Page 108 of Defend Her Heart

I can’t believe Connor was there. I wish I had known.

Connor wraps his arms around me, and I drop my forehead to his shoulder. My body shakes with the sobs of what could’ve been. He starts rubbing my back and shushing me, trying but failing to calm me down.

After a few minutes, I somehow manage to pull myself together. His hands find my shoulders and he gently pushes me back so he can look in my eyes, but I slam them shut.

“Baby, look at me.”

Wiping my cheeks with the backs of my hands, I finally open my eyes and see his handsome face. He doesn’t look angry or sad. No, Connor Smith looks downright jubilant.

“Why do you look so happy?”

Connor shakes his head and laughs quietly to himself. “You don’t get it, do you?”

I make a dramatic display of my face that was just leaking from multiple places. “Clearly not.”

He leans down and rests his forehead against mine.

“Aves, baby. We did it.” Connor pushes back and kisses the spot he was just leaning against. His eyes bounce between mine and a smile dances across his face.

“I’m happy because after ten years and all the ways we tried to outrun this, we still somehow found our way back to each other. I felt lost without you, but I get it now. I was never really lost. I was just trying to find my way back to the girl written into every constellation I’ve ever looked at. And I did it. I found my way back home. You are my home, Avery Chamberlin. And I’m never fucking leaving you again.” Connor grabs my hand and places it over the tattoo covering his heart.

He waits for me to say something, but I can’t. The only thing I can do is lean down and press my mouth to his. I kiss him because the words are there but they’re tangled too deep inside my chest right now to pull free. I kiss him because he’s right. Somehow, after all this time, we found our way back. I kiss him because for ten years no one and nothing has ever felt like home the way he does.

My lips press harder against his, trying like hell to tell him everything I don’t know how to say out loud. He opens his mouth for me and I melt into him. When he kisses me back with so much certainty, it feels like standing beneath the night sky full of stars after years of darkness. I’m no longer in the dark.

I’m home.

Avery’s been napping for the past hour, and when I said I wasn’t going to leave her, I meant it. Which is why she’s sound asleep on my lap while I play cards on my phone and listen to my new audiobook. The main character just bonded with the most dangerous direwolf when an incoming call disrupts one of the best parts of the book.

My sister’s name pops up on my phone, but instead of answering it, I type out a message.

In the middle of something. Can I call you back?

Charlie

Are you in the middle of trying to locate Roger Park? Because if you’re not, you should be.

What the fuck?

Charlie sends the link to another article, and I sit up straighter as soon as I read the title.

OFF THE MARKET! Star Green Bay Defenseman Connor Smithis MARRIED!

Below the awful title is an article written by the world’s worst reporter claiming that a reliable source told him that Avery and I are married. It goes on to explain that this information makes the pregnancy assumptions look more and more believable. I scoff and shake my head as I continue reading.

My source claims that Avery Chamberlin has a history of taking advantage of men and marrying them for their money. Hopefully Smith smartens up or at least has an airtight prenuptial agreement in place. With a baby on the way, who knows if he’ll end up like his own father and split when times get tough. Stay tuned!

“Motherfucker.”

Avery stirs against me, and I try to rein it in but it’s no use. My heart is pounding so hard I can barely hear my audiobook when it begins playing again. Scrambling to pause it, I set my phone down and raise my arms over my head.

Closing my eyes, I repeat what my therapist used to always tell me:You are not your father. You’re a good man who loves his family.

I feel Avery’s hands against my cheek and open my eyes.

“Connor, what’s wrong? You’re shaking.”

As soon as the questions out of her mouth, her phone begins buzzing on the nightstand next to us. She reaches over and grabs it, her eyes bulging when she sees the screen.