Page 43 of Absolution
“Are you okay?” I ask, brushing my fingertips over his furrowed brow.
He turns his face into me and captures my hand so that he can kiss my palm. “I’m fine, my sweet Abigail. Don’t worry about me. Sleep, little dove.”
Exhaustion saps me all the way to my bones, and his tender touch soothes me like nothing else. I close my eyes and am dragged back down into sleep in a matter of minutes, completely wrung out from the night terror.
As long as Dane is holding me, nothing bad can touch me.
15
ABIGAIL
Three days later
Ispin around the empty room, arms outstretched to encompass the space. “It’s perfect!”
“I’m glad you’re satisfied with it,” Dane says, voice rumbling with mirth at my shenanigans.
I shake my new set of keys so that they jangle, making a happy song to go with the little dance I can’t resist.
“Satisfied?” I repeat. “This is my dream come true! My own gallery. I can’t believe it.”
“You deserve it,” he says, tone dropping to something deeper and more serious. “The world needs your art.”
I beam at him and bound into his arms. He catches me, and then we’re both spinning. My delighted laugh echoes through the empty space, bouncing off the blank walls that will soon display my paintings.
It’s surreal. This seemed impossible only a few months ago.
But Dane believes in me. No one has ever believed in my art like he does.
Not even me.
But now, when I see him studying my paintings like they’re altering his entire worldview, I dare to think that I can actually succeed at this.
“I’ll pay you back as soon as I can,” I say breathlessly when I finally stop laughing.
He kisses my brow and sets me down on my feet, but his hands remain firmly on my waist, trapping me in his possessive hold.
“I’m not concerned about it,” he reassures me. “You’ll be able to cover the rent yourself in no time. Then you can look at buying a more permanent space.”
He’d offered to buy a property for my gallery, but I want to earn this for myself. Rental was a compromise until I can generate enough revenue to buy a place for myself.
It’s a small miracle that we were able to secure this place so quickly. It’s only been three weeks since we returned to Charleston, but Dane was single-minded in his determination to make my dream come true.
“I’ll spend the rest of the weekend helping you get set up,” he promises.
“You don’t have to do that,” I protest. “You should take some time to relax. You’ve been working crazy hours the last few days.”
He stormed out of the practice in the middle of the afternoon to save me from Billy earlier this week. I suspect he would’ve neglected his job entirely to keep an eye on me if I hadn’t insisted that he help Meadows. I don’t want my husband to lose what he’s worked so hard to build because of me.
He frowns. “I don’t like the idea of you being all alone in here. I’m going to help you.”
I cup his firm jaw. “We’re in the middle of town. I’m safe here.”
Until Dane tracks Billy down and deals with our lethal problem, I’ll be cautious. I don’t intend to isolate myself, so I’ve stuck to public settings when I’m not safely locked in our house. I can tell that Dane doesn’t like it, but he respects me enough to allow me my freedom.
The fact that we can track each other’s every move helps too.
His frown deepens to a scowl. “I’ll make sure of it.”
