Steal Her Heart (Kaid Ranch Shifters #1)(20)

Maris’s heart broke for him. What an awful thing to happen to a person, what an awful thing to bear. She padded across the carpet, closed the space between them, and then she did something she swore she would never do to another man.

She slipped her arms around him and hugged him.

He was the one who tensed now like that unbroke pony, but that was okay. “How long ago?” she asked softly.

“Ten years, feels like a hundred. Every day has dragged on since.”

“You must’ve been very young when you married.”

“Young, yeah, but I was man enough to know I wanted her. A person like me…how do I explain? A creature like me, we pick one person that gets real important. And we devote our lives to protecting that one person. But I failed within a month of marryin’ her. And I wanted to die after it happened, but I didn’t. I’m hard to kill. I just kept breathing. Kept waking up numb until that was the habit. And I was good with that.”

“Good with what?”

“The numbness.” He dragged his hand down his beard, then patted her back, then after a few seconds of that, he pulled her closer. And he hugged her, too. “And then you came along, and you’re ruining everything.”

His heart was pounding so hard against her cheek. He’d just given her something special. “I think that was the most offensive compliment I’ve ever received.”

He huffed a breath, as if he’d been holding it in.

Maris leaned her head back and scratched his back gently, looked into his eyes. They swam wish such uncertainty. “Anything else?”

Bryson parted his lips like he wanted to say more, but then bit the bottom one and shook his head. “I think that’s enough for now.”

“You want the rest of my beer?”

“Yep,” he said with a decisive nod.

“I’m going to stop hugging you now.”

“I changed my mind. I don’t want the beer,” he said with a teasing smile.

She giggled. Giggled. Her. In a moment that wasn’t funny, but he’d drawn a laugh from her.

She eased back and handed him her Bud Light. He downed that thing like it was water.

“It’s okay to run now,” he murmured.

“Okay,” Maris said lightly and walked out of the room. She smiled when she heard his murmured, “Shit,” behind her.

She ran all the way to the kitchen to grab a pair of fresh beers, and then she ran all the way back. By running, she meant hobbling on her throbbing ankle as fast as it would allow her.

The look on his face sure was a sight when she came back in the room. He looked about as shocked as a man could look as she handed him the cold bottle and tinked her own against his in a silent cheers.

“Don’t you want to ask me questions?” he asked. “Girls like asking a lot of questions.”

“I think you’ll tell me what I want to know when you feel like it. And, honestly, that’s the way I prefer it. I want it given to me. I don’t want to have to ask. Means more if you share on your own.”

“Okay.” He huffed a breath and nodded, then repeated, “Okay.” Gesturing to the room, he asked, “What is happening with your moment?”

“Want to feel better?”

His smile was sad. “Whatever you’re about to say, I don’t think it’ll make me feel better.”

She inhaled deep and sat on the edge of her and Dallas’s bed. It creaked. It was one of those four poster ones painted antique white. She traced one of the missing paint chips on the metal post closest to her as she told him, “I fell really hard for a man who didn’t fall for me back. Only he wasn’t brave enough to cut me loose and let me move on, so he dragged me along for five years, married me, built a life with me, and then he left me for a girl he’d been in love with the whole time. I felt the disconnect, but I thought it was my fault. That’s what manipulators do to you. They make you take blame that doesn’t belong to you. If I just tried harder, or maybe if I was a better wife and met his needs before he even asked, maybe he would’ve seen my value. Only he wasn’t lookin’ at me. I wasn’t ever enough.” She bit the side of her lip and refused to tear up. “He was lookin’ at her. Dallas broke up with me cold-hearted, and then he took my equipment, left me with the debt, left me to run this place alone, left me to work myself to the bone, while he used my tractors on her land and built the life with her I had begged him for.”

Bryson’s eyes flashed that light brown. They were like mood eyes, changing when he got upset. She was catching on now. She would be able to tell when she pissed him off easy just by the way his eyes looked. He dipped his gaze to the carpet and chewed the corner of his lip. “Did she know about you?”

“Yes.”

“Was he sorry for what he done to you?”

“No.”

“’Scuse me.” He did an about face and left the room. Just…walked out. The front door slammed a few moments later.

He was angry. She didn’t know what to do but sit and wait. She wasn’t used to a man’s anger on her behalf, only a man’s anger that was aimed at her.

A few minutes later, he came back in. His eyes were dark brown again, but there was a lingering intensity there as he came right through the bedroom door and across the room to her. He slid one hand to her waist and dragged her into him, then leaned down and kissed her.