Page 193 of Mountain Men Heroes
I wrinkled my nose. Sawyer’s words told me he knew we’d have problems to overcome in the future. Which meant that Sawyer thought we had a future.
My chest ached as hope caught it in a tight grip. “You want a relationship with me?”
Even I could hear the disbelief mingling with hope in my voice.
“Baby,” Sawyer said patiently, “you’re mine.”
“I’m yours.”
“Yes.”
He’d said it before. At the time it had set my pulse pounding and the blood thrumming through my veins. But since he was usually in me or had just pulled out of me when he said it, I hadn’t really trusted that he meant it. Didn’t guys say stuff like that during sex?
I searched his eyes. “What does that mean again?” I needed to hear the words. Call me crazy but my soul could use some extra loving right now and the only thing that could give me that were his words.
“It means you’re mine. My woman. My love. The keeper of my heart.” He raised his hand from where it rested on my hip and brushed his fingers down my cheek. “I’ve been waiting to claim you since I realized you were the only one for me back when it would have landed me in jail. And now, I’ve finally done it.”
The pride in his voice left me breathless.
“Something else you need to take to heart. Nobody, at least nobody who bothered looking, ever thought you were anything like your mother.”
I wanted to believe that. God, did I want to believe that. “Okay.”
He held my gaze a minute before continuing. “I still remember the day you and your mother walked into my bar. I took one look at you, and I knew you would be mine. I just had to be patient.”
I blinked up at him.
“I placed my heart in your keeping a long time ago, Trinity. Waiting for you to grow up, giving you the chance to follow your dreams, just about killed me. I know you made plans for yourself. But I don’t think I can live another day without you. I don’t think I can ever let you go again.”
The fierce possessiveness coloring his voice told me every word he spoke was the truth. He’d wanted me all these years. He’d waited for me. And he was done waiting.
What did that mean to my plans? Could I forget about moving to Syn city? Forget about attending college and building a life of my own away from anyone who ever met my mother?
“Why didn’t you leave here when your mother did?”
“That was my plan,” I told him. “Graduate and get the heck out of here. I got into every school I applied to and even had a few scholarship offers. But not enough to cover my full expenses.”
He drew his brows together. “You hadn’t saved enough to cover at least some of the difference?”
I nodded. “Oh, yeah, I had quite a bit saved up. With a few loans, I would have had my pick of colleges.”
“So, what happened?”
I shook my head and pressed my lips together, pulling in a shuddering breath before I responded. “The thing that happened to ruin my life was the same thing that always happened—my mother. I didn’t go with her when she left because she didn’t invite me. Probably because if I knew her plans, I would have kept a closer watch on my savings.”
His body got very still beneath me. “What?”
“She figured out my password for my online banking. She somehow managed to move all my money into an account I didn’t have access to. And the day I figured it out, I came home to find our house empty. She’d taken all my money except for what was in my pockets and every bit of furniture and stuff from our house.”
He gathered my hands in his and turned the ring he gave me for my birthday over and over like I’ve done countless times.
I could have pawned the ring given it was real gold but I would have rather gone with no food than give something up so precious to me.
The painful memories welled up inside me.
“I had everything I ever wanted within my grasp. I’d worked my ass off to make sure of it. But then in one fell swoop, my mother left, taking all my dreams with her. Living in that house for the next month, no furniture, no food in the cupboards, trying to scrape enough money together to rent a tiny apartment without letting my grades slip, had been one of the worst months of my life.”
“I’ll kill her.”