Page 115 of Beneath Your Beautiful
She nodded against my chest. “Okay.”
“I never want you to be scared again.”
Eden took a deep breath and let it out. “Fair warning. Tomorrow morning I’m going to kick your ass.”
I chuckled. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Afterwards, I’ll kiss it better.”
“I’m looking forward to that part even more.”
She tipped her face up to look at me. “I’m looking forward to everything with you.”
Epilogue
Eden
Sometimes snooping was ill-advised but, in my defense, I wasn’t looking for it. I heard the shower turn off and slipped the little velvet box back in the zippered compartment of Killian’s gym bag. I stowed it on the shelf on his side of our closet and slid the door along the track, hiding the evidence. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.
I forgot all about getting ready for our dinner date and collapsed on our king-sized bed, staring at the exposed-wood ceiling beams. Today was the one-year anniversary of the day we met. I let my thoughts wander back in time. To the early days when he tried to keep me at a distance. And to all the hours and the days when he became mine. Heart, body, and soul. Our life together wasn’t a fairytale. It was real, and sometimes hard and painful, but there was magic in the everyday too.
I couldn’t pretend the night that man held a gun to my head didn’t affect me, but I’d sought counseling and worked through it. I was stronger now. Killian gave me the tools to physically fight my own battles if I needed to. He was an amazing teacher with far more patience than I’d ever expected. Mentally and emotionally, I felt stronger too. For Killian, the counseling hasn’t been as easy. He had always believed he needed to lock down his pain, but he sees his shrink once a week, and it’s getting better. He doesn’t come out of it looking like he’s ready to punch a wall or shut himself in a room anymore.
Killian strutted into our bedroom and crossed the hardwood floor, a plush white towel slung around his hips. I rolled onto my side and propped my head on my hand. My gaze traveled up the length of him. Now that he owned a gym, Defiance MMA & Fitness, he’d found his passion again and loved his job and, unbelievably, he was even leaner and fitter than he was when we met. Beads of water trailed down his bare chest, and I raised my gaze to his freshly-shaven face. I stared at him, mesmerized, as if I’d never seen his face before. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this man, and there was no doubt in my mind we belonged together.
“You going like that?” he asked, eyeing my silky green robe. I couldn’t form the words to answer him. All I could do was smile so big it practically split my face in two. I watched the towel drop to the floor and caught the wicked gleam in his eye. “Let’s have our dessert first.”
I laughed. Killian still didn’t eat dessert. Or junk food. But I kept my own stash in a cupboard next to his whole grains and birdseed.
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Do we have time—” The rest of my sentence was swallowed up in his kiss. As it turned out, we didn’t need a lot of time. It was quick and dirty, and I was screaming his name a few minutes later.
He collapsed on top of me and kissed my neck. “Love you.”
“Love you more.”
“It’s not a contest.”
“If it were, I’d win.”
He chuckled and braced his arm to support his weight. I looked into his blue eyes and I could swear they twinkled. He lets me see him now—his joy, his pain, his sadness, his love. It was written on his face, reflected in his eyes, and I loved that he trusted me with all his emotions.
“The answer is yes,” I blurted out. What an idiot. Filters, Eden.
Killian raised his brows. “What are you saying yes to?”
“Anything you ask me, I’ll say yes.” I smiled, all innocence. I didn’t fool him for a minute.
He started laughing, the sound coming from deep inside, his chest rumbling against mine. He was laughing so hard tears sprang to his eyes.
“What’s so funny?”
Killian rolled off me and scrubbed his hands over his face. “What am I going to do with you?”
Yeah, I ruined the surprise. My own stupid fault. “You should have booby-trapped it.”
“You shouldn’t have been looking through my bag.”
“I was going to leave you a little love letter.”
