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ALTHOUGH I HAD SWORN to never be a woman who needs a man—well, to never be that woman again, I find myself being led by Knight and following him like he’s leading us to the Promised Land.

“Free food, free hot shower... and my company,” he says as we walk to the USO Lounge. “What else can you ask for during an ice storm?”

On second thought, maybe he is leading me to the land of soft beds and all the food I can eat.

“There’s something I didn’t tell you,” he says, stopping short of the entrance.

Unease scuttles through me. “What’s that?” I hold Hazel closer to me, breathing in her baby scent like it’s a talisman that can protect us.

“They think we’re married.”

Nervous laughter bursts from my throat. “We might as well be at this point.”

He runs a hand through his short, dark hair. His grey eyes are earnest and sweet. Kind. I want to shrink back from that goodness. Not only do I think he has the wrong impression of me, but because I don’t quite trust my judgment when it comes to men.

Although, the men I trusted before were nothing like Knight. They were slick, charming, and polished in a sleek sort of way that’s reserved for politicians and old money. They had Ivy League educations, trust-fund incomes, and positions of power that made them untouchable.

“The thing is, you and Hazel can’t stay here if we’re not.”

Is he serious? “Only married people can get a room—not families, like... brothers and sisters?”

“Well, fuck. I guess I could have said you were my sister.” His cheeks flush, and my heart lurches. “If you’re not comfortable, I’ll figure something out.” He snaps his fingers. “Let’s get in a fight, and then you make me sleep out by the gate as punishment for being an asshole.”

He’ll sleep out by the gate? Before he goes off to war and gets shot at, he wants me to kick him out of a room I wouldn’t even have access to if it wasn’t for him in the first place? “No.” I shake my head. “We’re not fighting and you’re staying. We’re adults, and I... You’re staying, and that’s final.”

If he says no, I won’t be able to live with myself.

Please stay.

“Yes, ma’am.” He steps closer, his voice low. “Nothing bad will happen to you and Hazel while you’re with me. I’ll sleep on the floor to prove it to you.”

I bite my lip, pushing down emotions I’m struggling to keep tightly locked up, but this man makes it nearly impossible. “I know you would, which is why I’m not going to let you.”

“We’ll see.” He puts his large hand on the small of my back, guiding me to the front desk. “Ready?”

I nod. “Yup.”

A man stands behind it, a huge grin on his face. “Welcome, Lt. and Mrs. King. Your room is ready.” He hands Knight the key. “Go to your left, then take the next right. Room three.”

***

OUR ROOM HAS A SOFA, but it also has a huge bed that dominates it. It’s all I can look at.

“So stupid,” I mutter, forcing my gaze away.

Of course the bed is the centerpiece. It’s a hotel room for goodness’ sake.

Knight pulls on the cushions, and it starts to expand into a sofa bed. “Looks like your plan to keep me from sleeping on the floor panned out.”

My breath whooshes out of me. “I wasn’t worried.”

He stands, pointing behind me. “Check out what they put in here for Hazel.”

I turn, my mouth dropping open.

“What in the world?” I can’t believe what I’m seeing. There’s a pack n’ play in the corner. Inside it, there’s a huge basket filled with baby supplies—like diapers, formula, bottles, wipes, blankets, and even clothes.

Knight grabs the basket, setting it on the table in the corner. “Take a closer look.”

“Did you do this?” I ask.

“Nope.” Knight grins. “This is all courtesy of the guy behind the counter.”

Gratefulness overwhelming me, I sit on the bed, holding Hazel even tighter to me. She squirms, and I loosen my grip so she doesn’t start to cry.

“I don’t understand.” I look around the room, avoiding Knight’s gaze. “This entire day has been like a dream. I’m afraid to wake up.”

Knight comes to stand in front of me, then kneels. His smile is soft, gentle, and everything I’ve come to associate with him over the past few hours. “I don’t know who hurt you so bad, but I’m here to tell you this isn’t a dream. There are good people in the world, Campbell.

