Page 80 of Protected By West
Her brow, the smooth bit of skin between her brows pinched a little and her lips parted on a breath.
"I'm not saying that it would have been better to hope that you didn't hear. I know now what I stupidly didn't even consider when we got the call, that after what you and your mom had been through with your dad, that you need more from me than just 'I'm sorry I didn't think about this ahead of time.'"
He reached for her, and she didn't pull away or even tense when he put his hands on her upper arms.
"Babe, I hate to excuse this, but I don't know what else to say. This," he pulled her closer and loved the way she put her cheek on his chest and relaxed against him, "this is new for me. Caring like this. It's all the things I haven't had to consider before. I'm not trying to be an asshole, babe. I am one by default."
He held her against him, waiting to see what she had to say about his admission. His hamfisted apology.
"I..." She drew in a deep breath, and he didn't know if he should hold her tighter or ease up on his hold. "I don't know how this works, either."
She leaned back and looked up at him.
Damn it.
She had tears in her eyes.
"Babe," he lifted a hand and touched it to the side of her face, using his thumb to wipe away the tear that spilled out onto her cheek, "I'm sorry."
Tracy shifted in his arms, bringing up her arms and reaching up and around his neck.
He felt her fingertips play across the hair at the back of his neck, the short clipped hair that he liked to keep neat was just something he cut and scrubbed in the shower. Nothing he really thought about, but once he felt Tracy's fingers play across that little bit of flesh just below his hairline, his knees went a little weak and his heart...
Well, damn, he knew he'd lost that completely.
Before, there were women who turned him on. And women he liked to talk to. Some he even liked spending time with, but not all together in one person.
Never like her.
Since the moment he'd seen her in the bar, he'd wanted her.
Wanted to be near her.
When he found out about her aversion to law enforcement, his first instinct should have been to beg off and walk away.
Should have been.
Instead, he just wanted to be with her.
To prove her wrong.
And what did he do?
"I fucked up, Tracy."
She nodded, her fingers moving along the back of his neck and up a little higher.
"I'll probably fuck up again."
She smiled, just a hint as the fingers of her other hand wrapped around the back of his neck, her short nails digging just a little into his skin. "I will, too."
He shrugged a little. "It's human."
"Ah..." She leaned in, tightening her hold on his neck, her eyes narrowing at his. "That's the trouble. We're both human. Fallible. Sometimes idiotic."
He smiled. "It sounds like you know me."
Tracy's eyes watered with tears and shit, he wanted to kick his own ass.
