Page 93 of The Professor's Wife

“I like insane.”

He delivered the words so honestly.

I reached out and lightly brushed the strands of hair away from his forehead. “You can’t like insane, Tristan.”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s not a normal response.”

He took my hand before I could pull it away and kissed the inside of my palm. His blue eyes locked onto mine.

“What is a normal response?”

“I feel like I can do no wrong in your eyes.”

“You can do no wrong.”

I let out a laugh, and he grinned. My breath went light as I strained out, “Tristan…”

His grin disappeared. He whispered, “Daze…”

I squeezed my eyes shut and sighed. “Did I do something bad, Tristan?”

“You asked that already.”

“I just… Can you tell me again?”

“You did nothing bad.”

My eyes ached with unshed tears. I nodded, unable to speak now as he settled closer to me.

“What are you worried you did?”

I shook my head, waiting a few moments before clearing my throat. “I, uh… It’s just hard to hear, you know.”

“What’s hard to hear?”

“That I didn’t do anything.”

I could hear the frown in his voice. “That’s a bad thing?”

“It just… It hurts to know I’m not that crazy. After you believe it for so long… After you do things that hurt people…”

I couldn’t finish.

He didn’t respond. I knew I wasn’t making sense. I was talking gibberish to him, and suddenly, I was scared he wasn’t telling me the truth.

He could be protecting me from whatever I did.

Because Tristan was that kind of man.

A protector.

A fighter.

A carer.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I whispered next.