Like my confession could wash away what I’d done and what I’d said. Like in her eyes and touch I might be made whole again.
Foolish?
Yeah.
But it was the truth.
I fucking loved this woman, and I didn’t know how to go on without her in my life.
Swiveling around, she moved deeper into her house.
One reason.
One reason.
I followed her down that short hall where I’d followed her before, though this time she went through a door on the right. It was a smaller bedroom, and there was a tiny bed against the far wall. She eased all the way inside and pulled down the floral covers.
In silence, I moved that way and laid my son down in the middle. Eden trembled, covered his little body, lowered to her knees and pressed her face into his hair and breathed him in.
I was impaled.
Pierced.
Stricken.
The girl…the girl loved him, too.
Finally, she stood, tears still streaming from those autumn eyes. But it was different.
It was a flood of belief.
Of adoration.
Of love.
Everything I didn’t deserve but would be a fool to reject.
She’d cut me down to the core.
To the bare beat of who I was.
Those eyes held mine as she angled around me, and she turned around, walking backward the rest of the way down the hall and into the room where I’d first touched her.
Where I’d known in a flash that I could own her body.
Should have known with it, she was gonna own my heart.
She edged backward, standing in the hazy shadows like an offering.
I stood at her doorway, heaving breaths, no restraint left.
“Watched my mom get gunned down when I was fourteen.” It left me like a confession. Guessed that’s what it was.
I watched it. Felt it. The way every cell in her body wept. “Oh my god, Trent. I’m so sorry.”
My throat felt tight.
Tingling and burning.
Tried to swallow it down.
Bury it.
But I couldn’t hide this any longer.
“I was supposed to take care of her, Eden. Was supposed to protect her and my brothers because she didn’t have anyone else. Yet she died in my arms, but not before she made me promise to take care of my brothers. Protect them. Ten years later, my twin died the exact same fucking way. In my arms because I wasn’t strong enough to protect him.”
My eyes burned, and still I forced out the words. “Failed her, Eden. Failed my brother. Keep failing the ones I love. And failing you…failing Gage…it’d be the end of me.”
“Trent—”
I took a step toward her, cutting her off. “I’ve had one reason all these years. One reason, Eden. My son. And you…you’ve become a part of that reason. I get it now. It’s not split in two. Cut in half or divided. You. Gage. My little family I never thought I’d have.”
Eden’s lips parted, and a whimper slipped out as fat droplets kept leaking from those sweet, adoring eyes.
“I want to give you everything,” I whispered. “Everything in this life that you desire. I want to be right.”
Eden tremored. “All I need is you.”
“Tell me you’re mine. Tell me you’re ours. Tell me you’ll protect him right alongside me.”
Her spirit flashed. A whip of that energy that cracked in the air. “I love him, Trent. Love him with everything. With my whole heart. A heart I thought would never love again. Just like I love you.”
I moved then.
Claiming her mouth.
That sweet little body.
I angled her onto the middle of her bed.
Took me half a second to get her out of the modest sleep shorts and tee.
Girl sexy as fuck and brighter than the day.
A ray of light that cut through the darkness.
She was completely bare when I edged off the side of the bed, writhing and looking at me like I had become her reason, too.
I stood there watching down on her as I undressed, and the girl heaved with pants as I climbed up to hover over her.
The softest fingertips found my face. My eyes, my nose, my cheeks. “I love you,” she whispered.
“Never loved anything the way I love you.” The words grated from my raw throat, and Eden was sliding those lush thighs around my waist.
I took her bare.
As bare as my heart.
Because I had nothing else to hide. Nothing else to lose.
I moved over her. As natural as the tide. The ebb and flow of our bodies as we gave and took.
As we climbed and lifted.
Propping myself up on my elbow, my hand curled around the back of her neck. I thrust slow and deep because I didn’t want this to end.
We were nose to nose.
Our hearts beating out of time and perfectly in sync.
Eden’s mouth was full of the softest whispers, her eyes overflowing with our truth.
Because I’d known what it was like to fight.
To fear.
To kill.
But what I hadn’t known was a love like this existed.