“It’s okay,” he said quietly. “You are who you are. But it’s up to you. If you want me, I’ll hang around and try to get past those walls however I can. I don’t want to lose you. But I feel I’ve haven’t won you. Or even really found you.”
She saw him start to turn away, and the sight made her feel as if huge hands were tearing her heart in two. “Cade?”
Galvanized, she stepped toward him.
“I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he said, his back to her.
“Cade, look at me.”
He turned and waited.
“You have found me. All of me. I know I’m broken, but I don’t want to be. And I’m scared to death of losing you. Please...be patient with me. I’ll die if I lose you.”
He tilted his head a little. “Really?”
“Have I ever lied to you? You got to see the scared, scarred parts of me I’ve never shown anyone. Don’t you get how much I trust you?”
“I’ve been feeling you don’t.”
“Then you’re wrong.” She stepped closer. “Cade, please.”
Now he stepped toward her, and his expression was softening. “You trust me?”
“Completely. I didn’t want to. I admit it. I was so afraid of being hurt again. I’m still afraid. Terrified. But I let you in anyway, and I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d die if you left me. I couldn’t stand the pain of losing you.”
He closed the distance to wrap her in his arms and hold her so tightly she almost couldn’t breathe. “I won’t leave you unless you tell me to. But DeeJay?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think you might ever love me?”
Her heart split open the rest of the way, and understanding filled her with absolute certainty. “I already love you. I am in love with you.”
As she spoke the words, she knew they were the truest she had ever spoken, and when his mouth sealed her words with a kiss, she knew that somehow everything was going to be all right.
With Cade, the future seemed full of promise.
“I love you, DeeJay,” he said when he let her catch her breath. “Don’t you ever try to get away, because I won’t let you. Fight with me all you want, but remember this.”
“Mmm?”
“That no matter how many fights you pick, I’m going to stay.”
Joy rose in her then, a feeling she’d been without for so long she had forgotten how it felt. Blinding, healing, warming joy.
When he swept her up in his arms and carried her to bed, the shadows of her past remained behind. If they ever returned, she knew now how to banish them—in Cade’s arms.
* * * * *