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Sofia nodded. So had she.
“It’s made me think of what I do, how I behave. Showed me my pattern, I suppose.” It was clear he was struggling to find the right words, but his sincerity shone through. “I realized that I push away the people who matter to me in order to save myself.” He gave a short, bitter laugh. “Ironic—I pride myself on being protective, but I didn’t realize I was the one I was protecting the most.”
Not trusting herself to speak and not wanting to break Ian’s flow when he was speaking from the heart, Sofia limited herself to squeezing his hand.
“My father was a military man, and one tough bastard. Real old-school. He was all about not admitting to feelings, never mind showing them. And those he did have, he shoved down. I don’t think it was his goal to be distant. He saw it as a way to always be strong for the people around him, never burdening them. But the end result was that he was never open or vulnerable. I internalized that, thinking that vulnerability, especially when it comes to love, is a weakness. That was how I used to think. To act.” He swallowed.
“And now?” Sofia whispered.
“Now…I can’t totally promise that I’ll never start to close off again, but I’m working on it. I really am.” Ian’s smile was crooked, turning Sofia’s heart over. “And I did say I love you, right?”
“You—you did.” It was only now sinking in. This was overwhelming, but she couldn’t let Ian shoulder all the blame for what went wrong between them. “I have something to say too.” Sofia shifted on her chair. “I brought my own baggage to this relationship. I thought that love was something that stifled, that muzzled. That being strong meant not needing anyone. And so I kept any ‘relationship’ superficial. And worse, when I felt that cage descending to close me in, I ran. Ian, I shouldn’t have given up on us so quickly. I’m sorry. I wish I had stayed and tried harder.”
“Hey.” He pulled her to his chest, his arms not as steady as they usually were.
She took comfort in his strength and the bump-bump of his heart under her cheek. “When that guy grabbed me,” she began, and Ian held her tighter. “No, it’s okay.” She eased free and sat back.
“No, it isn’t.” Ian scowled. “I promised to protect you and—”
“And you did—you rescued me! But when I thought I was going to…well, whatever he had planned, it made me understand what was important. I realized that the right kind of love doesn’t limit a person. It helps them to fly higher than they could fly by themselves.” The support Ian had given her had shown her that…and made her fall even more in love with him.
“I’m sorry too.” Ian wiped a tear from Sofia’s eye that she hadn’t known was there. “I should have—”
“Hey!” Eric’s voice interrupted, standing closer than Sofia had realized. “We’re burning daylight here, guys, so I suggest you just get on with it already. Like, Sofia, Ian told you how he felt about you…haven’t you got anything to say?”
“What? Oh, yes! Yes, I love you too, Ian!” Sofia declared, laughing now along with her tears.
“You know, they say talk’s cheap and actions speak louder than words,” Eric called over next.
“And SEALs are men of action,” Charlie added.
Shaking his head at his irrepressible brothers-in-arms, Ian cradled Sofia’s face in his hands and slanted his mouth down to kiss her. His lips were firm on hers, and he parted them, his tongue surging in as if he needed to relearn her taste, and to explore, to conquer. Sofia needed to taste and explore too. It was a give and take, she realized. A duet, not a battle.
“Ahem.”
They pulled slowly apart to see Hernandez and Danton standing, waiting.
“Duty calls.” Ian stroked Sofia’s hair back from her face. “And after…”
Still glowing from his kiss, Sofia floated through giving a preliminary statement and answering a handful of questions.
“We’ll notify you of the time to come into the station for a follow-up interview.” Hernandez stood. “So you’re free to go home now.”
“Home? No.” Ian shook his head. “Hospital. Sofia’s pregnant and we’re not taking any chances.”
“Pregnant?” Hernandez echoed before Sofia could protest that she didn’t need the hospital. He looked from Ian to her. “Why didn’t you say? Come on!”
Sofia found herself driven to hospital in an emergency vehicle for the second time in a month, this one with a police escort in front of and behind it, which made other road users swerve out of the way. Oh, and this time she was accompanied by three tall, broad former SEALs instead of one, all of whom refused to let her out of their sight.
She was still arguing that she didn’t need to be here when Ian, flanked by Eric and Charlie, wheeled her down the radiology corridor to a familiar-looking room with a couch and a machine with a screen.
“Hello—oh!” The middle-aged woman in dark blue scrubs coming in stopped short at seeing four people in the small room. “Hello again, I should say, to two of you…”
“Hello, Sherilyn,” Sofia answered, recognizing the technician from their previous visit.
“So, back again…” The technician looked from Sofia to her notes. “And after an even more hair-raising adventure? I can understand you’d need bodyguards after that. But one question. I thought you were a high school teacher?”
“I am,” Sofia said.