“More importantly, you deserve to be treated right,” he adds.

He’s so close now. His lips so inviting I can hardly breathe.

I shouldn’t feel this way, shouldn’t even think about him or his perfectly kissable mouth.

Hadn’t I learned my lesson with tall, good-looking men? Hadn’t I learned men are not to be trusted? They only take what they want. When they’re done or when women don’t do exactly as they say, they leave.

They lie.

They cheat.

They hit.

My entire adult life, I’ve been on the receiving end. I’ve been the one who gives and gives.

The one who loves.

The one who tells the truth.

The one who stays...until I found the courage to leave.

The one who refuses to take handouts, especially when they’re meant for someone else. Someone who isn’t lying about her relationship with a good man.

“I can’t accept the basket,” I say. “It’s too much.”

Knight touches my knee, and heat ignites. “Yes, you can, because it’s freely given. No strings attached. Just a good person doing something kind for another good person.”

I sigh thickly, lowering my chin so I can nuzzle Hazel’s sweet head.

Maybe, just for this precious sweet moment in time, I can allow myself to receive, allow myself to trust, allow myself to feel like a woman who is worthy of love, hope, and safety.

“You make it sound so easy,” I say.

“Believe me when I say it is,” he says. “After all, if you can’t believe in a man whose job is to protect everything he holds dear, then who can you believe in?”

I burst out laughing. “Did you really just use a line on me?”

“Thought I’d give it a try,” he says with a confident smile on his face. “You probably feel like you’re taking advantage of me, but I’m here to tell you that you’re not. I want to do this for you. Let me help you, Campbell. Let me keep helping you until you’re finally back home.”

Sincerity shines in his eyes so brightly I have to look away. “I used to be the kind of girl who could trust,” I admit. “But that girl turned into a woman who just can’t allow herself to be vulnerable again.”

“What happened, sweetheart?”

“The short version—I married a monster.”

“Hazel’s dad?”

I shake my head. “No. Her dad was a different kind of monster. Obviously, I have really, really bad luck when it comes to men.”

“Are you... are you still married?”

There’s no judgment in his question, but I still feel like the whore of Babylon. “No. I divorced him two years ago. He got everything because I walked out on him. Conditions of the prenup.”

“What did he do to make you leave?”

His reaction is so different from my parents, my friends... everyone who thought Baylor was a serious catch and I should count my blessings someone from his high and mighty background wanted to marry a girl like me. I wasn’t a catch in Eden Grove. I was an outcast in my own home.

I peer up at him. “He cheated on me. When I confronted him and refused to believe his lies, he hit me so hard he gave me a black eye. Then he acted like he was horrified by what he’d done. He cried, literally cried, and said he’d never do it again.”

I can still see his expression, the tears in his blue eyes. The pain on his face... I’d thought by marrying a man like Baylor Smythe-Winstead—one who was so different from the boys I dated in high school and more mature than college guys who asked me to frat parties—he’d give me something they couldn’t. Namely, love, the right kind of attention, respectability, and finally approval from my parents.

I was right on one account. No man or boy had ever raised their hand to me, ever hit me in anger... not even my coldhearted mother believed in violence. While my father... my father was afraid of his own shadow and never even raised his voice—not even to stop his wife from verbally abusing their children.

“Except he did,” Knight says, his face turning into sharp planes as his jaw works. His eyes narrow like a predator’s as I nod.

“Yes...and stupid me stayed until I found the courage to walk away.” I bite at my bottom lip, the same lip Baylor split wide open, wondering why I’m confessing all my sins, even the ones that don’t belong to me, to him. I’m not looking for a savior or salvation from a man.

But Knight makes it easy for me to pretend he can save us from all the evil in the world.

“Son of a bitch. I hope to God the police arrested his ass, locked him up, and threw away the key.”

