Page 67 of Dearest Protector

Even though she was still laid up, her joy and exuberance about living her life in the moment was infectious.

More than anything, I wanted things to stay just like this.

I wanted to watch her keep blossoming every single day until there was nothing but excitement and amusement left in her beautiful eyes.

Until every bit of her previous wariness and disillusionment were nothing but a memory.

Until every dark shadow that had lingered in her gaze was completely obliterated.

Hell, I wanted to wallow in that kind of happiness with her, but there was one very large roadblock looming ahead of me.

I was waiting for a perfect time to tell her, even though I knew that time would never come.

Okay, so maybe it was better to wait until she was fully recovered from her surgery, but even then I knew I’d be hesitant to tell her the truth because there was always going to be that risk that she’d walk away.

Oh, hell no.

That was never going to happen.

Even if she walked out on this relationship once she knew the truth, I’d follow her.

She was mine.

Unless she told me to fuck off someday and I thought she really meant it, I’d be by her side, even if she was pissed off.

Letting her go was never going to be an option.

You don’t have to tell her the truth. Most likely, she’ll never find out. Who’s going to tell her?

I grimaced.

Not telling her was also not an option sinceI’dalways know, and not sharing everything with Ariel at some point would eventually destroy both of us.

It had never been my intentionnotto tell Ariel about the past.

I just hadn’t wanted to do it at a time when she was so damn vulnerable.

I’d balked at the possibility of her walking away when she needed someone to lean on.

However, now that she was rapidly approaching the point where she didn’t needmeanymore,I’d discovered that I neededherso damn much that I was hesitant to tell her everything.

But Iwouldtell her as soon as she was recovered from this surgery and back on her feet.

She deserved to know, and I’d waited long enough.

Finally, I replied, “I’m afraid being a psychic isn’t one of my many talents.”

She squeezed my hand. “And here I thought there was nothing youcouldn’tdo,” she joked.

Hell, there was plenty I couldn’t do.

Most importantly, there was no way I could go back in time and make sure we’d never crossed paths until I’d seen her at my mother’s birthday ball.

But wehadcrossed paths.

And there was nothing I could do to change that fact.

I’d fucked up badly with Ariel Prescott the first time, which would inevitably affect our relationship in the future.

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