Page 99 of At the Edge of Surrender

He was there, facing away at the window over the kitchen sink. His hands planted on the counter as he stared into the lapping shadows of the backyard.

His back bare and only wearing jeans.

His aura had diffused from the easiness he’d worn through the entire evening.

As if once the house had gone quiet, he’d been carried away by his own ghosts.

This...this was the man I’d met Friday night.

Every muscle in his body tightened when he realized I was there, the silence between us growing thick and heavy.

A weighted awareness that dragged between us, vying for a victory there was no chance we could find together.

Yet, there I stood.

Chained to the spot.

My stomach in knots as my eyes traced the intricate art that crawled over his shoulders and down his back. A forest scene with skulls hanging from the limbs of the trees.

Morbid and grim.

I’m not the dragon slayer you think I am. I’m the dragon.

“What are you doing awake at this time of night?” His voice was gruff. Held in the tumult that howled through the rambling room.

I edged forward. “I could ask the same of you.”

He stifled a rough chuckle as he glanced back. “Not used to going to bed until three or four. Am usually still at Kane’s closing up at this time of night.”

Questions stirred. Those reservations I couldn’t shake. I inched forward, trying to gather myself. To focus on what was important.

The little girl upstairs.

Only my breath locked at the base of my throat when he fully turned around. Wide chest fully on display. Rippling with fettered strength. Designs played over the hard, packed lines of his pecs and abdomen.

The man a painting of awestriking, terrifying perfection.

I attempted to clear the roughness away as I eased forward. I had to keep on track. There was a real reason I was here, and it wasn’t to ogle this man.

The first man who sent me sailing right past those barriers I’d hedged. Beyond the anger that had held me back.

“And how is that supposed to work when you’ve insisted on raising a little girl?”

I remained on the opposite side of the island.

Again needing the physical barrier between us.

He roughed a tattooed hand through his hair. “Gotta work some stuff out.” He stalled, obviously reticent to say whatever was on his mind.

He looked to the floor as he mumbled, “And I have a work trip I need to take in two days. Something that was planned long before I knew about Maci. Don’t want to leave, but I have to. I can have her stay with my family, but I think she’d be more comfortable if you stayed here with her.”

Disbelief blustered through, and I shook my head. “You’re leaving? In two days?”

More hesitation, his thick throat bobbing in something I couldn’t quite read.

Guilt, I thought.

“I’m sorry. But I have to do this.”

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