I’m sorry you got dragged into this.” He waved a hand to indicate he meant the house, the entire situation. “Having to stay here, with me, when you should be home with your family.” A pang of homesickness hit her as she thought of her parents and how disappointed they’d been that her leave had been “cancelled”. That wasn’t his fault though.
To ease his concern, she put on a smile. “Yeah, but hey, I could’ve done way worse in terms of roommates.” She gave his leg a playful nudge with her hand.
His eyes warmed at her words and touch. The firelight brought out the deep bronze undertones in his hair, flickering in tones of gold and orange. She wanted to run her fingers through it to find out if it was as soft as it looked.
He shook his head slightly at her, looking amused. “Why’d you have to be so sweet?”
She shrugged and countered, “Why’d you have to be so damned good looking?

It’s complicated, and I won’t pretend that part of me still feels betrayed by what he did. But once I got home, after a while it dawned on me that I had a choice to make if I wanted to move on with my life. Just because our pasts are part of us, it doesn’t mean they have to define us. I refused to give my past that kind of power over me. So I chose to let it go.”

“How could you let that go?” he asked, his tone and expression incredulous. “How could you let that go after what he did to you? What they did to you?”
“Forgiveness,” she answered. She knew it sounded overly simplistic and probably cheesy, but that’s exactly what had helped her break from the past. “Hassan saw himself as a patriot, first and foremost. He did what he had to in order to accomplish his mission, and did what he could to protect me at the same time. It’s why he married me, so I was off limits to the others.” She was thankful for that too, in hindsight. The alternative was beyond bearing. “He risked everything to get me out of that hellish situation, and wound up paying for my freedom with his life.” Taya paused to pull in a slow breath. “I’ve forgiven him for the rest of it. I had to, to be able to go on. But I didn’t forgive him for his sake. I forgave him for mine.”
She needed Nathan to understand the difference. “Forgiveness was what earned me my true freedom.” He was quiet a moment.
“Well then, you’re a better person than me,” he said in a low voice, his eyes burning with emotion.

Guys said you did good today.” He made a face. He’d done his job, nothing more. God knew he’d have taken on any threat to protect Taya. “Wish I’d been able to get more out of the bastard before he went to his seventy-two virgin dating service in the sky.

I miss him,” she whispered, her voice cracking.
His heart constricted at the grief on her face. “I know, honey.” He lifted a hand to stroke the soft waves of her hair. A soothing, reassuring gesture, but to him it meant so much more. His muscles knotted with the need to cup her face between his hands and kiss her the way he’d been dying to for so long. He wanted to kiss away the sadness and the grief, replace it with the heat and tenderness burning inside him.

Unable to hold back a second longer, Blake reached out and cradled the side of her face, savoring the feel of that silky soft skin against his palm. His blood thrummed heavily through his veins when she sucked in a sharp breath and stared up at him with that mixture of hope and need that tied him in knots. “So what now?” he asked softly, rubbing his thumb gently across her cheekbone. “What do you want?”
“You. That’s it, Blake. There’s no riddle to decipher, no code to break. I want you.”
Staring deep into his eyes, she reached up and wrapped her fingers around his wrist, holding him there while she rubbed her cheek against his palm.
The tenderness in the gesture turned his heart over. Lust and satisfaction blasted through him. The painful pressure in his chest eased, relief sweeping aside the doubt and uncertainty. His gaze dropped to her mouth, a silent groan rumbling up inside him when her little pink tongue stole out to lick across her lower lip in a quick, almost nervous motion. Tightening his hand on her face, he wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her in close, until only an inch or two of space separated them.
“I want you too,” he murmured, and kissed her.

The idea filled a place inside him he hadn’t even realized was empty. Coming home to find Jordyn waiting for him every night? Eating dinner with her, sleeping beside her and making love to her every night? That was his idea of heaven.
“I’d love it if you stayed with me. Sounds perfect.”
She sighed again, the sound quiet and contented. Utterly satisfied. “Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?” She pressed a string of kisses over his chest then laid her cheek against him. “I’ve wanted you for so long. Part of me still can’t believe this is finally happening.”

A knot of emotion clogged his chest. He hugged her close, rested his head close to hers on the pillow and closed his eyes. “I’m just sorry it took me so long to see everything straight.” He felt her smile form against his skin.

“That’s okay. You were more than worth the wait.”

“You too, angel.”
She’d been his constant all these years. Devoted friend, fierce defender, sounding board and confidant. Now she’d be his lover and partner as well. Blake was never letting her go.