Relent (Sydney Storm MC 1)

So jumbled.

So confused.

I tried to claw through them but instead I was drowning in them.

I was drowning in my life.

A childhood of abandonment, an adolescence of hurt and grief, a life of regret.

Her arms circled me. “Kick,” she soothed me as she pulled me close.

Love.

Evie’s love clawed through the thoughts.

It pushed the pain aside as it reached for my heart.

For my soul.

Home.

Family.

Evie is my family.

I took a deep breath and put my arms around her. “Evie,” I whispered, “I love you.”

Her hand ran up and down my neck, in and out of my hair. “I love you, too, baby,” she whispered.

I clung to her for a long time, allowing the anger and hurt to seep out of me. Eventually, I pulled away from Evie and asked, “How did you know?”

She frowned. “How did I know what?”

“That I needed you. That it would be okay to ignore me and come to me even when I told you not to,” I said, not letting her eyes go, needing them to stay with me and silently tell me the

secrets of her heart that her words couldn’t.

And they did. The love shone from them as she said, “I knew, because I know you would never hurt me, Kick. You’ve always made sure I was okay, made sure no one else was hurting me. I know deep in my bones that there will never come a day that you hurt me.”

I gently placed my hand against her cheek. “You never gave up on me, did you?” I whispered.

She shook her head. “No.”

I bent my face and kissed her.

Deep and searching.

I’d had her words and I’d had her eyes. Now I needed her body to tell me how much she loved me. When her hands slid over my back and her lips blessed mine with a kiss that reached right into my soul, I knew she was completely in.

I knew Evie would love me forever.

Just like I’d loved her forever.

Chapter Fifteen

Evie

“Shit,” I muttered as I turned the mower off and collapsed onto the newly mowed grass. I ran my forearm across my sweaty forehead, trying to stop the drops of sweat falling into my eyes.