Page 5 of Erik's Redemption
“He was important to her. Fuck, he was her only family. And Itookhim from her.”
“You also saved countless women from being sold like objects, Hunter.”
He knew that. And it made sense in his head. So much fucking sense that if he had to kill the guy a second time, he would. But when he looked at Hannah, when he saw her fingertips run over the cloud charm on her wrist, heard the emotion in her voice when she spoke about her beloved brother, all of that sense fell out the window.
“Tell her,” Chandler said quietly.
“If I do, she’ll either believe me and it will damage her memory of a man she considered a brother. Or she won’t believe me. And then what? What if she doesn’t forgive me?”
“She will. If she loves you like she says she does, and if she’s the good person you say she is, how could she not?”
Erik almost laughed. How could she not? There were so few people in her life who’d loved her. Protected her. And he’d taken one of those people away.
When he heard the click of the front door unlocking, he cursed under his breath. “I’ve got to go. I’ll read over the notes you sent before I leave tonight.”
The second he hung up, he grabbed the printed documents on Nico and shoved them into the bottom drawer. He’d just closed it when she appeared in the doorway. Just like every other time he looked at her, he felt like he’d been sucker punched.
Fuck, she was beautiful. Her soft features. Her long blond hair that cascaded over her shoulders like a goddamn waterfall. And those blue eyes…the shade of the sky in a storm.
She offered a small smile. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
He wanted to mention how much he’d missed her. How just the sight of her made his heart beat to a new rhythm. But “hey” seemed about all he could manage. Because every time he looked at her, he lost himself.
She tilted her head. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be home.”
Not a surprise. He hadn’t been home much in the last month because he’d been putting everything into delaying telling her, even though it was inevitable. “I have a job later tonight.”
The light dimmed from her eyes, and he wanted to take his words back.
She gave him a slow nod before stepping back. “Well, I had dinner at the office, so I might just shower and go to bed.”
She didn’t wait for him to respond. Her heels clicked against the wooden flooring, so damn loud in the otherwise quiet house.
He dropped his head into his hands and ran his fingers through his hair, pulling the strands at the roots.
With a short growl, he opened his laptop and clicked into the job notes Chandler had sent him. He tried to read them. Fuck, he tried so hard. It was only when he read over the same line five damn times that he slammed the laptop closed and rose to his feet.
He was moving before he could stop himself, up the stairs and toward her.
When his eyes fell on her across the room, his heart finally stopped pounding and the air slipped into his lungs with a bit more ease. She’d just stepped out of the shower and had a towel wrapped around her body, beads of water still running over her silky skin. When the towel dropped, his dick twitched.
So damn beautiful.
The sight of her glucose monitor on her arm put him at ease. Her health was easier for her to manage now, and that was like a weight off his shoulders.
Where was her pump though?
She slipped one of his shirts on. Seeing her in his clothes made every territorial part of him screammine.
She lifted her Apple watch. “You know, some would consider it rude to stare.”
Those people didn’t understand that it wasn’t always a choice. Sometimes looking away was impossible. “I don’t understand those people. I find it perfectly acceptable.”
He expected a smile. Maybe a small laugh. Instead, she bit her bottom lip, looking at him with such open vulnerability his chest cracked open. He closed the space between them and slipped his fingers around her wrist, doing up the clasp of the watch before tapping the screen to read her glucose levels.
A hundred and twenty-six. Good. She was okay.
