Page 51 of Pulse
“Yes, you are.”
He chuckles. “I don’t think anyone has ever told me that before.”
“No one has told you what?”
He stops with his back to the horizon. The golden hour beautifully illuminates his features, and the wind pulls his shirt tight against his body. As attractive as the image is, my favorite part of the picture is not his muscles, shoulders, or chiseled jawline.
It’s his eyes.
The gray is light, almost blue, and they’re lit in a way I’ve never noticed before. Coupled with the soft, almost shy smile he bestows upon me, I’m speechless.
“No one has ever told me I’m a good man,” he says.
“Seriously?”
He shrugs as if he’s embarrassed.
“Troy …” I flinch, finding it hard to believe. “No one has ever told you that? Ever?”
“Never. It’s stupid, and I shouldn’t have said anything because now you’re looking at me like?—”
“Hey.”
He stops, startled by my interruption.
My heart tugs in my chest. It’s obviously such a painful point for him.Can he possibly not know how wonderful he is? I’m unsure how this ties into his childhood, but I’m certain it does.
I want to hug him so damn bad, but I’m afraid he’ll pull away.
If he needs the reassurance that he’s not like his parents, I’m happy to give it to him. But I’ll have to give it to him in a way that he won’t shut right down.
I ponder my words carefully.
“I don’t want to inflate your ego or anything, and this actually hurtsmyego a bit because I’m about to tell you how great you are, and you refused to kiss me …”
He bites his lip, warning me not to go there.
“You are … really amazing, actually,” I say.
His lip pops free.
“You’re intelligent and loyal. Probably the most loyal person I know,” I say, my voice carrying away on the breeze. “You’re a good friend. You’re honest and kind. You’re brave. You’re selfless … most of the time.”
He chuckles, his cheeks turning a shade of pink.
“I mean, look at you right now,” I say. “You just shelved your entire life and came here to protect a woman you work withbecause her asshole ex-boyfriend is fucking with her. That’s not mediocre-man stuff, Troy. That’s not even lukewarm-man stuff. That’s great-man stuff, and if no one has ever told you that, then let me be the first.”
The water laps at our ankles, pulling the sand out from around our feet as it recedes. The breeze licks at the edges of our clothes and the ends of my hair. It’s as if Troy and I are in a cocoon, insulated from the outside world. Safe from all harm—physically and emotionally.
“You almost had that right,” he says.
“What do you mean?”
“I shelved my entire life and came here to protect a woman.” He closes the distance between us. “But she’s not just a woman I work with.”
My heart skips a beat as I stare into his eyes. “Is that so?”
“She’s brilliant and hard-working and one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met even though she somehow weaponizes that sometimes.”
