As though he can sense my eyes on him, my thoughts on him, he lifts his head and captures my gaze with his own. We stare at each other for countless seconds until he gets up and walks to the bedside.
He bends to press his lips to my forehead, still cradling the sleeping Jenner. “You’re my life. You know that, right?”
I nod, emotion clogging my throat like cars on a congested interstate.
“Thank you for marrying me. And forgiving me. And for the gift of our children,” he says softly. “But most of all for your love. You’re making me the man I’ve always wanted to be.”
“You’ve been that man all along. I saw him from the start.”
“Thank you for not giving up on me.”
“I didn’t have a choice. I love you too much.”
“You could never love me too much. It’s impossible.”
“I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like I couldn’t be me without you.”
“It’s only fair. I know I wouldn’t be me without you. When you started bleeding,” he says, his voice cracking and his eyes filling with tears. “Shit! I just . . . I couldn’t . . . There was nothing I could do except hold your hand. And it was so cold . . .”
Tag drops his head to my chest, right over my heart, and I run my fingers into his silky hair.
“I’m not going anywhere. And next time, we’ll stay in Atlanta.”
He raises his head and locks his shining eyes onto mine. “Next time? You mean this didn’t scare you out of having more?”
I shake my head confidently. “No. These are little miracles of our love. I’d have a dozen of them if I could.”
His smile is happy again. Excited, even. “Well, you know, we could start working on that. I mean, I am your husband and I guess it’s my duty to . . . you know.”
“Yeah, I guess you’ll just have to suffer through . . . you know,” I say with a grin. Nothing seems to impair our sex life. It’s even more amazing now than it was in the beginning. And it was pretty damn amazing then.
“I love you, Weatherly Barton.”
“And I love you, Tag Barton.”
When he leans down to press his lips to mine, our son whimpers in his arms, his grayish blue eyes opening to lock on to mine. Tag scoots into bed beside me and I’d swear for a second that I could see Jenner smiling up at me.
If you missed the first book in the Tall, Dark, and Dangerous series, turn the page for a preview of
STRONG ENOUGH
Available now from Berkley
PROLOGUE
Jasper
Seventeen years ago
“What’s he gonna do, Mom?” I try to wriggle away from her, but she holds me too tight. I feel like something bad’s gonna happen, but I don’t know why. “Maybe I can make him not be mad. Let me go!”
“Shhh, baby. It’ll be okay. You have to stay here with me or he’ll take you, too.”
My heart’s beating so hard it hurts, like it did that time when Mikey Jennings punched me in the chest. Not even my mother’s arms around me makes the pain go away, and her hugs usually make everything better.
My eyes water as I stare out the window. I can’t blink. I’m afraid to. I don’t want to see what Dad’s going to do to my older brother, Jeremy, but I can’t look away either.
The longer I watch, the less I can move, like my feet are glued to the floor and my arms are strapped to my sides. It feels like I can’t even breathe. I can only stare at the cold, gray water and the two shapes moving closer to it.
I see Jeremy’s fingers clawing at my dad’s hand where it pulls him by his hair. It’s not doing him any good, though. Dad isn’t letting go. Jeremy’s feet sometimes drag along the ground, his ratty tennis shoes kicking up mud and grass, but my father never slows down. I can tell by the way his other fist is balled up that he’s mad. Madder than usual, maybe.
Jeremy got in trouble at school again today. They called Dad at work instead of Mom, so she didn’t even know until Dad brought Jeremy home. By then it was too late.
“No kid of mine’s gonna act like a monster. There’s something wrong with you, boy,” Dad was saying when they walked through the door. Jeremy was in front of him. Dad pushed him so hard, my brother fell and slid across the kitchen floor.
There really is something wrong with Jeremy. The doctor said so. He said Jeremy needed medicine, but Dad doesn’t care. It just makes him mad, makes him lose his temper with Jeremy even more.
I was standing at Mom’s side when Dad stopped in front of her. He put his finger in her face until it almost touched her nose. His eyes were that red color all around the edges like they are when he’s getting ready to whip Jeremy. “You’d better hope this little shit doesn’t turn out the same way.” He slapped me in the side of the head when he said it. It made my ear sting like a bee got me, but I didn’t even say “ouch.” I didn’t say anything. I knew better than to open my mouth. “One’s enough.”