Page 110 of Seduced By You

“No. Don’t you hide from me. Not from me.” He clipped me under the chin. “She’s wrong, Lee. So wrong. To me, you’re as beautiful as you ever were. A beauty like yours is soul deep. It radiates from every cell in your body.”

“It’s horrible, though,” I whispered. “Ugly.”

“No. It’s skin that’s suffered trauma and needs to heal. My cousin Johannes has a scar across his neck where he was attacked a few years ago. He struggled to cope with it at first, but eventually, he found a way to deal with it. And you’ll do the same. In time.”

Kadon hadn’t ever mentioned this to me before. “How did he overcome it?”

“With the help and love of a good woman.” He cupped both my cheeks, his hands rough and warm and comforting. “It doesn’t change a thing about the person you are, nor how I feel about you. I’m here for you. Always.”

I wanted to believe him. Damn it, Ididbelieve him. I refused to let something so superficial ruin my future with the man I loved. I was stronger than that.Betterthan that.

He bowed his head. “I’m so fucking sorry, Lee. Guilt ate me up for so many years, and the accident set off a trigger. I handled it badly. I made what happened all about me when it should have been all about you. For so long, I thought I was poison, a man to avoid, a man who didn’t deserve to love and be loved. I let you in. I shared my poison with you, and you accepted me anyway. But I threw it all away because I’m a blind, stupid fool, as Blaize so articulately pointed out.”

“He came to see me.”

“Yeah, I know.” He grimaced. “Something he said made me realize that I walked out on you at the exact time you needed me the most and that my actions would probably reaffirm your worries that people only wanted and liked you for your looks.” He glanced away again, his tongue poking the side of his cheek. “Can you ever forgive me?”

I grazed a hand over his cheek. “We’re both at fault, Kadon. As much as I’ve let my fears that I’m nothing without my looks rule me, your fears that you’re better off alone so you can’t hurt anyone else have ruled you. I pushed you away.”

“And I let go too easily.”

“You weren’t the only one I pushed away.”

“Oh?” He arched a brow.

“My parents came to see me in the hospital. I said some pretty mean things, yet, like you, they didn’t give up. After I was discharged, they came here, and we talked. For the first time, I was able to tell Maman things I’d kept to myself, things I’d convinced myself she wouldn’t want to hear. She shared things with me, too. I understand her a lot better now. We’ve cleared the air.”

“I’m so glad.” He hit me with a wry smile. “The private investigator found Samuel.”

I sucked in a breath, covering my gaping mouth with my hand. “He did? Where?”

“Lausanne. Blaize and I flew there this morning to meet with him.” He cupped my face, dropping a kiss on my lips. “He’s good, Lee. He’sgood.Happy. Married. He’s a therapist, helping victims of sexual abuse. He thanked me.Thanked mefor saving his life. I can’t even begin to explain how that felt.”

“God bless Samuel,” I murmured. “He gave you peace.”

Chapter34

Kadon

Changing the world, one step at a time.

One Week Later…

“Snuggle closer.” I tugged Lee into my body. “You’re not close enough.” Ever since we’d gotten back together, I hadn’t let her out of my sight. I missed her even when I slept, and while I hadn’t told her this in case she accused me of being a creeper, I often woke in the middle of the night and lay there, watching her sleep.

“Any closer and I’ll be inside you.”

I waggled my eyebrows. “Soon, my little sex fiend, I’ll be insideyou.”

She laughed. “Well, the hospital said two weeks, and I make it”—her eyes rose up and to the right—“twelve days.”

“Which is not two weeks.”

She stuck out her tongue.

“Mature.”

“It’s why you love me.”

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