Page 68 of Deadly Protector
“I’ll take care of all that.”
“No. I’ll do it. I’ve been handling my own life for a long time.”
“I know. But I’d like to help. I know your kids come back soon and I know some guys who will put a rush on getting your house back together. Including cleaning the garage floor.”
“I…don’t know if I’m comfortable with you taking over like that. Not when you sort of ghosted me,” she whispered, all her emotions from earlier rushing to the surface. She was walking a tightrope of emotions after the last few days.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he pulled into his driveway, his gate closing behind them. “More than you know. I was…scared,” he finally said.
“Of what?”
He turned to face her as he put his SUV in park in the garage. The sound of the garage door closing behind them was the only noise for a long moment as he watched her. “Of you, me, us.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“I see a real future with you and I panicked. Acted like a dumbass.”
She let out a startled laugh. “I won’t argue with you there.”
He gave her a small smile, reached across the center console and took her hand in his.
She laced her fingers through his, needing that connection. “So are you still scared?”
“Terrified that I’ll screw up and drive you away.”
“You’ve been protective and a little bossy and simply wonderful since I met you. And I’m still here. I’m so thankful for everything you’ve done. You saved my life.” She swallowed back the onslaught of tears that wanted to rush up, somehow keeping them at bay.
“And I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I’m good with that kind of stuff. I’m just worried about the day-to-day stuff, your kids, everything.” He sounded so vulnerable. Hell, looked vulnerable in that moment in a way she’d never seen from him before.
She brought his hand to her mouth, kissed his knuckles. “I’m a little worried about that stuff too. I wasn’t sure we’d fit into your life. You’re so organized, and my kids and I…we can be loud and messy.”
He grinned, his expression softening. “I like loud and messy.”
“Yeah, well, I like you.”
“I love you,” he blurted.
Her mouth fell open slightly at his words but… “I love you too.” So much that it scared her.
Now he looked surprised by her confession. “You don’t have to—”
“To what, say the truth? I do love you. I just thought it might freak you out if I told you so soon.”
Now he was full-on grinning, looking ten years younger in that moment. “Never.”
Leaning forward, she took his face in her hands, savoring the fact that he was here, that she could touch him. She could have lost him tonight and that terrified her on a whole other level.
He claimed her mouth and she kissed him right back.
She wasn’t going to hold anything back from him, not after tonight. They’d been given a chance and she was going to grab it with both hands.
