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Her heart lurched at the torture and pain in his voice.
He reached for the lamp on the side table and turned it on.
Guilt lined his face, and Candi knew deep inside he hadn’t meant it.
Dallas wasn’t the type of man to lay his hands on a woman.
We both truly have complicated backgrounds.
“No, just shocked and scared me more than anything.”
With a curse, he knelt on the bed and sat beside her. Tipping her chin up, he studied her neck, running his fingers along her skin.
“I’m so sorry,” he murmured. He sat back and met her gaze.
She nodded, seeing he was sincere.
Lamont had never apologized or taken responsibility for all the times he’d laid a hand on her. It was always her fault.
“It’s okay.” She reached out and took his hand. She cradled it between her two and brought it up to her lips and pressed a kiss to it.
This wasn’t the same as with Lamont. He’d thrived off of seeing her pain and her tears.
Dallas was nothing like him.
“It’s not. I could have really hurt you,” he said gruffly.
“You wouldn’t hurt me. Not on purpose.” She slid next to him and put his arm around her.
He leaned back against the headboard and allowed her to snuggle into his side.
He gripped her tight to him and blew out a deep sigh.
“I’m supposed to be protecting you, not scaring the crap out of you,” he muttered.
She ran a hand along his naked chest. Slid her fingers along the soft curls that lined his pectoral muscles.
They sat in silence.
Curiosity filled her. What had he been dreaming about? Was it from his time in the service?
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
Dallas didn’t respond, and Candi thought maybe he was ignoring her question until he blew out a deep breath.
“I spent basically half my life in the Marines. I signed up on my eighteenth birthday.”
Chapter Nine
Dallas found his life story spilling from his lips before he realized it. Candi didn’t say a word.
She just listened.
He spoke of being that youthful, innocent man who’d entered the service with the dreams of protecting and serving his country.
His parents, Grady and Leah McNeil, had been proud of him. He hadn’t known what he wanted to do with his life when he’d graduated. He hadn’t been the best student, and after a grueling day of working in a factory, he remembered a recruiter who had stopped at the high school and spoke with a bunch of students.
It hit him like an epiphany.
