Free MINE 3 by Kristina Weaver Page B

were.”
    “Germany, you know—”
    “I know you said you went there to fix something. What I don’t know is if that’s the truth!”
    “I have never lied to you!” I yell, feeling my anger rise now with the look of distrust and the scorn directed at me.
    “Yeah?” she asks sweetly, making me cringe—she’s deadly when she gets sweet, and that’s not something I need right now.
    What I need is for her to shut up and kiss me hello before I lose control and have her under me for a long due claiming.
    “Ash—”
    “You’ve never lied, huh? So when you went and got your dick snipped and didn’t tell me, that was what? Loss of memory?”
    Uh, shite.
    “That, I was going to tell you. I just—”
    “Lied! No, tell me the truth, Luc. What were you doing?”
    My gut clenches when I look at her and see something in her eyes I haven’t ever seen. Defeat. My love is a fighter, a come up swinging kind of lass with a mouth that shoots nails and barbs that always hit their target.
    She has always been quick to temper and even quicker to retaliate, never down and ready to quit, something that scares me straight and warns me that lying to her now will accomplish nothing but a loss for me.
    “I did go to Germany. For a day. And then I went to the UK to get my ex-wife to stay the fuck out of our lives, and threatened my meddling mother with a lawsuit if the two of them attempted to extort money from me again.”
    My answer knocks the breath out of her, a sound I feel more than hear, and she crumples to her knees, her mouth wobbling into a teary smile.
    “I’m so glad I’m not a hopeful moron,” she says in a strangled tone, burying her head in her hands. “But I was so sure you were cheating on me to try and get back at me for… And then I was gonna leave, but I couldn’t because I love you, and I wanted to believe you wouldn’t do that to me. And then I—I started thinking about that time you left me and how I was so mad that you walked away without letting me explain what really happened. And I got mad and decided to stay and wait and give you the chance you never gave me and—”
    “Shh, love, hush. Don’t cry so,” I croon, dragging her up and into my arms.
    It’s only when her arms come out and around me, her hands fisting my hair and clinging, that I let go of the tight knot in my chest and breathe again, closing my eyes in relief.
    “I would never cheat, love. You’re way too much woman as it is,” I tease, pushing my anger to the back of my mind and concentrating on my woman instead.
    I’m pissed that she’d be so easily swayed to think me unworthy, but so relieved that she stayed long enough for an explanation that I feel weak and grateful all at once.
    “You still love me?”
    “Always,” I swear, pushing away to cradle her face and lick away her tears. “You’re mine, the only one I want. Forever.”
    “O-okay. I’m… Can we maybe talk about what happened…then?” she asks, and I sigh, wanting to refuse but knowing I have to face this if I’m ever to get her past that event.
    It still eats at me that she’d betrayed me and stolen seven years from me, and I can honestly say that as much as I love her, I still have not forgiven her for it.
    “Fine.”
    She pushes away and goes over to the bed, sinking down with a huff and clenching her fists even as she raises her reddened eyes and meets mine.
    “You saw something that… It wasn’t what it looked like, Luc.”
    “It looked pretty damned simple to me. You were kissing another boy just hours after you’d sworn to be mine,” I grate, wrestling with my emotions as the old anger invades my gut. “You were all over each other. You let him touch what was mine.”
    “Huh! I didn’t let him do anything! I was talking to him about his parents’ divorce when he freaking attacked me. He must have seen you before I did and got it in his fool head that if he could get you out of the picture I’d give him another chance. What you saw was