Page 51 of Billionaire Unforgettable: Tanner

“My insecurities and low self-esteem were always there, but the depression hit me like a freight train when my whole life fell apart. Being depressed about our breakup would be normal, but this was different. I was clinically depressed. I think it was a warning that I needed to fix the mental health issues that I’d hidden for so long. At some point, even if we’d stayed together, I would have melted down in the future. You can only bury those issues for so long before you have some kind of meltdown.”

“Do you have any idea how much I hate the fact that you went through that alone?” he asked hoarsely.

I shook my head as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Don’t. This was something I needed to face myself. Mom raised me right, and she did everything she could to support me. I just never felt good about myself. I told you that I was overweight in high school, and that I had terrible eczema. You’ve seen the scars from that period in my life. I’d just get over one flare, and my anxiety about the way I looked would bring on another almost right away.”

Those eczema flares had finally stopped by the time I got into my senior year, but the small scars on my face were still visible. When I’d gone to Seattle, I’d sought treatment froma dermatologist to minimize the scarring as much as possible. After that, I’d learned to accept and love myself the way that I was and always would be.

I’d dropped the extra pounds and started experimenting with the magic of makeup during my senior year in high school. I’d learned that there were things I could do to my crazy hair to make it look better, and that I could conceal my old scars.

I’d been excited that I could improve the way I looked on the outside, which had prompted me to want to help others do the same by becoming a cosmetologist.

Unfortunately, I’d never worked on the emotional issues I’d experienced during those awful years in my early life.

“Those scars were always barely visible. I never saw them,” Tanner said in a raspy voice. “The scars weren’t noticeable to a guy who has a very large and very visible scar on his own face. You’re beautiful Hannah, inside and out.”

God, that was one thing that had always made me love Tanner even more.

He’d never seen a single one of my flaws because he’d loved me.

I smiled because he was hell-bent on defending me. “That doesn’t matter when you’re a teenager and you’re struggling to fit in with everyone else. I wasn’t old enough to realize my strong points. I just knew that I wasn’t like the popular kids, and I struggled to be likeable since I wasn’t very attractive. Maybe I wasn’t bullied outright, but my hearing was fine, and I could hear the whispered comments and laughter about my appearance. Nobody really wanted to be my friend, and I wanted friends so badly in high school.”

“That was their loss,” Tanner rumbled as he stroked a soothing hand over my hair.

“I know that now. But I was still pretty damaged from those earlier challenges, and I never dealt with that. All of my issuesspilt over into my adulthood. Those ingrained insecurities, anxiety, and low self-esteem became part of my psyche. But that’s in my past now, Tanner. I painfully moved through those issues in Seattle so that I could come out stronger on the other side.”

“Do you feel strong, Hannah?” he asked as he put his fingers under my chin and urged me to look at him.

The moment our eyes met, the warmth of his gaze nearly made me melt.

“Most of the time,” I whispered, a shiver of awareness creeping slowly up my spine. “My occasional insecurities are normal now, and not some drama from my past.”

I’d never felt closer to Tanner than I did at that moment.

Maybe because I’d never allowed myself to be completely honest about my issues with him before.

I’d hid them behind the façade of a woman that I thought he could love.

Now, I was just…me.

I could tell from the look in his eyes that he cared about what had happened to me, and that he didn’t think I was crazy because of what I’d gone through.

In fact, there was admiration and understanding in his heated gaze, and something else I couldn’t quite decipher.

“Tanner?” I said breathlessly.

Before I could blink, he lowered his mouth to mine.

I’d probably kissed Tanner thousands of times, but there was something about this embrace that was completely different from any other.

I closed my eyes, and let myself fall into the most magical, all-consuming kiss that I’d ever experienced.

Tanner

Ifucking knew that I shouldn’t kiss Hannah, but after her fearless disclosures, there was nothing that could have stopped me from claiming what I thought was mine.

The moment I claimed those gorgeous lips, I knew I was fucked.

I just didn’t care.

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