Page 75 of Wed to the Devil

"Maybe you are, but what about the baby?" He slides his hand over my belly and looks down, a groove of worry appearing between his eyebrows. "I think I'm going to pull the 'Expectant Parent Card' and insist that you close your eyes for twenty minutes."

I try to shrug it off, but there's no denying the truth in his words. "I am a little tired."

He scoops me up in his arms and carries me to bed without another word. He lies down beside me and I curl up against his chest.

This feels so good. Being with him like this feels like a kind of completion that I've rarely felt in my life.

It's peaceful, where outside this room is so chaotic.

We lay there, quiet in the darkness. Dare's steady heartbeat lulls me into a trance-like state, and I feel all the stress of the day slowly melting away.

"Why do you feel the need to bend over backward for your aunt?" he asks.

I look at him and his brow is furrowed in confusion.

"What? What do you mean? She is the only family I've got."

Dare arches a brow. "No offense, but that doesn't really mean anything to me. You've met my family. They are all bastards. I wouldn't do nearly as much for them."

A startled laugh escapes me.

"Why do I feel like I owe Minnie so much?" I ask myself quietly, an intense feeling of guilt and admiration tugging at my heartstrings.

He looks at me intently, waiting for me to continue. Taking a deep breath, I tell him about the day my mother dropped me off at Hope House when I was six years old.

"I can't ever quite understand why she did it," I say sadly. "But looking back now, I think she must have been scared and desperate to give me a better life."

"That's when Minnie stepped in," I continue. "She took me in with an open embrace and offered me more stability than anyone else ever could have before or since. She wasn't a perfect parent. She is still terrible with money and impulsive about signing business deals with sketchy people. But she was there for me when I needed her. She put a roof over my head and food in my mouth. I can never, ever repay that kindness and generosity."

"I don't really see Aunt Minnie demanding that you repay her. She loves you."

I take a deep breath, feeling tears pressing at the corners of my eyes.

"That doesn't make us even. My mom dropped me off at Hope House when I was six years old. She didn't even call the sister she had in town when she abandoned me. I... I must have been a burden to her."

Tears leak down my face. Dare pulls me against his big body, dropping a kiss against my temple.

"No one could mistake you for a burden, Talia."

"Y-you don't know that. You can't know what my mother felt the day she dropped me off."

He tips my face upward with a finger, his blue gaze piercing me straight through and holding me fast.

"I know. Okay? You're extremely lovable. It's impossible to know you and not to love you."

My eyes widen. Is Dare saying... that he loves me?

Dare seems to realize that he's misspoken. He clears his throat and breaks eye contact.

"What I'm trying to say is that you don't owe your aunt a thing... except maybe your own happiness. If my mom were still alive, that's what I think she would say about me."

He tightens his arms around me as if he knows this is what I need right now - just someone to hold onto while all the emotions wash over me like a wave.

I bury my face against his chest, my heart still pounding. His words are still ringing in my ears.

It's impossible to know you and not to love you.

What could that mean?

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