Page 19 of Only ever you-Ana & Byron (Blindsided #2)

M onths later

The sun hung low, stretching long shadows across the front steps of the rented house on the outskirts of Manchester.

Ana rang the doorbell, shifting the weight of her bag and brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

The strap dug painfully into her shoulder, which was only skin and bones.

The breeze was cool on her thinner frame, eliciting a whole-body shiver, her olive skin paler than it had been in years.

Cadi answered in pyjamas and an old milk-stained shirt of Gray's holding Tomos in the crook of her arm.

"Ana?" she blinked, then gasped. "Jesus, you're-" Her eyes watered as she scanned her friend's face. "You're here."

Ana grinned. "In the flesh. Mostly." She stepped in before Cadi could pull her into a one-armed hug .

"And who is this?" Ana said, her eyes on the baby whose rapt grey eyes were focused on her,"Oooh, he is adorable!"

Cadi shut the door behind her. She was not distracted by Ana's ploy. "You're skinnier."

Ana shrugged off the comment, her eyes on Tomos, who was gurgling happily, her voice light. "Yemen cuisine’s so overrated."

There was a beat of silence, and she looked up when Cadi's voice wobbled. "When I called after Tomos was born, why did it take you so long to call back? And why did you sound so weird?"

"You did call, yes," Ana murmured. "I picked up.

Just couldn't say much." She looked down at her jeans and began to roll up the leg.

"Had a minor contusion here. Nothing major.

" She gestured. A patch of skin was still discoloured, faint scars like lightning bolts dancing over her shin.

"I have a cool scar on my scalp, too. Here look. Very Frankenstein chic, huh?"

Cadi gaped. "Ana-"

"Shhh." Ana winked. "I'm alive, aren't I? I just had to spend a little time in a nice Saudi Hospital."

"Two months in a Saudi hospital? You said nothing!"

"I didn't want you panicking with a newborn. Anyway, I wasn't even close to the blast. Just a rogue landmine. Got clipped by shrapnel."

There was a small thump from the hallway. Gray's voice echoed. "Need a hand, Cad?", Ana glanced over, suddenly wary. "Could you not tell them? My parents still think I've been embedded with an NGO in Oman. They'll lose it."

"Tell them what?"

Too late. Gray walked in with Byron trailing behind him.

Byron .

She felt him even before she saw him. His presence was static electricity in the room. She could feel his eyes sweeping her slimmer figure as she turned to lay eyes on him. She had tried to suppress how much she had been looking forward to seeing him... until this moment.

The black T-shirt he wore clung to him like a second skin, outlining the hard planes of his torso.

The kind of body sculpted through years of brutal effort-broad chest, shoulders thick with muscle, and lower down, the unmistakable ridges of rock-hard, washboard abs that showed even through the cotton.

Joggers hung low on his hips, casual and deadly, like he'd just stepped off a training mat and yet somehow, he looked carved for war. She could see the outline of his manhood through the joggers before she realized that she was staring and looked up again.

His hair was cropped short, still damp from a shower, curls tamed but refusing obedience.

A neatly trimmed beard framed his jaw, giving him a look that was both mature and wild.

Dangerous. That beard framed a mouth-sensual, full-lipped, and maddeningly expressive.

Lips that she had once kissed with unstoppable hunger, and now that she admitted it to herself through the long hours in a hospital bed, she wanted to kiss again.

Hazel eyes met hers. There was an expression there which she couldn't quite understand.

"Tell her what?" he asked. Cadi hesitated. But Byron's eyes had already narrowed.

Ana barely managed a smile. "Nice tan."

He didn't return it. "What. Happened."

Cadi broke. "She was in a blast zone. Spent two months in the hospital in Saudi. She didn't tell anyone, not even me."

Byron said nothing. But Ana could see the storm brewing in his eyes with the way his heavy brows drew down and his pupils dilated .

Ana reached for the baby in Cadi's arms, using Tomos as a distraction. "My god, he's bigger than I thought."

Tomos squealed with delight, grabbing at Ana's braid and bringing it to his mouth. Then his face turned red and a whimper escaped his rosebud lips.

Ana sniffed, recoiled. "Oh. My dear god. That is foul. What is that, who farted?"

She glanced around. "Not you..." she said to Tomos, but her eyes were incredulous and accusing. Gray swooped in. "Nappy change time, I guess." He plucked Tomos away with exaggerated care. "My turn, I guess"

Cadi followed, distracted, but not before she mouthed 'later' to Ana.

Byron didn't move. His eyes were locked on Ana.

Then, with a swift, angry move, he grabbed her wrist with his massive paw.

"Out."

"What?"

"Garden. Now."

Ana stumbled as he tugged her through the back door and into the small, overgrown patch behind the house.

"Sit," he ordered, pointing to the bench.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not a bloody dog."

"Sit."

Surprisingly, she did.

Byron paced in front of her like a caged animal. His jaw ticked.

"Stay," he snapped when she made to stand.

"Byron-"

"Not a word. You didn't message for two months. Not once. You knew I was worried. I begged. You could have died! "

She looked down. "It wasn't safe-"

"You could have contacted one of us."

"I didn't want you to worry."

He laughed bitterly as he looked up at the sky, hands on his hips, as if asking for divine deliverance. "Too late for that."

There was silence.

Finally, she whispered, "It was a landmine. I wasn't that close, but the shrapnel hit me. It sliced through my leg, grazed my head. And then I hit my head and I passed out. I woke up in a hospital in Riyadh two weeks later. Couldn't remember my own name for a week."

Byron closed his eyes.

She added, quietly, "I lost my phone. And I couldn't remember anyone's number. The newspaper was about to contact my dad, but I told them not to. "

He sat beside her, finally. And in a sudden move, he pulled her onto his lap.

She could feel his hard thighs under hers.

He turned her head to face his and touched her forehead to his.

Then, before she could stop him, he placed a soft, close-mouthed kiss on her mouth.

His lips were as soft as she remembered, with the brush of his beard against her chin.

"I had a bad feeling when you stopped messaging. I had nightmares of you dying."

"I almost did," whispered Ana

They sat like that for a while. Ana's hands drifted over his shoulders, up his neck to comb through his short curls. Byron just let her. She could feel him hardening under her thigh.

She met his eyes and raised an eyebrow. And then, she moved closer, her arms winding around his neck, her breasts squashed against his rock-hard chest .

"I missed you," she whispered, "I thought about all the things I regret when I woke up in that hospital bed. And I want a redo." Byron was distracted by what she was doing, but when he registered what she had just said, his eyes clashed with hers.

" A redo?"

“Only this time, no strings attached. I don't expect us to be exclusive or anything" she said, "And do it right this time."

He seemed to search her eyes before suddenly getting up with her in his arms like she weighed nothing. In no time, he had her in his car, and he leaned in to buckle her seatbelt. She caught a whiff of his spicy cologne, and he turned to plant another hard kiss on her lips before withdrawing.

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