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“I’m not”

I s sly purple bruises “Whatever you say, babe Now, sleep”

“You’re bossy,” she yawned

“All part of the irresistible package that is led just as I hoped

“You are pretty irresistible,” she ad to her “Thank you for rescuing me, Cash”

She drifted off on my shoulder, and I wrapped my arms around her as she fell asleep Sleep didn’t coht about her admission It was the first time she’d complimented me outside of sex, and I kneas too soon to hope, but I knew she was mine

Mine

It was the last word I thought before sleep claimed me, too

Minx

“I know you’re not ready to hear this yet, but I love you, Minx You’re prickly as hell and you love nothingme a hard time, but it onlybecause you’ve been through six kinds of hell, and I want you to be strong Hell, I can help you be stronger if you want, but da, and I love that you trust h to be vulnerable I promise never to betray that I love you so much Please don’t use this as an excuse to run from me”

I still couldn’t believe he’d said all that to me I didn’t knohat to say or do in reply That’s not entirely true because as soon as he said that scary ‘L’ word I knew that was the strange feeling twistingmy heart Love It was uncomfortable, made it hard to breath, stole all the moisture from my mouth, and made me want to be around him all the time It had to be love

Which meant I was totally screwed

And a coward because I pretended to be asleep while he poured his heart out to me, and when he returned I kept the pretense up because I couldn’t figure out how to respond I kne I felt, but it all was happening too soon How could I trust that this was real? That it wasn’t just wild and crazy sex combined with an intense situation?

I couldn’t

But I also couldn’t have anticipated that awould save me and help me startand selling dresses or that I would have a good man in my life who lovedwoman Cash sahen he looked aters through his hair