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Coen raised one eyebrow atyou"

He stayed quiet for a few ht, and for a while, I didn’t think he would answer an I’ve just never been that guyI’ve always thought they were pointless, to tell you the truth I didn’t want to deal with the headache of the to be one h of" He s where I thought it’d been about to "Then why?"

"You want to knohy I want this? Why the guy who thinks relationships are a waste of tioddamn bad?" When I nodded, he sed hard and looked away for a few seconds When he finally looked back at me, his face was somber "Because I found so at irl et everything just by saying my name Why wouldn’t I push for this?"

Myat hi confession, I only knew that I wanted to be her It didn’tabout an There was no way for me to be that person to someone elsebut with the depth of ele one of them

"That is why I want this That is why I put up with you when you’re being unreasonable That is why--­after a week and a half since o I’ my love for you, because I’m not in love with youyet But I’ve never met anyone like you And that’s not some bullshit line meant to make you fall for me I never expected to find you; I didn’t know someone like you existed I never knew there could be a relief froh every day, and I don’t knohat I did to deserve it But after having that relief, after having you near ht now it isn’t just because you silence ive h, your love for your son, and this more" He cupped his hand around the side ofquickened as the place where he was touching warain be covered in goose bumps "You feel that"

It wasn’t a question, but I still nodded h his nose, and for the first ti to me why he wanted this, his eyes left mine--­but only to fall over my face for a few seconds "Did I just scare you with everything I said?"

"No," I said so softly, I ht have only mouthed it

Coen’s lips formed a sad smile, and I cupped his face in my hands

"You didn’t I hadn’twell I don’t knohat I’d been expecting, but definitely not so that beautiful"

"Beautiful?"

"Yeah, Coen, that was theanyone has ever said toabout theht and bit down on the inside ofto him, and I didn’t want to ruin thewords

"Reagan--­"

"Only because of Parker Coen, I shen you said that irl you were describing, and I wanted so badly to be her--­"

"Just answer Did I Scare you?"

For long seconds, there was no sound except for our breaths as our faces stayed inches apart Nothing else The cars on the street, the ­people walking by--­everything else was tuned out as I studied the worry in his dark eyes "You didn’t scare uard, so I need to know: Should I be scared? For Parkershould I be scared of your deer, and he’s not in danger fro me near you if there was a chance of that There’s justthere are things that happened over the years in the army that have stayed with s that I wish I’d never seen, things that I can’t talk about even still, and some of the to be worried about Okay?"

"I don’t like that for you," I whispered, and he laughed humorlessly

"I don’t either, Duchess But you help"

He started leaning forward to kissat the screen, he rolled his eyes "Yes?" Putting a hand between my body and the car, he pulled me forward and turned ht nowNo I haven’t beenout with her this whole tiYeah, you know the thing ­people do when they’re getting to know each other?Fuck off, you’re not punching me, because your sister’s fine, I didn’t touch her We’ll be there in a few minutes"

"He won’t really punch you," I said when I started my car back up