Page 138 of Fierce-Dane

“Were you lying?” he asked.

“No. People fight and I hoped we’d be fine, but I had no idea if that would be the case. I’d like to think you and I had no secrets between us. Not from the first date.”

Which would explain her reaction and hurt.

“No,” he said. “We haven’t.”

“But you didn’t tell me that you asked Zander to do that. That’s a secret, Dane.”

He hadn’t thought of it that way. “I’ll apologize for that,” he said. “I didn’t think of it that way. It’s what I said. I just want to protect you.”

“I don’t need anyone to protect me,” she argued.

“You’re not used to anyone doing it,” he corrected. “But everyone needs it. Maybe I need it too but never had it.”

It took a lot for him to admit that.

“Your sister is always there for you,” she said.

“That’s not what I meant,” he said. “I want a partner in my life to do it. I want to be equal with someone. That’s not easy to find. I thought with you, we had it.”

“We do,” she said. “More than I thought I’d ever find. I was just hurt. I thought you were looking into my background for something I might have withheld from you.”

“Why would you think that?” he asked.

“Trust is hard for me,” she said. “I thought I was over it all.”

“Or maybe things are moving so fast and so well with us that you were scared. That you always worry something is going to go wrong and it’s that control again. If you write the script you know what happens. But guess what, Sloane? Scripts get lost. They have parts deleted and overwritten. Nothing is ever what we think it’s going to be.”

Which he had to learn the hard way with his first wife.

“No,” she said. “It’s not. I should apologize to you too. I shouldn’t have kicked you out and let you talk.”

“So you believe why I did it?” he asked. “My explanation?”

“I do,” she said. “Because I believe in you. Even when I don’t know how this is all going to work out in the future. I realized yesterday that I’d never find what I have with you with anyone else. I don’t want to even look let alone lose you, but I’d never keep you handcuffed to me either if it’s not what you want. Maybe I thought in my mind that you were trying to find a reason to leave.”

He pulled her into his arms. “No. I’m not trying to leave. I’m not letting you kick me out. Just like I didn’t let you try to put space between us when you found out about Shiloh. I’m not going anywhere. Are you?”

“I don’t want to,” she said, sniffling some.

“Then it’s good enough for now,” he said. “Do you love me?”

“I do,” she said.

“I love you too. And this isn’t me talking to you like I do the kids. It’s just me being open and honest.”

“Which is how you are with them too. I was wrong to say what I had. I think my emotions were just running so high.”

“It’s going to happen. The next time we just have to talk it out.”

“And if I need a day or so to wrap my head around it, is that going to be a problem?” she asked.

“No. As long as you tell me you still love me, I’ll believe it. I want to say as long as you love someone you can make it work, but I know that’s not always the case.”

“Yes, it is,” she said, hugging him. “Because if you love someone enough, it’s not all about one person but about compromise. It’s about each other.”

He didn’t have that with Mel and it was just too bad he realized it as late as he had.