“Of course I am. Did you think I’d leave you alone overnight?”
“I hoped not,” I replied. “But I thought, with someone else watching, maybe it would be okay.”
“Someone else isn’t good enough. It’s my job to watch over you.”
I frowned, and he slipped his fingers under my chin. “What?”
“It seems to me I’m a lot of work. I don’t know if I’m worth all the trouble.”
“I disagree.”
“All this time, all the stress. What do you get from all this, Damien? It feels so one-sided.”
He studied me, lifting his hand and tracing a finger over my cheek. His touch was gentle, his voice filled with affection when he spoke. “What do I get, Raven? You want to know what I get?”
“Yes.”
He smiled, his blue eyes warm and tender. “I get you. Despite the worry, the stress, despite everything, the bottom line is, I get you. You mean so much to me, I find it hard to express it.” He took my hand and laid it on his chest right over his heart so I could feel the steady thump under my palm. “I get to love you, Raven. You’re mine. It’s a gift I never thought I would have.”
I blinked, my own heartbeat picking up. “You—you love me?”
His gaze locked on mine. “I love you. Totally. Completely. Without end.”
His words, spoken so simply, with so much emotion underscoring them, went straight to my heart, healing the ragged edges still left from the betrayal I had suffered. Tears filled my eyes as I saw the emotion his eyes held. Love. Love for me.
“I love you too,” I murmured. “I think I have from the first time you held me.”
He wrapped me in his embrace, his strength surrounding me. “I’ll hold you for the rest of my life, Raven.”
His promise stitched the final tear and made me understand something.
It wasn’t a place I had been looking for. It was Damien. In his arms, I was home.
Damien was my home.
And I never wanted to leave.