Dark Sexy Knight (A Modern Fairytale)(67)
She took a sobbing, gasping breath and leaned forward, her forehead resting on the steering wheel. “I don’t know what’s real.”
“You’re real,” he said, panic rising in his chest. Her reaction was scaring him. She wasn’t looking at him, wasn’t talking to him. “We’re real. What we have is real.”
She lifted her head and looked at him, exhaustion and sorrow warring for dominion on her face. “Good things don’t happen to me.”
“What do you mean, baby?”
“I don’t get to have good things, good luck.” Her brow furrowed. “I get bad luck.”
“Sunsh—”
“I wasn’t wanted,” she said quietly. “I was a mistake. A surprise. Whatever you want to call it. I wasn’t planned, and I knew it. I always knew it. Good things happened to other people, to people who were wanted, not to me. Ten little girls rode their bikes to school, but mine got stolen. The chicken pox skipped every kid in town but me. My boyfriend dumped me for the head cheerleader. My other boyfriend dumped me when my life got complicated. My parents died within weeks of each other, and you know what I inherited? A brother with an IQ of sixty-one and a pecan farm that was killed by a tornado. Know how many other farms in Camilla got hit besides ours? None. Zero.”
When she started speaking again, her voice was stronger and angrier, and Colton wasn’t sure whether he should be grateful or wary, because he felt the same storm swirling within her that often swirled within him. “When I moved here, I could only afford a room in a shit-bag, flea-ridden motel, where my brother and I were harassed daily, but hey, it was a roof, right? Except we couldn’t find jobs, and the money disappeared day by day until we were a minute away from a homeless shelter, which would have meant being split up—Ryan with the men and me with the women. And you know what that would have meant? That I couldn’t look after him, couldn’t protect him. That’s what should have happened! Don’t you see? All I have ever known was bad luck.”
She sobbed, covering her mouth with the back of her hand for a moment. “Except that you came along. And the moment I met you, you changed all of that. You found us jobs and gave us a home and protected us.”
The tears were coursing down her cheeks now, and it took all his strength not to reach for her, because he was desperate to reassure her and comfort her, but he sensed she needed to say everything. He nodded, encouraging her with his silence to continue. “Suddenly, for the first time in my life, I had good luck. No. I had the best luck. I had you. And it was like all those tough knocks were worthwhile because you were the prize. I had to have all that bad luck so the scales would be cosmically balanced when you came along.”
She paused for a moment, sobbing, dropping his eyes. “Is my bad luck back already?”
“No, baby. No, I promise,” he said gently. He couldn’t bear it anymore, so he reached out and took her hand. It was small and cold, and he held it between his like a precious treasure.
She wove her fingers through his, seizing his eyes. “I’m in love with you. Losing you would break my heart, Colton. I can’t . . . I can’t . . .”
“Stop,” he said, reaching across her lap and unbuckling her seat belt. “Please stop.”
He pulled her gently out of the car and swooped her into his arms. She rested her head against his shoulder as he kicked the car door closed and strode into the house. He didn’t stop until he reached his room, placing her on the bed and lying down beside her.
“I didn’t realize how much I . . . I mean, seeing her touching you . . .,” she started crying harder.
Colton pressed his lips to her hair, tightening his arms around her shuddering body.
“If what you saw between me and Sandy today makes you think you’re losing me, you’re wrong. You’re so f*cking wrong, it’s not even . . .” He paused, blinking his eyes against a burn of tears. “I am totally in love with you, sunshine. And I need you just as badly as you need me. You’re sunshine and laughter. You’re patience and understanding. You give your whole heart and only ask for mine in return. You have it. You have all of it, baby. You’re the luckiest thing that has ever happened to me. You are my sweet place, Verity Gwynn, and the only way you’re losing me is if you walk away because I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”
She looked up at him, her eyes glistening but her lips turning up for the first time since she’d gotten home. She reached for his face, drawing it to hers. His lips found hers effortlessly, kissing her gently, tasting the salt of her tears and pledging that he wouldn’t let something like this happen again, hurt her again. He’d known from the very beginning that he didn’t deserve someone as sweet and lovely as Verity Gwynn, but by God, now that she belonged to him, he would protect her heart from knowing pain like today ever again.
She leaned away from him, meeting his eyes, sighing softly with relief and exhaustion. “Tell me what I saw.”
***
Feathering his fingers through her hair, he told her how Sandy had surprised him in the barn, boldly coming on to him and not taking no for an answer. What Verity had seen was Sandy kissing him and him pushing her away. And why didn’t he run after her? Because he turned to Sandy at the last minute and told her to stay the f*ck away from him.
She knew he was telling the truth. She could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice, taste it in his kiss, and feel it in the steady pounding of his heart against hers. He loved her. She would stake her life on it.