She put her forehead against mine and placed a hand over my heart, feeling it beat. “I accept your imperfections.”
I accept your imperfections.
I accept your imperfections.
I accept your imperfections.
I accept your imperfections.
I accept your imperfections.
I accept your imperfections.
My next question, weaved with doubt, filled the mere inches between us then. “And if I fail you? What then?”
“Your failures will never lead to my absence,” she answered, pressing a kiss to my lips.
Christ, this woman. This angel.
“All I ask for is to have you, Hayes. All of you for all of me. Sound fair?”
I kissed her then. Slow, intentional, groundbreaking. “Yes,” I gave in. “Yes, that sounds fair.”
As our bodies fell into one another, both of our crippling foundations of rejection, uncertainty, and self-loathing fell into the sea, floating down into the abyss of the past. We would heal, not together, but side by side, each on our own paths. She would not heal me, and I would not heal her.
True healing, as Dominic once put it, comes from within.
As the storm outside faded away, I took her into my arms and thanked her for weathering it with me.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Margo
January
“Grumpy,” I hissed into my cell phone. “I didn’t go down on you this morning just so you could be up my ass all day.”
I didn’t mean to blurt that out, and when the old lady who was lingering in the conversation pit just across the hall in front of me spun on her heel, I realized that I needed to retrain my damn filter.
I gave her a shaky smile as the classroom I’d just left began to empty out behind me, the hallway now filled with thirty different conversations. She narrowed her eyes at me and shook her head.
Shit—that wasn’t just some old lady—that was my new economics professor.
“We can try that later,” Hayes replied, sounding distracted.
I turned to face the wall, a chill skating down my spine at his tone. “What is it?”
“I thought your class ended at two.”
“It did—it does. It ran over a few minutes,” I rushed out, glancing into the now empty room. “What’s up?”
“Got an update on Gordon.”
My stomach clenched. “Okay, let me go outside,” I breathed, rushing through the small group of people, ignoring the glare of my professor. I didn’t have time to think about those repercussions. Not right now.
The holidays had come and gone without any news regarding Gordon or the FBI. Since a restraining order was hand delivered to Marcus, I hadn’t heard from him again. His compliance wasn’t surprising to me. He never really cared about me being in his life, only what I could offer him whenever he needed something.
After Hayes’ confession and multiple deep conversations, we mutually agreed to not rush anything. We were together, but there weren’t any rings or wedding plans involved—that would be batshit crazy. He wanted a future with me and I with him, butwe both needed to grow more as people before we jumped into our happily ever after.