Page 116 of Beyond the Blue Horizon
She was only wearing that bra and panties, the rest of her tempting, tight body bare and so fucking gorgeous beneath the glow of the light that I might have been distracted if violencewasn’t currently thundering through my veins at a mind-altering clip.
Knocking me from those few moments of bliss into the riot that I felt the first time I saw her.
When my instinct had told me she was in trouble, something inside me wanting to wrap her up and keep her whole.
Protect her with everything I had.
And I’d never felt the urge to guard and defend more powerfully than right then.
“This what you’re running from?” I just laid it out.
Staring at my reflection through the mirror, she lifted that fiery chin. “Who said I was running?”
“You think I don’t know? You think I can’t feel that you’re afraid? Hiding from something?”
Someonewas the more apt question.
“It’s nothing. Just an old injury that doesn’t mean anything.” She clearly had to force the words out.
My arm looped farther around her, my fingertips fluttering over her left hip before I flattened my palm against her trembling belly.
I angled in close to her ear, words a gruff murmur that I exhaled. “Little Liar. Haven’t you figured it out yet? You don’t have to keep your secrets from me. I’ll hold them. Not going to let anyone hurt you.”
Piper’s eyes dropped closed for a beat, obscuring the bottomless oasis. Concealing the truth that glimmered in their depths.
Finally, they opened and found mine in the mirror.
Reticence warred with the barest flicker of belief.
“Yes, someone hurt me, Theo. Someone hurt me in the most horrible way.”
“Finn’s father?” Rage gritted through my teeth.
Her head shook as she forced out a ragged, “No.”
Her tongue swept across her lips as she seemed to gather whatever she was trying to say. “It was a long time ago, and I’m trying to find a way to move beyond it. Trying to find a way to live when I never believed I would have the chance to do that. To have a home. A safe place for my son to grow and learn and thrive.”
Moisture bleared her eyes, and I could tell she was terrified of giving me the little that she had.
This woman so clearly fighting this alone for so long.
“And I still don’t see how it’s possible,” she continued. “Sometimes, I think I’m forcing myself to believe in something that doesn’t exist. But I’m trying.”
My insides toiled. Protectiveness bashing at my being in a way that I shouldn’t feel.
In a way I couldn’t.
I already crossed a line tonight that I promised myself I wouldn’t, and I couldn’t seem to stop myself from busting further through those barriers. “Let me help you do it.”
I didn’t even know what I was offering her.
How I would make that happen.
Only thing I knew was I wanted to erase the grief and fear that was scarred so deep on her it sent another bolt of rage blistering through my body.
“Told you before if you were afraid, I was the exact kind of trouble you needed in your life. I see that fear lingering in you, Piper. Feel it seeping from your flesh.” My lips brushed over the shell of her ear. “Can taste it in your kiss.”
Old wounds blazed through her features. So distinct I thought I might be able to reach out and trace them with my fingers.
