Page 29 of Only Yours
He lifts my chin up and stares deep into my eyes. What I find there gives me hope. What I find there is acceptance, understanding and I think…love.
Chapter 28
The more I get to know her, the more I want her. -Brian
Brian
Reina’s dark eyes search mine for some sign that I understand what she’s been through. Sadly, I do, and I’m mad as hell for my girl and her friend.
I reach for her hand. “You were hurting, Reina. I can’t blame you for things you did before I came into your life. I wasn’t exactly a choir boy.” I wince, thinking of the one-night stands of the past. When you meet the One, all those people seem like a waste of time. And now after hearing Reina’s story, I know she’s it for me, even more than I did before.
“So, you understand why I’ve had such a hard time letting you in? Why it’s been so hard for me to give you a chance?” she asks quietly.
I nod. “Of course, I do, princess. Anybody that’s been through what you have would feel the same. But maybe it’s time to take a chance on someone, hopefully me. You can’t hide away forever.”
She shakes her head and gives me a sad smile. “Exactly what Amit said. How did the two of you get so wise?”
I cup her chin in my hand. “We both care about you, and we both want what’s best for you. You and Amit have been hidingbehind each other for a long time. And I get it. I really do. I can’t imagine what it was like to see someone you thought you cared about hurting your friend.”
She blinks rapidly again but doesn’t manage to hold back the tears. They spill onto her cheeks. “It was the worst day of my life. Seeing Amit that way…I thought he was gone. I thought that I was about to lose another man that I loved, just like I lost my dad.”
I wipe away another tear with the back of my knuckle. “What happened to your dad? You’ve never said.” I snort. “You know the shitshow that was my father. What was yours like?”
For a moment, there’s a happy light back in her eyes. She has the spark that signals my Reina is in there. Then just as quickly that light is snuffed out.
“Like I’ve said before, I don’t remember much about him. He, um…” she bites that lower lip again and I press my finger to it.
“No secrets, Reina. Whatever it is, we’ll be fine.”
She releases her lip and takes a deep breath. “He was a soldier.”
“A soldier?” I ask, confused. Reina never mentioned that her father was in the military. That I would remember.
“Yep, in the Army actually.” She chuckles. “My mom met him when she came to the states for college, and he was stationed in Savannah at the Army base. She fell head over heels. They even wrote each other while he was on deployment. That’s where I got the idea. I used to go through those old letters in the attic and think how romantic it must have been, writing back and forth.” Her amused gaze meets my mildly shocked one. “Sounds like a familiar story, huh?”
“Did he die on duty?” I squirm, thinking of the deaths of my fellow soldiers.
She smirks. “No, he died of a heart attack while on vacation with his mistress. It happened down in the Bahamas. Nani said it was like lightening hitting multiple times when they found out. Boom. Your husband is dead. Boom. He was with his mistress at the time. Boom. Guess what? He wasn’t on deployment. He came back weeks ago and they were sunning it in the Bahamas. My mother was humiliated.”
“Shit.” I honestly can’t think of anything else to say. No wonder her mom seemed to hate me. I’m a soldier, just like her husband.
“I was too little to know what was going on, but when I was old enough, I asked Nani all about it. She told me the truth because that’s what she does. She doesn’t believe in hiding things from me.”
I bring her hand to my lips and kiss the back of it. “Yep, she seemed like a straight shooter. She was probably fun to grow up with.” I’m trying to steer the conversation back to something lighter. This was not the day I expected to have at all.
Her sweet grin hits full force. “She was. She wasn’t like most people’s grandmothers. She would show up to pick me up in these loud-colored saris and she was always unapologetic about who she was. If someone attempted to make fun of her accent, she would say, “I took the time to learn English, perhaps you should take the time to learn some manners.” She was the absolute best. My mother just stayed away, always at work, becoming the big-time neurosurgeon. The only time she showed up was to lecture me about being better.”
I nudge her with my shoulder. “Well, I don’t know if it means much, but I think you’re pretty great as is.”
When she runs her finger along my bottom lip and responds huskily with, “It means more than you know,” my body goes on high alert.
I kiss the tip of her finger and she shudders. “Princess Reina, I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry you had to go through all that.”
She gives me a half smile. “I’m just sorry I hit you with so much heavy stuff the moment you got here. This is not the homecoming I had planned for you.”
I raise an eyebrow. “You had something planned?”
She throws her head back and laughs. “Oh yeah. I have some sexy lingerie at the dorm that I was going to wear after I threw your sister out.” She glances down at the large sweatshirt and sweatpants she’s drowning it. “This was not the outfit I had planned at all.”
