I want Bennett.
He seemed to understand because his green gaze darkened as he stared at her. Then, slowly, so slowly, he stalked toward her. “You have a choice to make.”
Ivy waited.
“You can sleep in the guest room down the hall. You can rest and know that you’re safe. Totally protected.”
Her breath came a little faster. “That’s option one.” She nodded. “And option two?” I don’t want option one. With option one, she’d be alone. She’d see Shelly in her mind. She’d hurt.
“Option two…you can let me have you.”
Her whole body got warm.
“And you can have me.” He stopped in front of her, but Bennett didn’t touch her. Even though she wanted him to, so badly. “I know you said things were going too fast before, when we were at your place.”
Oh, jeez…had that just been…last night? It had been, and, with the brutal events of the day, all of her priorities had shifted. She wanted to reach out and grab tight to her dreams. To reach for the thing she wanted most—
And I will. Why be afraid? Life was short and hard and so very unfair. People had to grab their happiness when they could, and hold on tight with both hands.
“But I don’t think it’s too fast,” Bennett said. “I think it’s just the opposite. I think things are too slow because I’ve wanted you back in my bed for years but I was too damn big of a fool to tell you.”
Hope bloomed within her. Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe—
“You need to know all of me, before you make the choice. Because there won’t be any going back.” Then, staring at her, he took off his coat. Tossed it aside. He still wore his gun holster, but, carefully, he removed it. Then he reached around her and put the gun on the mantel.
He still didn’t touch her.
She needed his hands on her.
He exhaled slowly, then Bennett lifted up his t-shirt. He hesitated, only briefly, then tossed the shirt to the floor. “I’m not the man you knew before.”
Scars sliced over his chest and stomach. So many scars. Deep, long. Twisting. All over his front torso and—
Bennett turned to show her his back.
And on his back.
Tears stung her eyes.
“The Greenville Trapper kept me for two days before I was able to kill the bastard.”
She stepped toward him. His back was still to her, so he didn’t see her hand trembling as she reached toward him.
“By then, he’d more than left his mark on me, physically and mentally.”
Her fingers touched the deep scar on his right shoulder. It looked as if someone had just taken a knife and cut out a chunk of his skin. “Bennett…”
“I don’t want your pity.” His voice was sharp.
She shook her head.
“He made me into a monster, Ivy.”
Her lips pressed to the scars. First one, then another. Another. “You’re not a monster.”
He stiffened. “I am.” His voice was so stark. “And if anything happened to you, the whole world would truly see just how screwed up I am.”
Tears were sliding down her cheeks. He’d endured so much. The pain—it made her sick. Made her furious. Made her want to kill.
I could have lost him. He went through this hell…and I had no idea. She pressed another kiss to his skin. His arms were clean, no scars there.
“Ivy…” He turned toward her and her gaze shot up to meet his. When he saw the tears on her cheeks, his expression hardened. “No, dammit, no, don’t—”
“Shut up,” she said as the tears just came harder. “You should have called me! I needed to know.” She grabbed him and held tight. “I needed to know!”
Silence.
And…
“I wasn’t in any shape to call anyone, baby. I was drugged up for days. More dead than alive.”
He was gutting her.
“But, later, the nurses told me…I kept saying one name, again and again.”
It almost hurt for her to breathe.
“Your name, Ivy. Yours. You’re the thing that got me through, Ivy. The reason I survived that hell. I couldn’t die because I knew I needed to come back to you.”
“Bennett?”
“You’re the reason I came back to Mobile. The reason I walked away from the Bureau. You were the thing that mattered to me, and I just had to figure out how the hell to get back in your life. I had to try and figure out a way to make up for the past. I was a stupid kid back then. Hurting too much. Feeling too much pain. And I pushed away the one person I should have been pulling close.”
He wasn’t pulling her close. He was just—
Still wiping away her tears.
“I came back because I wanted to be with you, but when I got here…I didn’t know how to approach you. Didn’t know what the fuck to do. I thought you were with Cameron. You two always seemed to be together—”