Page 129 of Unbalanced

“But why?”

I lift my shoulder and let it drop.

“At the time…it was a reminder of what he stole from me, but also of meeting you and what you did for me. After that…it became more. I knew I’d use it one day to bring us together because only you would understand the significance. I’ve loved you since you offered to sit beside me at that gate. Not a single day has passed that I haven’t been by your side, hidden among the shadows and biding my time.”

Alden is quiet and then slowly smiles.

“And here I thought I was the clever one.”

“You are…just not quite as clever as me.”

He smiles as he slides the knife into his sheath before wrapping his arms around me.

“What the hell am I going to do with you, my Little Liability?”

“Marry me of course. I’ll only keep killing every other woman you dare to drag home anyway.”

That makes him laugh, and his lips hover over mine.

“Very well. Ms. Emily Walker, you perfectly diabolical woman, will you marry me?”

Linking my arms around his neck, I can barely contain my excitement and want to squeal like a teenage girl.

“Yes…always yes. And…I already have a wedding gift for you,” I say, nipping at his bottom lip.

“I’m almost afraid to ask.”

I teasingly push away from him, tearing off the rest of my shirt. I toss it to the ground and remove my ruined pants. Now, I stand in front of him in nothing but my combat boots. Then I crook my finger for him to follow me.

“If you can catch me, you get your gift.”

Turning, I sprint off through the woods. I’ve spent almost enough time here to know the trees by name.

“You’re crazy, woman.”

“And you love it,” I toss over my shoulder.

Alden is right on my heels, his stride matching mine until it only sounds like one being running through the trees. In this moment, naked, free, sweat and rain soaking my skin, with the man I love chasing me…I’ve never been happier.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

ALDEN

I tear after Emily, my mind still trying to process everything she’s just told me.

Twelve fucking years.

She’s been the one variable I can’t seem to solve since the moment she walked in on Rob’s arm. The anomaly that came into my perfectly ordered life and knocked every carefully weighted piece off the scale.

But she has been here since before the scale existed.

Emily Walker. The girl I can never forget.

The terrified stranger who crashed into my life for a handful of hours, and somehow left fingerprints on parts of me no one else has ever touched. I’ve carried the memory of her for all these years without a name, without a face, never realizing that the woman driving me out of my fucking mind is her.

Jesus Christ.

How have I not seen it? It seems so obvious now.