“They didn’t.” I smile bitterly. “Hard to arrest the man who owns the entire town. I can’t blame them. They had families to support, and if anyone looked at him wrong, he took it personally. His ego couldn’t take it and...he did very bad things to anyone who attempted to stray from his narrative. Leaving him, though...it was hard to explain. He orchestrated it so he ended up the victim. For some reason, that pleased him.”

“Because he was a fucked-up SOB.” Knight’s jaw clenches. He looks ready to fight for me. A strange, altogether foreign feeling that’s not unpleasant in the least.

Still...

“What does that make me for agreeing to marry him?” Unable to continue to hold something so precious as my daughter while I speak of such horrible things, I lean back on the bed and place her in the middle.

“Probably a woman in love, or at least one who didn’t know the truth.”

“How are you so...” Good. Perfect. “Prone to think the best of me? To help me?”

“A wise man once told me that we should help others without asking if they are worthy of it first.”

“That is profound.”

“That was my dad.”

“Was?”

He nods, pain entering his eyes, but then leaving as quick as a flash of lightning. “Happened when I was younger.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry, Knight.”

He searches my face. “Is Hazel’s dad going to be a problem for y’all?”

“No. He doesn’t want either of us, and I don’t want support from him,” I say firmly. “Some people might say it’s unfair to my daughter, but he didn’t want me to have her in the first place... so, screw him.”

“How did you... How did you even get this far?” He sounds impressed, maybe even a little in awe of me.

“My brother.” Getting up, I lay my daughter in the pack ‘n play. I watch her sleep, her little lips puckered and her tiny chest moving with each breath. She looks so peaceful, so innocent. “I missed him so much I finally texted him. I didn’t think he’d actually reply, you know? He’s in college, and I’m sure I’m the last thing on his mind.”

“Yet, here you are,” Knight says. I can feel him as he moves to stand behind me. He’s so large, so tall, and his shoulders so wide I should feel intimidated. Except I feel comforted. Protected.

Ready to allow myself to lean into him and let him take care of me.

I take my phone from my back pocket, caressing the stupid screen. “One of the only luxuries I allowed myself is this phone... I gave up designer shoes, clothes, purses...sold everything I had to pay for it, for a roof over our head, and food, until I ran out of money. The cost of living in LA is insane.”

“He sounds like an amazing brother.”

My lower lips trembles. I hate being so vulnerable; hate the flashes of hot and cold as I lay my problems at Knight’s feet. “Caine did everything he could to help out, including buying my plane ticket. I have to go back home to see him... It wouldn’t be right to cash in the ticket otherwise. I’m hoping to start over.”

“I bet your family is going to love Hazel,” he says.

“My brother will, but my parents...” I exhale, my breath shaky, and I put my phone away. “No telling what they’ll say or do. I don’t know if they’ll let me in the front door.”

“What can—”

“I’ll figure something out.” I force my knees to lock and my spine to stay rigid. Otherwise, I’ll fall apart. I’m so tired. My body aches in places it never has before. My breasts are tender, not quite used to nursing an infant, and my stomach is starting to rumble again. The lunch Knight bought was the first meal I’d had since the night before. Trying to conserve money had seemed like a good idea at the time, but the lack of energy proved the opposite.

Knight’s large hands come to rest on my shoulders, then he slowly spins me around. His silver eyes are concerned and sincere.

“If things get bad, I want you to go to Castle Beach, to my place there.” I shake my head, but he’s already ignoring me. “You need to have a plan for when things go FUBAR.”

“FUBAR?”

“Fucked up beyond all repair. I don’t want you and Hazel to have to go to a shelter again.”

My hearts melts. The ice that’s surrounded it for months thaws faster than a snowball in hell. “You’ve already done too much.”

“Campbell. Let me do this for you. I can’t go... away, without knowing you guys will be taken care of, no matter how it works out with your parents.” He brushes my long bangs out of my face, his touch so tender I shiver a little. “Say yes.”

Unable to say no to him, I exhale. “I’ll think about it.”