Page 191 of Sins of Innocence

"And even believing that, you didn't drop your vigilance."

"The accident shouldn't have happened." His face twists with some intolerable emotion. "If we hadn't been in an armored vehicle, you would be dead."

And that would have devastated him. Just like it would devastate me to lose him.

"But we were. Because you made sure we were." Why is he castigating himself like this? "You have never once broken your promise to protect me, big guy. Not once."

He shakes his head.

"You started the first day we met and you've never stopped. You're my hero."

"I'm no hero."

"Don't you believe it. You're the kind of hero epic poems are written about, not a cardboard cutout prince who hasn't got a clue what real life is like."

"You really believe that?" His tone is laced with wary hope, his eyes filled with the same.

"Yes. You made sure the boys who hurt Sadie wouldn't ever have the chance to try to hurt her again. You got Neeve's entire school to participate in an antibullying campaign because of what was being said to her. You pushed Kenneth right out of our lives and made sure that piece of crap never got a chance to get anywhere near me again. Do you know how wet it made me to know you had bodyguards protecting me like that?"

"My need to keep you safe turns you on?"

"Yes. When I was eighteen years old, I married the fairytale prince."

Kieran growls with displeasure at my words.

I pat his chest. "At least I thought he was. But Troy wasn't a hero. He was weak and greedy and his actions put a bullseye on my back and a target on his daughters. You literally stepped between us and anyone who would do us harm. You are the hero, Kieran."

"I'm no white knight," he says, like it’s a warning.

I smile and shake my head. "Who wants a white knight? I'll take my dark knight with tarnished armor and enough courage and strength to fell an army for me and our daughters."

"You called them ours."

I have before, haven't I? Doesn't matter. "They are ours. Yours and mine. And because of you our daughters still have their mother."

"I'm a dangerous man," he says, like it's a confession.

"I know," I purr with approval. "To the rest of the world, you are the storm coming to wreak havoc on them. But to us?" I brush my thumb over his cheek. "You're the shelter."

He goes completely still.

"Bad things happen, big guy. Even when you don't have a target painted on your life by the mob. Cars crash. People die. The world doesn't stop hurting because someone loves you enough."

"I don't want anything bad to happen to you or our family."

"I don't either. Not to you. Not to the girls. Not to mom. Or Ellie. But bad things will happen. What I need from you is to be there beside me when they do. Like you were today."

I drop my forehead against his again and whisper, "I don't need you to stop life happening." He can't. "I need you to keep helping me survive it."

One of his hands slides up my back and cups my nape. "I will."

"I know." Tears burn the backs of my eyes. "I trust you, Kieran. I love you."

"I love you, too." The words are so quiet I almost think I imagined them.

But I didn't.

"You love me." It's not a question.