Page 166 of Salvage Him

I felt it in the way he didn't allow me to embrace any thoughts about myself that contradicted how hesawme.

"I need to tell you something,"Isaid.

"What is it?" He rested his hand in the middle of mychest.

"I don't want you to get mad. He's gone, and there's nothing you can do to him now." I covered his hand with mine. "But I need totellyou."

Harrison looked past me andexhaled.

"Those three days when Paul came back, he didn't touch me . . ." I paused to make sure he understood what Imeant.

"Okay?" Henodded.

"He tried, but Islappedhim."

Hesmirked.

"But then hehitme."

"Brooklyn . . ." Harrison body tensed. His eyes went from amused to rage in a matter of seconds. "Where?"

"A backhand." I mimicked the movement with my own hand on Harrison's face. He captured my hand and brought it to his lips. "It was a clarifying moment. I wasn't going to let him hurt you, but I wasn't going to let him ruin me, either. Not anymore. I hadaplan."

"What plan?" Harrisonasked.

"I was going to go back to New York. It might have taken a little longer, but I was going to divorce him and then come back to you with nothing holding me down.” I dropped my chin. “Nothing holdingmeback."

His face softened. I placed my hand over his heart. It was racing. He tried not to show it on theoutside.

"It was like you said in the restaurant. I needed to come to you under my own power. I needed to have all of me intact before I could hand myself overtoyou."

"So we were just working with different timetables." Harrison nodded; the anger made his swirling eyesdarken.

"Something like that," I said. "I thought we needed some distance to be what we needed for eachother."

"You still feel like that?" he asked with agrunt.

I felt his grunts inmycore.

"No." I smiled. "There was one problem with mytheory."

"What?"

"You gave me all of you." I peered in his eyes. "The momentwemet."

"I thought I was going to save you." He closed his eyes for a second and opened them. "You didn't need saving. I was the broken one. I was in all these functioning little pieces, but you salvaged me. You put me back together. My life was a waste until Imetyou."

His lips brushed softlyagainstmine.

"Thank you," he whispered and pressedharder.

He saidthankyou.

I heardI love you,and it was perfect. It was everything, and he was mine, and Iwashis.

"So what do I get?" I asked with a smirk onmyface.

He blinked. "What doyoumean?"