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.You can rest easy now.”“Thank you.” Her lips pressed to Brady’s tenderly.He wanted to kiss her with everything in him, but he held back, allowing her to take command.At first her kiss was soft and light, as if she was hesitant, unsure.But then the kiss became more firm, more confident.Brady responded with vigor, tasting how sweet she was, savoring the feel of her tongue in his mouth, of her hands in his hair.“God, you’re beautiful,” he whispered into her mouth, wanting to say more, wanting to do more.He wished he could give her the world.He wished he could wipe away all her pain, remove all the hurtful things that had ever happened to her.If only he could erase the evil that had been inflicted on her, he would.For her happiness he would give up anything.He would let her go, release her, if that’s what she wanted.He would sacrifice his own life if need be.She didn’t stiffen when he told her this time.She was starting to believe him, and that gave Brady satisfaction.Maybe that was the way he could erase her pain.Perhaps there was no magic formula.No potion to take away her memories.But he could replace her bad ones with good ones.He could replace the hurtful, deceptive words, with life-giving, truthful ones.“So beautiful,” he murmured, his lips sliding over her skin.“I love you, Alison.More than I ever thought possible.And I will love you and keep you safe for the rest of our lives.”I stopped reading and turned around.“When did you write this?”“The day before you left.” Kyler entered the room, holding a mug of coffee in his hand.He held it out to me.“Here.”I took the coffee, wrapping my fingers around it.“So before the confrontation in the hotel room?”He nodded.“Were you planning to kill him?” I took a sip of the coffee and then set it down on the end table.Kyler came around the couch, and knelt before me.He touched the pages of the book with his fingers.“This book is fiction.It’s about Brady and Alison.She was attacked like you were, but the attacker wasn’t her dad.The only similarity at all was that she was burned.You were the inspiration, but it isn’t your story.I wanted to write about someone like you, someone who’d endured similar pain so I could show you that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.That things can turn around, and that out of the ashes can come beauty.And I didn’t know your dad’s lighter was red.That was just a bizarre coincidence.I would be lying if I said that I hadn’t fantasized about killing your dad for hurting you, but honestly I never dreamt it would come to that.I never thought he’d find you here.” Shoving the papers aside, he took my hand in his, weaving our fingers together.“But the part that is true is how I feel about you.I do love you, Jade.I know we haven’t known each other that long, but I do.I think I’ve loved you since the first week you were here.I love every single thing about you.And if you’ll stay here with me, I promise to make you happy and to keep you safe, like Brady promised Alison.”Tears pricked the back of my eyes.No one had ever told me they loved me before.The walls around my heart crumbled, like an explosion in my chest.I rocked forward, but Kyler caught me in his arms.My hands came up around his face, my fingers tracing the stubble along his chin.“I know how much you hate sappy romances, but I gotta be honest, this scene you wrote was pretty sappy.And so was your little monologue you just gave.” A smile played on my lips.“I mean, you’ve completely ruined the whole dark and brooding vibe you had going on.”“Sorry.” He grinned.“But I loved it.” I kissed him lightly on the cheek.“Thank you for dreaming up a happy ending for me, Kyler.”“I told you I would.”“I’m not sure your publisher will like it though.”His eyebrows raised.“Are you saying that I can publish it?”“Yeah, I guess I am.” My fingers moved from his face to his neck, and they wove through his hair.“You’ve never done anything to hurt me.And even though you didn’t rescue me when we were kids, you rescued me now.So, I trust you.Besides, you weren’t the only one who hid things.” I swallowed hard.“I haven’t been completely honest with you.”“Jade, it’s okay.” He swept a strand of hair from my face
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