Page 104 of Return to Me Always

I nodded slowly.

"Are you trying to ask if I feel bad about killing him?"

"Yes," I whispered. "Exactly that."

"You may not like this answer."

He let out a sigh while my heart did a little extra beat in anticipation. "You can tell me anything."

"I don't feel bad," he said without hesitation. "And I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

Oh, wow, I didn't know what I had expected. But it hadn't been that.

"And I'm not sure what that says about me," he continued, "if that makes me some kind of monster."

"You're not a monster. I know that in the depths of my soul."

His sultry eyes stared right into mine before he leaned down to kiss me, his lips so sweet and gentle that my heart did that squeezy thing in my chest. But I pulled back because I wasn't finished with our discussion.

"You're not a monster, Tyler. Do you hear me?"

He nodded, but I wasn't sure he really believed me. I wasn't sure what he was thinking.

Looking down, he said, "It's just..."

He paused for so long, I couldn't help but prod him. "Just what?"

Meeting my eyes once more, he went on. "He shot you. He could have killed you. And anyone who threatens you or hurts you, well, I'm not going to hesitate to stop them, in whatever way I have to."

Like my heart could hold any more feelings for this dream man. "I feel the same," I said, reaching up to caress his cheek.

A wide smile broke out on his face. "Do you now?"

I smiled with him, unsure what was so humorous about what I had just said. "Yes, of course."

"So if someone tries to hurt me, you're going to kick their arse?" he said, a teasing glint in those blue eyes I loved so much.

And now I knew what he found so funny. "You don't think I can?"

He raised a brow, looking down at me. "Actually, you know what? I'm pretty sure you could kickmyarse if you wanted to. Maybe I should take down all my wall sconces."

Laughing, I turned my attention back to the papers beside me, and I found another one of me, standing right near the water's edge, the shadowy cliff rising up in the background. And more of me, in front of the castle, picking flowers, smiling. Drawing after drawing that stunned me with beauty. I knew I really didn't look like that. Somehow Tyler had captured me but also embellished me.

When I finished looking through the pile, I could scarcely breathe at what Tyler had managed to portray with his art, and I realized how right he had been to hide them at his friend's.

The magnitude of our history was just, well, it was unbelievable to anyone else. And miraculous. Something otherworldly that I couldn't even begin to understand, and I doubted Tyler did either.

But after looking through them, I felt a closeness with him that went beyond anything I'd ever felt before, and glancing up into his eyes, I could see he felt it too.

Maybe it was the sharing of something so personal to him, maybe it was this beautifully haunted history we had together, but taking a deep breath, I decided right then that I could do what Tyler was asking. Iwoulddo what Tyler was asking.

I gathered the drawings up, trying to arrange them into a neat bundle, and handed them back to Tyler. "So how should we do this?" I asked, slowly removing the sheets from my body.

"You don't have to do this if it makes you uncomfortable," he said, his voice deeper than usual.

But I realized that now I kind of wanted to. After seeing all of his other drawings, I knew I was safe. I knew that Tyler would never hurt me, that Tyler saw me in a different light than I saw myself.

"I want to," I said, uncovering myself completely now.

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