Page 71 of A Memory Not Mine (Sanguis Amantium #1)

Chapter sixty-five

Baird

T hey lay together in the quiet afterglow, Mira tucked against him, right where she belonged.

Baird held her close, reluctant to break the moment with questions—especially the ones he’d turned over in his mind so many times, in all the long hours he’d spent hoping she might come back.

He’d promised himself he wouldn’t push. That if she returned, he’d be content just to love her.

That he’d take whatever she was willing to give—no matter how small—so long as it wasn’t nothing.

But he was surprised when she brought it up first.

“I don’t care, you know,” she said, breaking the quiet between them.

He turned his head, lifting her hand to his lips and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “Tell me,” he murmured. “What don’t ye care about?”

“What you said. The day before I left. About what life would look like—if I could ever believe you truly loved me. About not having something…normal. I don’t care about normal.”

She shifted, her voice steady. “I’ll trade extraordinary for normal. I want you , plain and simple. The rest doesn’t matter.”

He pulled her into him, holding her close, knowing what it must’ve cost her to speak those words aloud. The future could wait. The complications, the logistics, all of it—they’d figure it out.

Tonight, this was everything.