Page 46 of Resurgent
“I guess. As a result, I ended up being the responsible one. If I didn’t, no one would have. My mom could barely take care of herself. As the oldest, I ended up taking care of my little brothers and trying to shield them from the ugliness of my parents’ marriage. I guess I kind of got in the habit of taking care of everyone.”
“Me too,” I say. “Oldest child syndrome. Little sisters are a pain in the ass.” I wink at her. “But if you ever tell Kenzie I said that, I’ll deny it.”
She smiles. “Your secret’s safe with me. So how did you get over that?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say I did. I still like to take care of people. McKenzie always, but especially after our parents died, my SEAL team, the American public in general…you.”
She squeezes my hand. “Thank you for rescuing me.”
“There wasn’t another option. I love”—I catch myself just short of saying the words I’ve never dreamed of saying to any woman. What the hell?—“that you’ve trusted me to keep you safe. In every way.”
Her death grip on my hand has eased, and I unbuckle our seatbelts and tug her close to me, pulling her head to rest on my shoulder. “Get some sleep. We’ll head out to the islands to dive once we arrive in Malaysia.”
