Page 173 of Beat of Love
His hands locked onto her wrists and wrenched them down and behind her. “You’re mistaken. I’m Trick, remember? Always causing problems. Fucking up. The ink on my back marks me as a scorpion. Nasty. And deadly. Mybrotheris the good man,” he bit out. “Not me.”
“Yet I loveyou. Rafferty Lawson.” This was not how she wanted to say those important words to him the first time, but she was desperate to get through to him. Up on her toes, her body flush to his, she added, “Not your brother. I love you.You.”
He stiffened, holding still for a beat, hard muscles against soft curves. His chest heaved against hers as he sucked in a hard breath and yanked her arms up. Spinning, he reversed theirpositions and pinned her to the wall, his body vibrating with tension. “How?” he growled.
She frowned, momentarily sidetracked by his penis pressing against her exposed thigh. “How?”
“But how can you love me?Me. The fucked up one.”
His tone … so lost and forlorn. Tears wet her eyes. “Because I see you, Rafferty. Therealyou.”
“Therealme?”
“The man you’ve lost sight of.”
“Enlighten me, Red,” he spat.
“The empathetic man wrapped in a warrior’s frame — that’s the person I desperately, inconveniently, fell in love with.”
“Empathetic?” He barked a laugh, let her go, and stepped away.
The absence of him hit like a void.
His heat. His power.
Gone.
“I’ve been called many things, darlin’, but empathetic is not one of them,” he scoffed.
“You’re kind, intuitive. Compassionate. Tender-hearted. Loving. And a man who will do the unimaginable to protect those he loves. A fighter. Warrior. Protector.”
“You’re delusional.”
“No.” Placing her hands on his shoulder, she nudged him to face the mirror. Her eyes wandered over his body.
Naked. Scarred.
Rafferty Lawson.
Utterly magnificent.
Standing beside him, she said, “Not delusional. Merely a woman who’s fallen in love with a complex man. A man whose life spun out of control while making the world a better place.”
She smoothed her hand over his back, moving over the scars his enemy had inflicted. “A man who endured unimaginablepain yet held on and clawed his way back to his family. A man willing to fight for two orphaned children.Thatis the man I fell in love with.”
Her gaze challenged him in the mirror. “I just hope that man is prepared to accept my love. And love me back.”
*
Her profound words nibbled away at his steely resolve, leaving it hanging by a single strand.
Loving Brandy-Lyn …
He already did.
With everything inside him.
But being loved by Brandy-Lyn …
