Page 14 of This Is Love (The Light to My Darkness 3)

I was pretty sure he was making a joke about James, but I didn’t laugh. “And you…knocked him out?” I asked. He saved me.

“I took him by surprise. I never would have let him hurt you.”

I stared up at him. He was literally my knight in shining armor. The sharp angles of his jaw were worthy of a romance book cover. And his hair was wet from the rain but somehow still looked good. He was wearing a t-shirt and the rain made it cling sexily to the muscles in his chest. It felt like my heart was beating faster than humanly possible. I was aware of his hands on my body. His warm breath invading my air supply in a good way. “You saved me.”

He pushed my hair out of my face. And I had the overwhelming sense that I wanted him to kiss me. I remembered the pages I had read about him from my book. I had liked him all those years ago. I knew that I had.

So how had I wound up here? With his arms wrapped around me in the most loving way, yet he had a wife and I had a husband? How cruel fate could be. How had the universe not seen that Tyler Stevens was my perfect match? After all, I did fit perfectly in his arms. “What happened to us?”

He looked down at me with his beautiful blue eyes. “Everything that was supposed to.”

“I feel closer to you than I do to James. Why is that? He’s cold and ill-tempered and you’re…warm. I feel safe in your arms instead of scared. And someone just tried to kill me.”

He smiled. “I don’t think love is about feeling comfortable. I think love needs a little fear in order to be all-consuming. We were always meant to be friends, Penny. And I know your memories aren’t all there. But we made a good decision to stay friends. The right decision. I love my wife. And you love your husband.”

I blinked away the tears in my eyes. Did I love James? The dreams and memories made it seem like I did. My head was trying to catch up to my heart. It almost felt like my heart was beating faster to try and force my mind to speed up too. “I missed my chance with you, huh?” I laughed, but it sounded forced.

“And it was for the best. I hate to think about what would have happened if you chose me. Scarlett and Axel wouldn’t exist. Liam wouldn’t exist.”

Liam. I instinctively moved my hand to my stomach. God, I remembered the feeling of him kicking me. He did it nonstop. He was such a little terror. I had held him in the hospital this morning but I hadn’t really known him. But I knew him now. I remembered reading to my stomach and singing to him. The old memories collided with the new ones and I felt like I was going to be sick. “Is he going to be okay? Is my baby going to be okay?”

Tyler pressed his lips together. He didn’t have an answer for me. No one did.

I couldn’t hold back my tears now. I needed to get to Liam. I needed to hold him again. I needed him to know how much I loved him.

Tyler leaned down and hugged me again. Like a good friend, he knew when I needed a hug. I got another wave of grass and sunshine and my head spun. It was like my memories were vomiting out, one after the next.

I remember eating lunch with him at Grottos. I remembered him dressing up like Westley from The Princess Bride. I remembered dancing with him. Laughing with him. Hurting him. I swallowed hard. My mind felt like it flipped over as one memory swam to the surface and stuck.

I put my hand on the center of my chest. No one had ever told me that when your heart breaks it actually hurts. It felt like my chest was caving in. I took a deep, shaky breath.

"God, Penny, I'm so sorry." I looked up at Tyler rushing toward me. My eyes immediately landed on the bruise along the left side of his jawbone. The scruff on his chin didn't hide it nearly as well as he probably hoped. I quickly wiped away the rest of my tears.

"What the hell happened to your face?"

"It's nothing." He immediately put his arms around me. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay. Let me see your face." But he kept his arms wrapped firmly around me.

He ran his hand up and down my back. "I'm fine. God, you're soaked. Let me..."

"You're not fine." I pushed on the middle of his chest until he let me back up a fraction of an inch. He didn't need to say anything. I knew. It was written all over his face. I lightly touched the side of his jaw with my fingertips. "James did that, didn't he?"

"There may have been an altercation late last night."

I closed my eyes. "Tyler, I'm so, so sorry." Mason was with James. Apparently none of his friends were good at keeping him out of trouble. It also meant Ian had probably driven him there when I specifically told him not to take James anywhere. But Ian didn't have to listen to me. I was never his boss.

"There's nothing to apologize about." Tyler put his hand on the back of my head and pressed my face to his chest. There was something so comforting about being in Tyler's arms. Despite his move to New York and all his success, he still smelled the same. Like freshly cut grass and mint. I wasn't even sure how that was possible. There was barely any grass in New York and he wasn't a landscaper. I wrapped my arms around his back. It was selfish, but I needed this right now. I needed my friend. I could tell Tyler wanted to talk, but I wrapped my arms tighter around him. I just needed a few more seconds.

Tyler kissed the top of my head and ran his fingers through my hair. "It's going to be okay, Penny."

No. It's not. I shook my head against his chest and let my arms drop from his back.

He grabbed my shoulders and pushed me back so he could look at my face. There was so much hope in his blue eyes. And it killed me.

"How much do you know about what happened?" I asked.

"Everything I need to know."

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