Page 208 of At the Edge of Surrender

A dull, blunt blade that sheared through me with gutting pain.

My knees going weak as I thought of my sweet sister. Guilt roiling in my spirit because I still didn’t know if what I was doing was wrong.

The only thing that was becoming clear was there was no letting go of him.

My foundation had been rocked. All the things I’d thought I’d known and wanted completely demolished in his touch.

My hand was shaking as I ran it over the top of Maci’s head, the words choked as I murmured, “I think she would definitely want to be here.”

“IfinkI’ll draw her a picture so my dragon can fly it all the way up to heaven so she can see it.”

Grief bashed through my spirit, but somehow, it was mixed with this blossoming joy that had sprouted inside.

“Your mommy would absolutely love that.”

A wash of warmth suddenly flooded the room, and my stomach tightened in anticipation. Kane’s nearness eradicating every question all while evoking a thousand more.

I looked up to find him striding through the entryway, wickedly cool and sporting one of those easy grins that I found so sexy, though there was no missing the intensity. The worry he’d carried after what had happened at the beginning of the week so clear.

There’d been no trace of whoever had attacked me. No clues to pick up on. No additional threat.

That didn’t mean we hadn’t all been on edge since then.

Those magic eyes rolled over me as he approached, and I had to steel myself from the reaction that he evoked in me.

A bare glimpse and the fire he’d ignited was rekindled in an instant.

I couldn’t count the number of times he’d had me in the last weeksince I’d given in to our connection. Every moment while Maci was asleep, we’d be tangled in each other. Kane searching me in every way while I discovered exactly what it was like to be worshipped.

Sometimes it was soft and slow, but usually, it was grasping hands and desperate bodies. A wild sort of freedom that I was fast becoming addicted to.

“Found us a good blanket,” Kane said, lifting the folded white and black checked blanket that he’d carried in.

“Finally, my Mr. Kane. Ifoughtwe were gonna have to wait for you for the whole night, and we gotta hurry up and have our picnic ’fore the sun goes to sleep.”

It was only three, but apparently, she was concerned.

An affectionate chuckle rolled out of him, though I knew him well enough now to sense the tension that underscored it. Nervous of Maci’s reaction.

He’d confessed it last night, in the deepest hours as we’d lain in the dark curled in the middle of his bed.

His fear of being enough for her.

Of beinggoodenough for her.

Was I a fool that after everything he’d confessed, after the terrifying things he’d suggested, that I’d argued that he was more than good?

It seemed impossible that I’d been here for just over two weeks and every presumption I had made had been transformed. I’d wanted nothing more than for this man to change his mind and allow me to take Maci home with me, but now I couldn’t imagine ripping the little girl from her daddy.

Her daddy.

Thickness grew at the back of my throat.

She would know it today. Who he was, and where she was supposed to be.

Excitement shivered through me at the thought. At what her precious little face would look like when he told her.

I wanted that for her so desperately.

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