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I will never regret going to get you. How could I have lived with myself if I hadn’t saved my baby brother?
I need to make something good happen out of this past year.”
“I forgive you.” Her eyes flashed hard, then soft again. “But I get the feeling you don’t want to be forgiven.”
Demons are hard little buggers to vanquish. In my experience.”
Demons are hard little buggers to vanquish.
He was entitled to his demons.
“Please don’t stop,” he groaned. “That feels so … damn … amazing. No one ever touches me.”
She didn’t know much about Jared Connor, but she was certain of that much. He was a good man.
“Please don’t get implants. These are perfect just the way they are.”
They do? Who sneaks out after getting lucky enough to spend the night in a beautiful woman’s bed?
Who had he been kidding all these years? He wanted a woman as much as the next guy. He wanted a woman he could take care of, a woman to wake up next to, a woman he could give pleasure to. If he could find such a woman, he would cherish her forever.
Maybe if he could just give Phlox Miller enough pleasure, she would stay with him. Or, failing that, let him stay with her. He would settle for that. He didn’t need her to love him. He just wanted her to let him hang around. Be her caretaker forever.
No one smiled at him that way, ever.
Phlox could take care of herself ... but sometimes it was nice not to have to.
All she wanted was one man. One good man.
He had been shocked the first time he saw them, sure, because he wasn’t expecting them. But now that he was looking at them—just
If I could marry her, I would wear a powder blue tuxedo and white shoes.
No offense to his brother, but it was a woman who was making him happy—not money. It was as simple as that. And as utterly, heartbreakingly complicated.
“How do you know you will? Why not give her the opportunity to decide whether you will or not?”
His worst scars weren’t the ones on his skin.
Why do men have to be the strong, silent type?
He was good at that anyway, ignoring pain.
He had admitted to being in the city before, watching her. She hoped he was watching her now.
I doubt that you really deserve a woman like her, but she seems to be in love with you so man the hell up and be her date. Kind regards, C. Henderson.
His apartment held memories of her and she hadn’t even been here yet.
She deserved a better man. Damn it, he was going to be that man.
attractive. Even among her loved ones, it had seemed
“But you hate to be out in public.” Jared’s eyes searched her face, then he shook his head as though he were helpless before her. “I hate being without you more.”
“I’ve been a coward. I freely admit that. And your assistant is right. I don’t deserve you.” He bent his head to hers. “But I don’t want to lose you so I’ll do whatever it takes to be a man who does deserve you.”
When you save a child from a burning house—as a child yourself—you should have your bravery bona fides. You shouldn’t have to take shit from anyone ever again.
He would always go where she needed him to be.
Jared mentally added a few kids to the picture in his mind. Now he and Phlox were snuggled up on the sofa, two kids (a boy and a girl) lying on their stomachs on the floor in front of him, their heads propped up on their elbows the way Aidan and Emma did. In front of each was a separate bowl of popcorn so they didn’t fight over it the way he and Jake used to do. One or both would fall asleep halfway through the movie and Jared would scoop them up and carry them back to bed, smooth their hair (white blonde like Phlox’s) away from their sweaty little faces. He would stand over their beds and
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He wanted Phlox Miller. He wanted her in his bed every night, wanted their children sleeping down the hall, wanted to spend summers at the house in Connecticut watching the kids do cannonballs into the pool while he lounged in the hot tub with her. Damn it, he would be the one to get that installed.
He would take care of her. This was it. She was it. The one.
When you look the way I do, you can’t be mediocre.”
“You don’t want much, do you?” “I want whatever you can give me.” “My heart’s in pretty bad shape, as far as gifts go.” “I don’t believe that.”
“I love your scars, Jared,” she said into his skin, “because they’re yours. And because you don’t look like anyone else.”
She loved this man, this solid, sexy, tender, hurting … beautiful man.
“God, I love you.” His mouth mashed down on hers hard, not an aggressive kiss but a desperate one, like she might disappear if his need were too weak. “No one has ever looked at me the way you do. When I see all that kindness and … acceptance in your eyes, I can barely believe it.” “Believe it, Jared. Please believe it. I love you.”
It would kill me, Phlox, and I say that as a man who nearly was killed once.”
“So these are tears of joy, then?” Phlox thumbed away the wetness from his cheeks. He shook his head. “Tears of ecstasy. Stupid happy ecstasy.”
“You know what I don’t understand?” His voice was low and quiet. “Why he couldn’t have just left. Walked away, abandoned us. It would have been better for him in the long run, too. I don’t know why he felt he had to kill us all.”
Some people just aren’t good.”
“You’re healing me,” he said. “I’m not totally there yet but every day I spend with you is making me a better person.”
“Emma wants an aunt. She’s under the impression that they are cooler than moms.”
“I’d survive.” “But I wouldn’t.
“I know you deserve a better man. But you’re making me a better man every day. Will you take a chance on my getting there eventually?” “You’re the best man I’ve ever known.”
“Well, as the caretaker I could do that. If you marry me, I would make you a new ring every day.”
“Say yes, Phlox, and make me the happiest billionaire caretaker who ever lived.”
