His shoulders slumped as if he’d dropped a heavy weight. “You do?”
“Yes.” I was grappling to get rid of the sandpapery coarseness in my throat, but I wanted him to know for certain.
He pressed light kisses onto the side of my temple, hugging me tighter to him. “Damnit Mia. I don’t know what I would have done if something happened to you. I would have had to kill someone,” he confessed.
I lifted my hand with the little bit of strength I had left. “No.” I slid it down to wrap back around his waist and laid my head on his chest. Everything was as it should have been. I was safe in the arms of my man. I looked back up at his red-rimmed eyes with emotion.
“You have to promise me one thing,” he said with fierce determination.
“What?” I croaked.
“That you won’t betray me again, and that you come to me next time. I won’t turn you away if you do,” he said tenderly. “I want to be with you. You and me, but I need to be able to trust you, Mia.”
I locked fingers with him as we walked out. “You can trust…” I said with my voice still cracking. “…things got out of hand.” My head was still throbbing, but I wanted to say what needed to be said. “…thinking of my mother, who I am loyal to. And you. That’s why I came to tell you about Doc.”
He nodded as his dazzling blue eyes looked down at me, crinkling up at the corners. “Then we are going to be just fine. It’s all okay. I got you now, Mia,” he whispered. In the middle of dust and extreme chaos, he stole a breathtaking kiss from me.
We’d made it through the storm, and that’s all that mattered in the end.