Page 28 of Mine to Love
Anything.
The one thing he couldn’t tolerate was anyone putting their hands on a woman. But one carrying a child? Somehow, that made it even worse.
“Please tell me you called the cops,” he said, doing his best to rein in his rage.
“I hit my head and was knocked unconscious, so no,” she said softly. “Gabriel found me and bless his soul, he called 9-1-1.”
“Where the fuck was that dick of an ex-husband?”
“Off fucking his next conquest.”
Miles’ heart dropped like a brick to his toes. “He left you there? Pregnant with his kid? Passed out at the bottom of a staircase?”
“I really didn’t need the blow-by-blow recount.” She sighed. “But yeah. When I came to at the hospital, our little girl had been taken by an emergency C-section. I got to hold her for a little bit before she passed. But Charlie, he never even saw her.”
Miles swallowed. Hard. He had no words for that and what he wanted to say wouldn’t be kind. At all.
And that’s not what Liberty needed.
He eased back onto the steps and looped his arm around her shoulders. “What does Gabriel know about this?”
“He thinks I fell down the stairs and he went along with what Charlie and his parents said. That it was my fault that I lost the baby.”
Miles pulled her tight, kissing her temple. “That wasn’t your fault. What Charlie did was criminal and he should be rotting in a prison cell for what he did to you and your little girl.”
“Maybe so, but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to deal with that. Gabriel was angry with me. You see, there was a stepladder at the top of the stairs because that was where there was a small library and he believed that I was on that, getting a book from a top shelf. I was so distraught and depressed, it took a while before I was able to pull myself out of it and get to a point where I could leave, but Gabriel will always believe that I was reckless.”
“Not if you tell him the truth.”
She leaned her body against Miles, dropping her head on his shoulder. “I’ve spent my entire life trying to protect him from some of the pains of this world. Our parents abandoning him because of who he is. Charlie and what he did to me. To us. Telling him won’t bring back my baby. It won’t change what happened. All it will serve is to make Gabriel angry at me for lying. Or confuse him about trust. I’m sure you think I’m wrong. And maybe I am. But if we’re being completely honest here, I’ve never told a single soul about what really happened that day until right now.”
“I’m glad you felt safe trusting me with it.” He closed his eyes for a moment, doing his best to let go of the anger flowing through his veins, because if he ever saw that man again, his mother would be slapping the handcuffs on him, not Charlie. “I’ll go buy two new phones tomorrow. I’ll take Gabriel with me. It will be a surprise. I’ll tell him it’s a perk of working for me.”
“I can’t let you do that.” She lifted her head. “Truth be told, I can’t afford them right now.”
“I’ll put them on my plan and you can pay me back when you can.” One thing Miles had learned from some of his sisters-in-law, especially Rumor and Bryn, was how important it was to feel that freedom of being on your own. “We can devise a payment plan of some kind. But I’m insisting. Charlie is more dangerous than I suspected and I’m not going to sit here and let him come after you, especially when I know he’s fucking withGabriel. Whether you want to believe it or not, I care about both of you.”
She burst out laughing.
“I don’t see why that’s so funny.”
“Trixi,” she whispered. “Darlene. Andrea. Bonnie. Shall I go on?”
He groaned. “Look. I’m not a saint. And I’m certainly not asking you to move in with me or marry me. But I do like you and I want to see where this can go. Is there something wrong with that?”
“No. But considering what I was married to, you have to understand why I’m leery of dating… you.”
“I don’t cheat. I never have and I never will. Ask any of them and they will tell you that.” He cupped her face, drawing her closer until her lips were so close he could feel her hot breath on his skin. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since we met. I haven’t looked at another woman since. I have no idea what that means. I only know that no other woman has turned my insides to mush the way you have.” He kissed her, hard. It was wet, wild, and it had more passion behind it than he’d been prepared for.
But Liberty had successfully not only stolen his heart.
She’d sucked his soul right out of his body.
He couldn’t see straight and when he did, all he saw was her and if he didn’t explore what it meant, he’d always wonder if he’d either been sitting around waiting for the right woman to tame his crazy ways.
Or if he’d simply been a fool afraid to love.
She fisted his shirt, breaking off the kiss. She blinked. “I can’t do this right now. Gabriel is in the family room,” she whispered. “And you scare the crap out of me.”
