14
Finally, fresh from his shower, wearing only boxers, and semi-prepared for her big disclosure, Kam eased into place on the
couch next to Glory. Eyes closed, she either feigned sleep—or ignored him. He understood that.
After a really rotten day, she’d figuratively knocked him on his ass. Caught between laughing over the thrill of it, the rush
of desire to hold her close, and a terrible fear that he’d somehow misunderstood, that she hadn’t meant love as in “good times
and bad,” but rather, that she loved having him with her now, when she needed the help.
Of course, she’d done all right on her own today—as he’d known she would.
He knew she loved the sex.
She definitely loved his family.
But him? Could Glory really love him?
If so, a rotten day couldn’t end any better than that.
“Hey.”
One blue eye opened, looking mean.
Wasn’t easy to keep his overjoyed smile at bay. Hell, he’d grinned through his shower. Even while brushing his teeth.
But this was serious, life-altering stuff. “I had so many plans.”
Both eyes opened and she turned her face to better see him in the dim light. “I know, and I won’t interfere—at least, not
more than I already have. Loving you doesn’t change anything.”
The hell it doesn’t! “It changes everything.” By her own admission, life was different now. He wouldn’t sleep until she understood that. “Now
let me explain, okay?”
Stubbornly, she faced forward again. She even closed her eyes and tried for nonchalance when she said, “Fine. Have at it.”
He watched her a moment and decided she wouldn’t interrupt. “For a while now, I knew I wanted to get my own place. I talked
to Tanner about it once, but he couldn’t imagine ever leaving the tree farm, or the house we helped to remodel and expand.”
Nothing. She didn’t blink. She barely breathed, but he also knew shallow breaths were easier on her ribs.
“As a kid—before I moved in with Addie—I was told I’d be just like my dad.”
Lashes lifted so she could gaze at him with her unique brand of quiet sympathy.
For once, he didn’t mind. Talking about his folks was always difficult, but it was easier here with Glory. Everything was
easier with her.
Except for seeing her pain. Everything he’d ever dealt with paled in comparison to that.
“I was supposed to be a drunken abuser like him. A cheater without morals. My mother would take a belt to me, saying if she didn’t, I’d be just like him, but it didn’t matter.
Every day, she reminded me that I looked like him, sounded like him .
. .” God, there’d been times when he’d hated her so much.
“Kam.” Glory reached for him, but then he saw her tense up.
“Shh. Just be still.” Taking her right hand, he laced his fingers with hers and rested their locked hands on her lap. Needing
to be closer, he leaned in and nuzzled her cheek. Glory smelled so sweet, like a woman. Like his woman. Her pale hair, hanging loose, felt soft and cool against his cheek.
“Dad encouraged me to hit her back. Sometimes he’d pound on me, saying it was to toughen me up, to teach me to fight. I never
understood why the two of them took out their bullshit on me instead of each other. I mean, Dad hit Mom sometimes, and she’d
throw things at him, but it never felt the same.”
“You’re nothing like them.”
That fierce declaration put another smile on his mouth. “No, I’m not, but for the longest time, even recently, I’ve worried
about it. Even though they are dead, I want to prove to them—”
“And to yourself?”
“That I am different. Better.” Being the bighearted person she was, he knew Glory understood.
“You are.” Her hand tightened on his. “I want to hug you so tight right now.”
“You can in a month or so.” He thought about that, then decided to test her. “We have the rest of our lives, right?”
“Do we?”
Not the answer he wanted, so he gave one of his own. “Yes.” He was sure of it.
“But your plans?”
Easy enough to explain that. “I didn’t realize it at first, but everything changed when I met you.”
“You didn’t even like me when you met me. You made that clear enough.”
“I didn’t know you. I thought you were lazy and stuck up.” Leaning back to see her, he caught her dejection. “Don’t look like
that. I didn’t understand at first, but it didn’t take me long to start wondering at my own misconceptions.”
“Great. How long did you have that awful opinion of me?”
Actually, it had taken a long time before he started to really understand her. Skipping her question, he said, “You want to
know the dicked-up part?”
“It’s all . . . dicked.” The word tripped off her tongue in a funny way. “So sure, feel free. No reason to spare me now.”
By being herself, she amused him. Turned him on. Made him feel things he’d never felt for a woman. “Even when I didn’t particularly
like you, I couldn’t help wanting you, and I couldn’t stop watching you.”
Skepticism arched her brows.
“It’s true. I’d see you, think you were being snooty, and I wanted to strip you naked and kiss you all over.”
“Ha! You are such a paradox.”
“I’m as clear as water.”
