Page 11 of Love’s Patient Journey (The Relinquished #2)

God, she seemed so vulnerable in his arms; he couldn’t believe what she was going through.

The letters that she had received from both Jake’s and the Ashbrook’s’ lawyers were threatening enough to scare even him.

Jenna needed his help, and he planned on making sure she took it.

He already felt guilty enough that he never did anything to stop Jake from hurting Jenna in the first place.

If he had just told her what Jake was up to when he found out, he could have saved Jenna and her family a lot of heartache.

She was right, though—Zac was worth all the trouble that they went through.

Still, Ryan didn’t know how to tell Jenna that he knew about Jake’s plan to get her pregnant.

Would she still feel the same way about him if she knew that Jake had bragged to him about messing with her birth control to tie her to him?

Now that he had taken a risk with her and possibly done the same thing to her, he didn’t know how to come clean.

Maybe he should just rip off the band-aid; that was always the best way to handle a tough situation.

Jenna had all but fallen asleep on him, and he hated to ruin their evening even more, but he just couldn’t move forward with the weight of not telling her about knowing Jake’s plan.

He started to sit up, and she groaned. “Jenna, honey,” he laughed at her protests, “I need to talk to you about something, and it can’t wait.

” Jenna sat up and looked at him, worry on her beautiful, sleepy face.

He just wanted to take her back to bed and make love to her all night long, but he needed to get this off his chest.

“I knew about Jake’s plan to get you pregnant.” She froze, fully awake now.

“Say that again.” Her voice was so stern when she was angry. He loved it when she went into her full-on “mom voice”.

“When you were dating Jake, he bragged to me and the guys that he had a plan to get you pregnant. You told him that you didn’t want a baby, but he messed with your birth control.

By the time I found out, he had already done it.

You were probably already pregnant with Zac.

” He looked down, not knowing if he should continue or not.

“You seemed so happy when you guys announced that you were getting married. I thought that you were good with the whole thing. I didn’t find out until later what else he had planned.

That’s why I agreed to step in, and help Drew take care of you and Karlie. ”

Jenna gasped, and Ryan looked up into her eyes.

And God, she was crying again. He just couldn’t stand it when she cried.

He felt like his insides were being ripped out.

“Baby,” he pulled her into his body and held her while she sobbed.

“Honey, please don’t cry. I’m so sorry, I just can’t seem to stop screwing everything up when it comes to you. ”

Jenna wiped her wet face on his chest, “No, Ryan. What Jake did wasn’t your fault.

I’m crying because you only helped Drew out of guilt.

I was so stupid, I thought that you had feelings for me back then.

” She tried to stand, but he pulled her down.

There was no fucking way that he was going to let her believe that he didn’t have feelings for her—back then or now.

“I did have feelings for you, honey. Even when I tried to fight them and I ran away, I knew, deep down, that I needed you and Zac. I was just scared of what you made me feel,” he shook his head, remembering how he tried to deny, even to himself, how deeply he fell for her.

“I’m just so thankful that you gave me another chance, honey.

I don’t know what I’d do if I had come back here to find you with someone else, or worse, if you didn’t have feelings for me.

” He held his breath, hoping that she’d admit to him that she felt something, anything for him.

“Ryan,” Jenna whispered, “I have feelings for you, too. I have for so long, I can’t remember not having them. I think that part of me went out with Jake in the first place to get your attention. You were his best friend, and you didn’t even seem to notice that I was alive.”

“Oh, I noticed, honey. When you started going out with him, I wanted to fucking break him in half. But I had missed my chance with you. After that night, when he hit you and locked you in the closet, I knew that I wouldn’t let my chance slip by again.

I had plans to walk away from the Navy, but I had to finish my time.

I didn’t think that I deserved you. Watching you give birth to Zac made me feel so much that it scared me, and I ran.

I didn’t know that I could want two people so much.

I didn’t know that I would fall in love with you that day, but I did.

Walking away from the two of you was the hardest thing that I have ever done, but it forced me to face the fact that I needed you. ”

“Ryan, did you just say that you love me?” Jenna looked at him with so much damn hope that it hurt. He couldn’t be anything but truthful with her now.

“Yeah, baby, I did. Watching you give birth to Zac, how strong you were, I knew at that moment that you were it for me. I had always thought of you as a little girl, but that day, I saw you for the woman that you had become.” Jenna looked like she didn’t know what to say to him, and he didn’t want her to say anything that she didn’t mean.

“Jenna, you don’t have to say it back. I just needed to get it all out there.

I was keeping the secret about Jake in for so long that I felt like I was lying to you.

And honey, I do love you. But I don’t want you to say it back to me because you think it’s the right thing to do.

I am good with knowing that you care about me.

For now, that’s enough.” He pulled her in for a long kiss.

He started to lay her back when her cell rang.

“Leave it,” he pleaded.

“It’s Karlie’s ringtone. I need to make sure that Zac is okay.” Ryan groaned and sat up, freeing her to answer her cell. “Karlie? Oh no, okay, I’ll come right over,” Jenna said. Ryan worried that something had happened to Zac.

“Zac has a little fever, and he wants me,” she explained, putting her cell on the coffee table. “I need to go over and pick him up.” She was already heading to her bedroom. “I’m sorry, Ryan, this night has been so crazy.” She barked out a laugh, “Welcome to my life.”

She was pulling on a pair of jeans that had a hole in the knee and a t-shirt that fit all her curves. He wanted to throw her on the bed and fuck her senseless but knew that Zac needed her. He pulled on his jeans and t-shirt and grabbed his keys off her nightstand.

“I’ll drive, honey.” He started to shove his wallet into his back pocket, looking around her room for his shoes and socks.

“Ryan, no. You should go home and get some sleep. It’s so late, and Zac will be up for most of the night anyway.

” Jenna was pulling her hair into a ponytail, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

She was so sexy, and she had no clue. Jenna was no fuss but so beautiful.

She didn’t need any makeup, although he did like to kiss her cherry lip gloss off her sexy, pouty lips.

He pulled her into his body as she tried to walk past him to get her shoes.

“Honey, I want to be there for you both. I thought we just went over all of this. I want to help you, not because you are an obligation, but because I love you.” She smiled at him, and he could tell that she didn’t quite believe him.

He knew that Jake had done some damage to her heart; he just didn’t know how much until now.

“It’s okay, honey. You don’t have to believe me. But someday, you will. I know that I have to prove myself to you, but I am not your ex. I will never hurt you like he did, and I will never lie to you.” He kissed her lips softly. “Now, let’s go get your boy and bring him home. He needs his mama.”

∞

It had been a long night. Jenna had gotten about two hours of sleep, and poor Ryan probably got less than that.

She couldn’t believe that he had stayed with her and helped her take care of Zac.

Her poor little guy spiked a fever of about one hundred and one degrees until she got some children’s Tylenol in him.

Ryan had held Zac while she called the pediatrician and talked to him about what to do.

This wasn’t Zac’s first fever, but it was his highest, and she was out of her mind with worry.

Ryan seemed pretty worried, too, but he tried to keep her calm.

He and Zac finally passed out on the family room sofa just before dawn.

Zac was sprawled out over Ryan’s chest, and Ryan wrapped his arms protectively around her little guy.

She fell asleep on the loveseat shortly after the guys had fallen asleep.