Page 59 of Embrace My Heart

If Qasim noticed that she’d sidestepped his question, he didn’t mention it. “Charlotte said something about you checking out the Miami gallery. I checked with the gallery back home, told them I might want to see the one here, too, maybe organize a thing, considering how well it all went during the tasting event...” He shrugged. “They were all too happy to help—even called the gallery out here and they went the extra mile to tell me you were working—” he cut off to indulge in another scandalous rake of her body “—from home today, but they made sure to square things with the office downstairs. They granted me access when I arrived.” He studied the life lines in his palms as though the action calmed him.

“This was all after your father called to tell me you were in Italy and asked why wasn’t I there with you when he told you to take me.”

Vectra lowered herself into deck sofa. “You were busy...”

“You said that already.”

“Sim...”

“I’m listening.”

“He saved your life.”

“You’re my life.”

Her breath caught, and she sat there, blinking up at him in wonder.

Qasim roared a sharp, ill-humored laugh. “Did you think I was ‘just playing’ when I told you I loved you? What the hell do you think that means?”

“Not always what you think!” She cursed quietly over the slip and left the chair, holding her hands to her mouth as she paced the deck.

Qasim strode over and sank into the space Vectra had vacated. He leaned forward, bracing his elbows to the jeans shorts where they covered his knees.

“Everyone I consider a friend knows their parents—both of them,” he said. “Do you know how rare that is in the world I come from? Most folks at least know their mother. I don’t know either of my parents.” He studied his palms again.

“The only thing my mother did for me was to give me a name before she left me at the hospital. I fought my way through foster care and group homes knowing I only had to make it to eighteen.” He shrugged and turned his striking gaze out across the deck.

“It made me fight harder. That kind of living—that kind of childhood—screws with your trust, your security, Vectra. In my world, if you weren’t possessive of your stuff, if you didn’t stake your claim, it got taken from you and then...the rage sets in. I guess it set in for me at an early age, and I...”

He forced a smile.

“When I was free, able to make my own decisions, so far as the law was concerned, I craved going to the army believing it’d be the only place I’d fit. It was the only place where the rage was encouraged. I found that it was...necessary to an extent, but what was truly encouraged was the ability to mold it, to control it.

“I had to learn that the hard way. Once I did, that’s when I was free. In Will’s defense, he never tells the full story of how he came to save my life—makes me look like a victim instead of somebody who was asking for it. He saved me from a guy who deserved to take me out. He was a prisoner I leaned on pretty hard. The guy spit in my face, and I tried to beat him to death. I was stupid.” He shook his head again, the smile appearing more genuine.

“Stupid kid... I had attitude for days and a thing about respect—respect I was owed of course. It took four guys from my platoon to pull me off. Will was one of ’em.

“When he tackled me, the prisoner took his gun. Everybody froze but Will. He reacted. I shed a lot of my attitude that day. When he came to me down on his luck, I thought it was the least I could do...”

Qasim stood suddenly, looking to Vectra, who was then clutching the cushions along the back of her lounge chair for support.

“That’s all of it, V. The part of me I don’t share with anyone. Who I was isn’t who I am. It may’ve played a role in the shaping, but it doesn’t define me. Those dark areas crop up from time to time, but that’s life, and I fight their hold however I can. No way am I going back to what I was. The same is true for you.”

He advanced. “You have to believe that. You have to decide how long you’re gonna let it keep coming back to bite you.”

Qasim closed the distance remaining between them. Tugging her hand from the cushion, he kissed the back of it then brushed a lingering one to her cheek.

“I love you,” he said and was gone.

Chapter 18

Vectra stayed in Miami to be available for Yancey Croachman’s follow-up gallery appearance. She hadn’t planned on it until she’d received word that the Wilder Warriors Foundation event would be held in the city as opposed to her vineyard.

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