Page 70 of Her Braun
No.
He wasn't going to let that happen.
If she wanted him to go away, she was going to have to look him in the eye.
"Kay. Look at me, honey."
She closed her eyes and winced away from him.
"Look. At. Me."
He bent his index finger and put it under her chin, lifting until she gave in and looked at him.
"You aren't a magnet for this, Kay. Someone is trying to hurt you and I'm going to be there to make sure that they don't get to you. Okay? I'm going to be there with you."
"With me?"
"Yes, Kay. With you."
She shook her head and the look on her face said that she didn't believe him.
No, she didn't believe that he was saying the words.
"I need you to know something, Kay." He drew in a breath and let it out as he looked into her amazing eyes. "I'm serious about us. About you."
He dipped his chin down as he said it, hoping that she could see the truth in his eyes.
"I want to be here with you. Be there with you. Wherever you are. Wherever you're going. I want to be there."
She opened her mouth to argue, but he touched those beautiful lips with the tip of his finger.
"You don't have to ask me why, Kay, because I'm going to tell you."
He moved his finger from her lips and lifted his hand to her quickly drying hair and gently brushed it back from her face, tucking it behind her ear.
"I love you, Kay." He smiled when she stared back at him with confusion written across her features. "I love you. I think I have since that day you took charge of my cousin's treatment in the Emergency Room. In the middle of my terror and the fear filling my aunt and uncle, you were light and hope combined. I saw you then. I saw you in that coat with your eyes filled with compassion and fell for you.
"But I didn't know the depths of my feelings until I got to spend time with you. Then I realized that you were so much more than my family's guardian angel. You were... everything to me."
Her eyes filled with tears, and she closed them, maybe to hold back those tears, but he didn't want her to hide them.
Gibson leaned closer and kissed each closed eye in turn.
He knew she'd been hurt before. He had a feeling that her parents had done a number on her confidence and made it difficult for her to believe that she was worth sticking around for. She hadn't said the words exactly, but during their conversationshe'd picked up on her thoughts and what he believed were her feelings about the emotional distance that she'd experienced from them.
Getting closer to her and staying there wasn't going to be easy, but he needed to be close to her and to protect her.
"Gibson?" She opened her eyes as he leaned back. "I don't know why you'd want to be wrapped up in my mess."
"It's not your mess, Kay. You haven't done anything to deserve this or bring it on yourself. And this latest... problem isn't going to stop me from loving you. Nothing would."
He could see the worry in her face and the way she hesitated.
He swore he could almost hear the question in her head, she was thinking so hard.
"You don't have to say it back, Kay. You don't have to say it because I did."
"But-"