Her disagreeing sidelong look was sharp enough to pierce. “Sure. Muddy water in a pond, maybe.” After a second, she added,
“A pond fed by a murky river, so it’s always changing.”
Kissing her was as essential as breathing so he leaned in to take her mouth in a soft damp claiming of lips and tongue. Irked
as she might be, Glory took part. She even gave him a low moan for his efforts.
Now that they both labored for air, he was able to tease again. “If I’m sometimes unclear, it’s your fault. I was fine, intent
on my agenda, then bam! This hot chick—you—arrived and changed everything. I thought I did a fair job of resisting, but at the wedding, I couldn’t stop tracking you in that sexy one-strap dress. Lethal—that’s what it was. At least to my piece of mind.”
“The strap was designed to hide my scar.”
He hadn’t realized that at the time and knowing it now was like a kick to his conscience. “All anyone saw was a gorgeous woman,
constantly on the go, making it all work.”
“I had so much fun at that wedding.”
A detail-oriented person like her would love the challenge of putting on a society wedding within the limited resources of
Hoker, Kentucky. “You didn’t disdain Dan’s hall.”
“Mr. Fellows is a sweetheart, and he was so helpful while I got things set up.”
“The place is small and not up to your standards.”
Insulted, her brows pinched together. “You really believe that?”
“No denying it’s small and dated. My ass got pinched on those cracked plastic chairs.”
“Poor baby,” she said without an ounce of sympathy.
“Hey, I like the hall just fine; it’s definitely good enough for Hoker, but you can’t deny that everything about the place
is ancient.”
“News flash, Kam: I am now a part of Hoker. Bought the house and everything.”
Could she be any sweeter? “Yes, you did.” And somewhere along the way, she’d taken residence in his heart. “I thought you had high standards like your
aunt and uncle, but you were great with Dan and his staff. You charmed Ed and Ted, too.”
“I love their diner. I look forward to eating there again.” She glanced down at herself. “When I’m more mobile.”
That reminded him that he hadn’t yet told her about them hiring a few of the kids, as she’d suggested. He’d get to that soon.
“You wrapped your car around a tree and your primary concern was about a stray dog.”
“I was so afraid I’d hit her. That would have made everything so much worse.”
Worse than broken ribs, a jammed shoulder, cuts and bruises? To Glory, yes. Kam touched her face, a face he found incredibly
beautiful whether she was fully polished with her makeup applied and her hair styled, or as she was now, tired, concerned,
with greenish bruising and puckered stitches. “When I told you about Kirby, I knew you would be concerned for him because
that’s the type of woman you are—the type who cares with her whole heart.”
Optimism widened her eyes. “I do?”
How could she not know? “You’re so caring it scares me sometimes.” Forestalling more questions, he put his forehead to hers.
“Not since I was a kid, fresh at Addie’s, have I been this unsettled. Back then, I’d sometimes cry myself to sleep.”
“Oh, Kam.” She kissed the bridge of his nose, then his mouth. “Thank God you had Addie.”
“Yeah.” He’d certainly been blessed with some amazing women in his life. “She’d come into the room and just sit quietly with
me. I’d curse her, tell her I hated her, but she said she loved me, anyway. She didn’t ask questions or pressure me, either.
She’d just say that I was home now and I’d always be safe and loved.” Remembering filled him with warmth, both embarrassment
at the pain in the ass he’d once been and gratitude over the love he’d received. “Addie promised me that it’d get better—and
it did. I realized I wouldn’t have dared to cry to my mom or dad. It would have infuriated them, because Mom thought I deserved
it, that she was trying to better me, and Dad would have seen it as a weakness.” Thinking about it usually put a vise on his
windpipe.
Not this time. Not with Glory. “For different reasons, they both thought I was no good. That’s when I knew Addie was different, that she’d given me a chance, and I should take it.”
Without her moving, without her revealing a frown, he felt Glory’s intent sharpen, like the air right before a lightning strike.
Keeping his gaze fixed on hers, he anticipated her reaction. One thing was certain: She never disappointed him.
Anger lowered her voice and stiffened her usually soft lips. “They were ignorant and cruel, and they didn’t deserve you.”
That summed it up nicely. “No?”
“Don’t you dare let them influence you, not in any way. Know that you’re a good man. An incredible man.” She clutched at his hand, her eyes desperately convincing as she whispered, “Know it in your heart and in your head,
because you are.”
Evidently, she believed it, so did he really have to go out of his way to prove it to her? Maybe not. “I’ve never shared that,
Glory. Not with anyone. Even as a kid, it shamed me.” Now, so many years later, it still left him prickly with unease.