Page 77

EMERY
I slammedmy purse onto the booth tabletop where Kane was sitting, and I let the words that had been stewing in my mouth the entire afternoon fire.
“It’s not going to happen.”
Kane’s attention snapped up at the rage that blistered off my tongue. A rage that had only grown with every hour that had passed leading up to this meeting he’d demanded.
It had become an inferno when I’d helped Maci have her bath, then even more so when she’d crawled into bed beside me and I’d read her a story, the child falling asleep snuggled against my side.
A vehemence that sank all the way down to the marrow.
A liquid steel that ran through me, solidifying into a thousand blades.
Blades I wouldn’t hesitate to protect her with.
“She’s going home with me tomorrow. Where she belongs.” I kept my chin high as I declared it.
There was no surprise on Kane’s face at my assertion. The faint lines at the edges of his entrancing eyes only deepened a fraction.
“Why don’t you sit down?” He gestured at the opposite side ofthe booth. The exact spot where he’d been sitting two nights ago when I’d noticed him.
Before I’d tried to drown my sorrows in him.
How had only two days passed since then? It’d felt like a lifetime. A harrowing, agonizing lifetime.
“That’s not necessary. I came here to tell you the one thing I needed to say, and now I’m going to go.” I dug into my purse and pulled out the picture I’d shown him yesterday and tossed it onto the table in front of him. “I’ll send more through the years if that’s what you want.”
The one I brought would have to be enough for now.
And that was all I was going to give him because I couldn’t sit here and face him. Not with the memories of the way he’d interacted with her earlier today. Not with his concern or care. Not with the way he’d made me feel alive for the first time in my life on Friday night.
So I fled.
Wedged heels thudding on the worn wooden floors as I rushed back through the bar.
I refused to give him the chance to try to sway me.
My hands shoved against the heavy door, and it swung open, allowing me to stumble out onto the sidewalk.
Night rained down, the mountain air faintly chilled, streetlamps glowing a hazy yellow where they lined the street.
It was only nine, so there were quite a few people out and about. Ending their lazy summer Sunday with a meal on the town.
I wanted to escape into it. Into the shadows that loomed.
Only the door burst open behind me.
My ravaged heart boomed with a bolt of dread.
Did I really think he was actually going to sit there and let me walk away? I knew this would be a fight.
But I had to do it.
I had to protect Maci.
I couldn’t hand her over to a stranger. To someone she didn’t even know. To someone who might have some fleeting feelings of love but didn’t come close to understanding what the fullness of it meant.
Because if he did, then he would understand the sacrifice he needed to make.