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“I’m sorry,” he croaked. “So damn sorry.”
Nebraska untangled her hand from mine, stepped closer to the bed, and reached out to gently touch his forearm. The forearm touch was out of necessity—with Anna holding his hand, the other having an IV sticking out of it, there was nowhere else to touch the man that wasn’t bandaged or bruised.
“We’ll talk later,” she gently returned, injecting enough emotion into her statement to let Charlie know she meant that.
“Sweet—”
“Dad, you were right. There was never a right time to tell me. If you would’ve, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from finding her. If I’d known about Zenith, I would’ve put us all in danger by watching him. You were right, with all of it. I get it now. Family protects family even if what they’re protecting you from is yourself.”
“I lied to you.”
“Dad—”
“I lied and didn’t do right by you, so caught up in my grief of losing your mother. I lied about everything. I never wanted you to feel the sorrow of losing what I’d lost so I told you lies. I made you believe love was weak. I told you…” Charlie trailed off, his words slurring more and more but fighting it to make amends with his daughter.
He loved her, too. He was just shit at showing it the way she’d needed.
“Sleep, Dad.”
“Love’s not…”
“I know, Easton showed me. But before him, you did. I just didn’t know how strong love made you until recently.”
I’m falling for you.
Christ.
I know, Easton showed me.
Christ almighty, that felt good. So fucking good her words heated my skin, penetrated my flesh, and dug so deep I’d never in my whole fucking life forget the feel of it.
I was pulled back into the room when I heard Nebraska say, “We’ll be back later to check on him.”
I glanced at Charlie—his head lolled to the side, totally knocked out—to Anna who was smiling not at her daughter, at me. This one soft and sweet, the kind I got from Nebraska first thing in the morning.
I dipped my chin, slid an arm around Nebraska’s shoulders, pressed a kiss at her temple, and didn’t move back when I asked, “Ready?”
Obviously she wasn’t ready when she asked, “Do you want us to bring you lunch?”
Anna didn’t bother attempting to hide her shock or her gratitude when she answered, “I’d love that.”
“Any requests?”
“I eat anything. Just no—”
“Onions or pickles, I remember,” Nebraska finished for her.
Anna returned her daughter’s earlier gift. Anna’s was in the form of tears, unchecked, nothing hidden, nothing but wide-open honesty.
In that moment she was nearly as beautiful as her daughter, giving my woman what she needed to start healing.
“I thought I suspended you,” Zane said as he rounded the corner in time to watch us step out of the elevator. “Without pay.”
He’d done no such thing, but that didn’t stop him from making shit up to push buttons.
Unfortunately for my boss, he’d underestimated Nebraska.
Her play was brilliant.
