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To my beautiful Fin, Know that I would trade it all for one more anything…
Took her in my arms and lay with her for eternity, like I was supposed to.
My heart shudders violently, reminding me that it’s broken beyond repair.
And I’m left to endure this life without her. Left with no heart and only half a soul and the knowledge that I’ll never love another woman for the rest of my days. I promised her that when she closed her eyes for the final time, and it’s a promise I will keep with my dying breath.
“The way you looked at her. Like you would hang the moon for her.” She sighs softly. “Every woman deserves a man who looks at her like that. Everyone deserves someone who adores them. Someone who would die for them.”
“Why?” The bitter laugh sounds unnatural coming from her lips. “You think there’s ever a reason to do this to someone you’re supposed to love?”
“But hope’s a dangerous thing, right? Sometimes I think it’s the most powerful force in the universe.”
“We can live without most things, even love. But without hope, well, we have nothing left worth living for.”
“But there’s a ray of light to be found in even the darkest of situations.”
“Brad set the bar way too low if you think Lorenzo Moretti is sweet.”
The fact that her piece-of-shit husband has done that to her so many times before that she has a usual recovery window makes my blood fucking boil.
What she actually means is that she doesn’t think that she’s worth the time or the trouble. That motherfucker really did a number on her.
But I also want him to stay because I feel something in his presence, something I haven’t felt in such a long time that I don’t even know how to describe it. Safe? Seen?
This woman clearly lives in a world that is so far removed from mine.
She looks just like … Just like what, asshole? Just like a ray of fucking sunshine.
Turning to me, he rolls his eyes. “I’ll go talk my wife down before she gets arrested for punching a cop in the face.”
“Actually, I kind of missed you.”
“I guess I’ve gotten used to your background noise,” I say with a shrug. “It’s quiet in here without you.”
“I know I talk way too much,” she says. “Brad hated it. He was always telling me to shut my yammering. Sometimes I think that made me worse.”
“You talk the exact right amount, Mia.”
“Well, I kinda missed you at dinner,”
“It’s a pleasure to watch a beautiful woman enjoy her food.” I blink at him. He thinks I’m beautiful?
“For the record, I think your ass, and the rest of your body, is fucking perfect.”
I’ve known plenty of men like Brad Mulcahy, with the emotional maturity of a child but the body of a heavyweight boxer. It’s a fucking miracle Mia didn’t leave that house of theirs in a box.
Max glares at me as we climb into the car. “Threatening to have your baby sister deal with pimps just to prove a fucking point isn’t fucking funny, jackass.”
“You don’t have to be in control here because I am. I’ve got you, sunshine. Nothing bad is going to happen when I have my hands on you. Understand?”
But I guess I already knew that. Mia Stone might just be the strongest woman I’ve ever known.
“I want the whole package. I want kids and maybe even to get married again one day. I want a man who looks at me like he’d hang the moon if I asked him to. And if I stay here much longer, I’ll never summon the strength to leave and find that for myself.”
But love is always worth the risk. Even if your heart gets broken in the process. What’s the point of living if you won’t let your heart soar?”
“You’re a very difficult woman to let go of, Mia.”
“Because I was a fucking fool, and I had no idea how much I needed you until you weren’t here anymore. And now that you’re home, I don’t want to spend another night without you, Mia.”
Because of Mia, I reclaim the man I once was and thought I could never be again. As her tears soak through my shirt and onto my chest and she clings to me like I’m the only anchor in her storm, a newfound peace settles over me. This, right here, is where I’m meant to be.
“I saw us old and gray with our kids and our grandkids.”
“I want every single fucking second of it.”
“But?”
much. All of it.” “W-why are you doing this to me?”
“So fucking much. With everything I am. I am yours, Mia. Every part of me, even the broken ones. You’re way too fucking good for me, but if you’ll have me, I will never let you spend another second of your life doubting how much I love you.”
“A very smart woman once told me that love is always worth the risk.”
This woman has such a beautiful fucking soul, and I don’t know what I ever did to deserve her.
