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Priest motioned his broad shoulders in a shrug. "I'm always nice and attentive. You just been gone for so long, you must've forgot," he taunted with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes, knowing he was going to remind her that she had been gone to the city for too long every chance he got. He aided her into the car, even going as far as strapping her into her seatbelt, which evoked laughter out of her. The engine purred to life with the push of a button, allowing him to circle around the fountain that decorated the center of the driveway before accelerating the vehicle out of the gates of the home.

She eyed the navigation system, realizing that they had a lengthy drive ahead of them since their neighborhood was isolated from the main city where Havani's office was located.Nervously, she toyed with her engagement ring that was perched on her finger. She had never found it within herself to actually seek help. All her life, she had conditioned herself to hover. It worked out for the most part, but she still had triggers. It was only fair for her to put in the same effort that Priest was putting in to better himself. He no longer wanted to unpack his trauma onto her, and she wanted to return the favor by not doing the same.

As he drove with one hand gripping the steering wheel, he used his free hand to grip her thigh, catching her attention. "What you thinking about?" his raspy voice asked.

Britain pursed her plump lips as her soft orbs gazed at him. Instead of answering his question directly, she responded with a question of her own. "Have I ever made you feel like you're the one who hurt me in my past?" she asked him, wanting the honest truth.

Priest licked his lips as his mind worked in deep thought. He didn't take his dark eyes off the road while he sat and felt herorbs peering into him. "Not deliberately," he finally offered her a response.

"Wow," Britain sighed, shocked that she hadn't even noticed her actions. "I'm sorry about that," she apologized sincerely as she sat her hand over his, caressing his knuckles with her thumb.

"It ain't your fault. I know your triggers now. I know if I say or do the wrong things, you'll run. I know if I lie, you'll discredit everything else I have to say. If I look at you too long, you'll lose your confidence," Priest listed.

"Does that list go on?" Britain asked.

Priest shook his head. "Not really, but I do have a plethora of positive things to say about you and the things you taught me." A smirk graced his face.

"Word?" Britain teased with a smile, causing Priest to nod his head this time. "Let me hear a few."

Priest chuckled; he expected her to want to hear the good things he had to say about her. Locking their fingers together, he lifted her hand to his lips, where he placed a kiss on it. "You take everything into consideration, no matter how big or small it is. Your first instinct is always to be nice, no matter how much trauma that has brought you. You're very optimistic. You're a natural nurturer. You take such good care of me,Gioia—mentally, emotionally, physically. I can go on if you need me to." He raised a tempting brow.

Britain laughed before sitting her hand on the side of his face, caressing it. "No need. Save the rest for your wedding vows.”

"But I want you to know all the good things about you outweigh every moment you shut down, lashed out at me, or ran from our issues. We're a unit," he reminded her. "Where you fall short, I'm not too far behind and vice versa.” Hearing his encouraging words brought Britain instant comfort.

"Thank you, P," she expressed her gratitude as she reclaimed his hand in hers to place some light kisses on his knuckles. "Idon't know why, but I thought after you saw the things on that memory card, you would view me differently. I thought you'd pity me," she explained, voicing her concerns.

Priest shook his head. He would have never done that to her. "Never. You've shown me who you are, and I only go by that. Besides, I didn't only see bad things on there. There were some good moments too.”

Britain hadn't taken the time to go through the images and videos she had compiled from her past in a while. Quite frankly, she had been so focused on living her new life, she had forgotten all about it and what she had put together. "Really? Like what?" She asked him.

Clearing his throat lightly, Priest shifted his attention from the road and briefly placed his gaze on her. "You looked beautiful while you were pregnant," he complimented her.

He could feel Britain’s tension in the connection between their hands. She inhaled a deep breath as she put a smile on her face. "You think so?"

Britain really did want to be more open about the situation. She had pushed that part of her life so far into the back of her mind, but she was beginning to feel like it was not only unfair to her healing, but also to her daughter. Britain mostly acted as if Dreux had hardly existed, which wasn't right.

Priest nodded his head. "I remember you told me you weren't in your best health during that time, but you looked gorgeous, nonetheless. You carried her well. Motherhood suits you," he went on.

"Why don't you wanna have children then?" she asked, ultimately shifting the direction of the conversation.

Priest expected it; however, a heavy sigh still aired out of him. "I never said I didn't want to."

Britain scoffed lightly. "You probably didn't say it so blatantly, but you definitely hinted that you don't want kids.”

"It's complicated," he settled with a shrug.

Britain pointed to the navigation screen on the dashboard of the vehicle. "We have 25 minutes left of this drive," she told him, indicating that the matter could be explained to its full depth within the duration of the rest of the drive.

He chuckled at her persistence. He decided not to avoid her advances and continued with the conversation. "You know how when you're a kid, you can imagine yourself having a family of your own, the house you're gonna live in, the car you gonna drive, and your career?" Priest asked as he glanced at Britain briefly.

Britain chuckled as the thoughts of her childhood expectations surfaced in her mind. When Britain was younger, she thought by the time she hit 25, she would be well established, married, and working on building a family. Little did she know, she ended up being at her lowest point in life at 25. "Yeah, I used to think I would be famous and married with kids by the time I was 25."

A laugh drifted out of him as he found her young aspirations amusing. "See, it wasn't like that for me," he revealed and shook his head. "I'm not saying that's the reason why I'm okay with never having children, but that was never a part of my end goal in life," he explained and shrugged his broad shoulders.

Britain let out a sigh. Although she didn't feel as though his excuse was enough to justify them never having children, she was going to validate how he felt regardless. "Understandable; however, do you think I'm okay with never having children?"