Page 56 of Damned
“I like that word.We.” He sounded pensive. Sad.
“I do, too,” she breathed. “I likeusandyou and meand…” Dare she say it? “…family, too.”
“My job… I work… I’m not…” Kruze pulled her down to his nose, his face contorted with anguish he obviously didn’t know how to put into words. “Kee-rist, I’m not an easy guy to live with. My job requires travel at a moment’s notice. Sometimes, I’m gone for weeks or months, and I never know when I’ll get called to leave. I take orders, Bree, and I do a damned good job. I save lives. My brothers and I, that’s what we do. But if you and me… If we…”
Bree crossed her arms over his chest and settled her chin to her arms, ready to wait him out.
“You said you love me before, but I… Honestly, Bree, I don’t know how you can. Look at all you’ve gone through because of me, at what I’ve done to you.”
She inhaled a deep breath before she told him, “You gave me a daughter, that’s what you’ve done to me, and I love you for it. I mean it. I do love you. Even as mad as I was three years ago, I want something good to come of all the lonely nights and that one night, Kruze. I loved who we were in Paris. We talked like missing halves of the same person, as if we’d known each other for years and finally found each other again. At least that’s how I remember it. We laughed, and we played, and I fell in love with you. That hasn’t changed.” As much as she’d tried, it was true. She still loved this man.
He blinked those big, green, expressive eyes at her. “You should hate me.”
She nodded, unwilling to let any half-truths stand between them this time around. “Trust me, I tried. But you know what stops me every time I get a full head of steamy anger?”
He shook his head slowly from side to side. “Your mom?” he guessed.
“Your. Daughter.I can’t hate you, because every time I look into Robin’s eyes, I see you looking back at me. Did you leave me? Yes, you did, and it hurt. You hurt me, Kruze.” Admitting the truth was hard. “But here we are again. Together. And I can’t help but believe that things happen for a reason.” She ticked, “Paris. Turkey. Maine,” off her fingers. “Want to bet the next time, we’ll be in—”
“Heaven,” he growled, pulling her body up, his hands cupping her head, and his mouth swallowing her words.
