A Hero’s Pride(7)

“Ryan?” Kayla’s soft voice drifted from behind him. He turned toward the sound. She was staring at him with so much vulnerability in her gaze that it made his heart clench. “What are you doing here?”

“Yes. What are you doing here?” Her mother asked him with a smile. He had a feeling she knew just what he was doing there.

Purposeful strides brought him to Kayla. He didn’t know what to say. Fuck.

“Look…” He grabbed hold of her small hands and twined his fingers with hers. “I know the last thing you want is to date someone like me.”

She frowned. “Like you?”

“With a physical disability, the need for therapy, and PTSD. But I—”

“Ryan, stop.” She stared at him for a moment. “You’re an idiot.”

His brows rose. That was certainly not what he’d been expecting.

“Your disability has no bearing on whether or not I want to date you.”

“It doesn’t?”

She smiled. “No.”

Hope unfurled in his chest. “I know you were looking for last night to be a clean slate. A good experience to erase the bad ones,” he said, ignoring her mother at his back. “But what if… if we could make it a longer experience? Last night was more than what I could have hoped for and…”

He didn’t know how to word it.

“And?”

“I don’t…” He took another deep breath and continued, “I don’t want to stop seeing where this—we—could go.”

It was the first time since the loss of his leg, when his entire life had changed, that he’d asked a woman for more than one date. He wanted a relationship with Kayla, but his nerves were getting the best of him.

“Are you sure that’s what you want?”

The knot in his throat thickened, and he swallowed. “Yes. I want you. I want to see where a relationship can take us.”

Her smile widened, her eyes bright with tears, and she launched herself into his arms. “I want that too. I want you too.”



THE END