closes her mouth several times, like she can’t figure out what to say or how to respond to my words.

I take her face between both palms and tilt her lips to mine for a feather-light kiss.

“I’m going to do this because it’s you, Little Bird. Because you’re telling me I should. Because I don’t trust anyone else, and I never did. All those other therapists and doctors, they all wanted me to give up, told me it was pointless. It made me not even want to try. But you’ve given me hope that I might actually get somewhere, that maybe my career isn’t over. If anyone can help me, it’s you. Because I’ve survived the worst day of my life in losing you, and now I have you back and will do anything you tell me so I don’t lose you again.”

More tears streak down her pale cheeks, and I wipe them away as she leans in and presses her lips to mine.

“For a big, badass fighter, you sure can say the sweetest things.”

I grin against her mouth, then wrap my arms around her waist and tug her even tighter against me, so she can feel my cock hardening between us. “Well, that may be, but if you keep up this no-sex rule, I’m not going to stay sweet for very long.”

She laughs and drags her fingers along my scalp, making me groan again and my cock twitch where it’s pressed against her warm heat. “No distractions, Atlas. Concentrate on getting well. I have your treatment plan all figured out. We stick to it.”

Which means the no-sex rule stands.

As much as I’d love to argue with her about it and try to convince her to relinquish her grip on that idea, it would be a waste of energy that I can’t expend right now.

Not when the last couple days of workouts with Jenkins and coming home with Wren to have her work me even harder have already proven my stamina isn’t what I thought it was.

“What about your grandfather?”

Her brow furrows. “What about him?”

“Isn’t he going to notice something’s going on?”

Wren grins, running her fingers through my hair. “I think he already figured that out when I moved in here with you.”

I smirk at her. “That’s not what I mean. I mean, what if the exercises and treatments you have me doing make it impossible for me to keep up with the training?”

Sympathy fills her gaze. “I know how important camp is, and I know that Vince Gordon is an incredibly difficult opponent. So, you need every minute you have to prepare for him, but if you need to take a few days off, I know Gramps will understand because I think…”

“You think what?”

She bites her bottom lip, considering her answer for a moment. “I think he might’ve brought me back here intentionally.”

“What do you mean?”

A little sigh falls from her mouth. “I don’t know. I just got this feeling that maybe he overstated how much he needs me here because he wanted me to come back and work with you.”

I chuckle. “That would be a very Jenkins thing to do, wouldn’t it?”

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