Page 89 of Lumi

Picking me up in his arms, Damian carried me out of the bathroom.

“I’ve always loved that you’re so strong. Do you remember that first time you came to see me after you saved me? We went to the beach.”

“I remember.”

“You picked me up and joked that you wanted to see how many skips I’d make in the water.”

Damian’s face softened. “And then you cried. I felt awful for makin’ that joke.”

“I didn’t cry because of what you said. I cried because being back in your arms evoked memories from that awful night and made me miss my mum. I held on to you as you walked away from the others and sat us down on a rock.”

“I remember it like it was yesterday.” Damian walked into his bedroom and sat down on the bed with me still in his arms.

“Me too. That was the moment I fell in love with you.”

“But you were so young.”

“I was seventeen and precocious.”

Damian kissed me again. “That’s true. In certain areas of life, ye were more mature than I was. Can I ask ye somethin’?”

“Mhmm?”

“I know Jolene said that ye’re attracted to men who remind ye of me, but do ye think ye’re drawn to older guys because ye never knew yer father?”

“No. I don’t feel attracted to older men in general. Only if they remind me of you.”

Damian tilted his head to one side. “It’s a shame that ye rejected me all those years ago. Think of all the time we’ve wasted.”

“Ditto.” I only had my towel wrapped around me, and it was slipping off.

Damian leaned his forehead against mine. “I wish I had fought harder after ye rejected me. After our talk with Jolene today, it’s obvious that I’m hopeless at reading women. I’m no longer surprised that all my relationships failed.”

I kissed his nose. “It probably didn’t help that you called my name in your sleep.”

“For the record, I never cheated.”

“You came close that night when you begged me not to marry Spencer.”

Damian shook his head. “If ye hadn’t pushed me out yer door, I would have divorced Siobhan. Our marriage was already dead at that point.”

“Then you should have divorced her anyway. What took you so long?”

“I don’t know. Ye’re not the first to ask me that question. I’ve justified it to myself with so many excuses over the years. At first, after losing the baby, Siobhan’s depression made me afraid she might harm herself. And then after ye rejected me, I fell into a sort of indifference toward my marriage to Siobhan. It wasn’t like I could marry the woman I loved anyway. Siobhan and I had already settled into a roommate situation, and it wasn’t all bad. That winter I had a bad case of pneumonia, and Siobhan was the one who took care of me. And over the years, when I thought I couldn’t take it one more day, I would come home from work, tired and worn out, and find that she’d cooked one of my favorite dishes. What can I say? I’m a loyal person, and I never expected marriage to be perfect.” He sighed. “But the day Siobhan told me she’d found someone else was one of the best days of my life.”

Sitting in Damian’s lap, leaning into him, my fingers touched his muscled arm with the tribal tattoo. “I’m sorry that I was too proud to give you a chance that night you asked for it.”

“Make a pact with me.” Damian tightened his grip around my waist. “Let’s swear that we’ll get better at speaking our truth. I want us to have someone like Jolene to teach us how to communicate better.”

“A psychologist?”

“Why not? I don’t understand what voodoo Jolene uses to read our minds, but I want to learn how she does it. There’s been enough misunderstandings between us, and I don’t ever want to hurt ye or lose ye again.”

My eyebrows knitted close. “You want us to do couples counseling before we even have issues?”

Damian nodded. “We’ve done everythin’ wrong for a decade. And then Jolene comes in and does an x-ray of our brains as if we’re bloody see-through to her. In the span of a lunch, she has us admittin’ secrets and understandin’ things that never made sense to us. Think of how much pain we could have avoided if we’d known how to communicate like she does.”

“You’re right.” I kissed Damian and nuzzled his hair. “We’ll find someone to learn from, but it won’t be Jolene. I don’t want my future sister-in-law to know everything about me.”