Page 66 of At the Edge of Surrender

Second I did, it felt like a beam of light suddenly speared through the middle of my chest. The amount of warmth that pierced me.

I had never believed in love at first sight.

Thought it total and utter bullshit.

But one look at my daughter, and she’d proven me wrong.

Because right then, holding her hand as I led her down to the shore?

It was the second time when I truly understood what love meant.

Once for my mother, though that belief had been crushed. I thought it would be impossible to ever feel it again.

Had neverwantedto feel it again.

But there it was.

Instant and whole.

I glanced back at where Emery remained on the beach.

Little Warrior fighting through her reservations. Expression fierce and posture harsh.

And I wondered if maybe she had the power to change everything inside me, too.

SEVENTEEN

EMERY

“Here we go!”Kane suddenly swept Maci off her feet and into his arms before he went barreling into the water.

I nearly shouted at him to stop. To be careful. Give him some reason that we suddenly had to go.

Only Maci squealed. Squealed this uninhibited laugh that shattered through the air as he ran with her into the shallow edge of the lake.

So free and full of joy.

Her arms stretched overhead as if she were on a rollercoaster ride.

That’s what this felt like.

This constant up and down. The flips of my spirit as I battled with the correct path to take.

“Mr. Kane!” she screeched when water splashed up with the pounding of his feet, and she scrambled around, wrapping her arms around his neck like he was some kind of safety net.

“I’ve got you,” he hollered back. A deep toll of laughter rolled out of him as he spun them around about three feet out from the shore.

The water up to his knees and soaking his jeans.

He turned around so they were looking back at me.

Mybreath caught.

He was so obscenely handsome it was unfair. Dangerous to my stability.

The way my belly twisted whenever he looked my way. The way my thighs trembled with want.

Every carved, hewn angle of his face was written in severity, and that severity was only multiplied by the muscled strength of his body.

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