Page 79 of Toxic Vengeance

His gaze intensified. “Yeah? How much do I mean to you?”

“A lot,” she whispered back, suddenly feeling shy and vulnerable. “So much that I think you should go home to visit your dad for a while, and—”

“No way in hell.” He caught her chin between his thumb and fingers, lifted it until she met his gaze. “I love you.”

Her heart clenched, part of her unable to believe he’d just said that, but before she could respond he continued. “I’ve been in love with you for almost a year, and I’ll be damned if I let you go now. So I’m not walking away, from youorthis.”

The sudden sting of tears made her blink and pull in an unsteady breath. “You sure you loveme? The real me?”

His fierce expression softened. “Sweetness, I’m lying here with a bullet hole from trying to protect you, and I’d take a hundred more bullets to keep you that way. What the hell else do I have to do to prove it to you?”

She gave him a watery smile. “I don’t know. Maybe I need to be knocked over the head with it.”

He gently bopped her on the top of her head with the bottom of his fist. “There. Now you believe me?”

Teetering on the verge of dissolving into tears, Eden wound her arms around his back, careful of his wound as she melted against him. “I’m sorry. And I’m sorry for being suspicious of you, for ever thinking you might sell me and the others out.”

He gave a dramatic sigh and hugged her to him. “This whole trust issue thing got old a long time ago.”

She nodded, not trusting her voice.

He nuzzled the side of her face, then went dead still, his body tensing. “Are you crying?”

“No.”

“Pretty sure you’re crying.”

“Am not.”

He eased her head back to look into her face, wiped the tears from her cheeks. “No more hiding from me. No more lies, even little ones.”

That was fair. It wasn’t going to be an overnight change, though. “Okay.”

“Thank you.” He kissed the bridge of her nose.

He hadn’t pressed her to say the words back to him, but she could feel him waiting for them. Though it wasn’t bright enough in the room for him to see it, she flushed, squirming under his scrutiny and the acute vulnerability. She couldn’t say it back to him. Wouldn’t let herself. Not yet. Not until this was all over and she no longer posed a threat to him.

He grinned. “I can’t really tell, but are youblushingright now?”

She laughed softly and kissed him, glad for the reprieve. “You’re such an idiot.”

“I know,” he murmured against her lips. “But I’myouridiot.”

Her heart felt swollen to twice its normal size, like it might split her ribcage open. As incredible as it seemed, Zack loved her. He’d almost died today because of her, yet they finally had a chance at a future together.

If she wanted it, she was going to have to put her most secret fears aside and take it.

“True,” she agreed. “But if you were smart, you’d still walk away.”

“If I was smart, I’d have locked you down months ago and never let you out of my sight.”

Eden smiled in the dimness, wanting to pinch herself. “I wasn’t ready.”But maybe now I might be.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“You werewhat?”

Zack winced at his father’s shout and pulled the phone away from his ear. “Dad, easy with the volume there. I’m fine, really.”

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