CHAPTER 30

He’d known what Kelsey would say. Because he’d deliberately opened the door for her.

Knowing a tornado was coming, however, didn’t make its power any less fierce. It still whipped you up, spun you around, threatened to destroy you completely.

Only Kelsey could have kept him grounded. Only Kelsey could have kept him whole when everything inside of him was threatening to break apart.

“Keira was the easy one,” he finally said. “Everything with her ended up being black and white. Cut and dried. But with my mother, there are so many shades, so many sides, to what happened.”

“Each betrayal is different.” Kelsey’s voice was soft, reaching inside him. “Some people are worthy of a second chance. Some aren’t

worthy of any kind of forgiveness. Keira was calculated, plotting. But your mother was a beaten woman. Her choices weren’t

necessarily rational.”

“No, she wasn’t rational. She couldn’t be when she was scared out of her mind.” He leaned into the silky feel of Kelsey’s hair against

his cheek, her warmth. She made everything seem good, even when the bad threatened to overwhelm. She was solid, even in the

midst of chaos. Her hands on his arms, the caress of her fingers—even through his shirt, the sensation worked some sort of alchemy on him. She made all his jumbled thoughts and emotions seem so much clearer. “What my mother did by leaving me was wrong.”

That fact would never change. But there were more facts that he needed to give his mother credit for. “Before she left, she did her

best to protect me from my father by hiding me or taking the beatings herself. And when she found out she was pregnant, she made

the only choice she could for the twins, two defenseless babies, to protect them as best she could.”

Kelsey soothed him with her touch. “I’m so sorry for what that man did to you both.”

“I am too.” He pulled back, stroked his fingers over her cheek. “He had too much power over her, over me, while he was alive. He’s

been gone a long time, and both of us need to stop letting him have that power. We both need to move on. Fully. Completely.” He

forced himself to acknowledge the painful memories one more brutal time. And then he finally let them go. “My mother did an

amazing job raising the twins. They’re good people. Because of her.”

“Do you realize that you’ve been calling her your mother? Instead of Tessa?”

“Maybe,” he said slowly, “my feelings are changing.” He was changing, with Kelsey’s help. “But I’m afraid she’ll continue to make

bad choices.”

“If she does,” Kelsey said, “do you think you can love her and forgive her anyway?”

The answer hit him like a lightning bolt aimed straight at his heart.

“Yes. I can.” After all these years, he suddenly saw things clearly. “Because she isn’t the only one who’s made, and who will likely

keep making, mistakes.”

“No,” Kelsey said, emotion brimming in the short word. “She isn’t. Not even close. We’re human, so we make mistakes. All of us.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “Sorry for all the mistakes I made with you. Sorry for all the mistakes I’ll make in the future.”

“I forgive you. For all of it.” Her lips trembled. “Just as I hope you’ll forgive me for not telling you how I felt nine years ago. And

for pushing you again and again to face the darkness when I know how hard and painful it is to walk back into the shadows.”

“I love you.”

Her eyes widened, then her tears spilled over.

“I love you, Kelsey.”

He wanted to say it again and again. A billion times. Now that he’d finally said the words, he couldn’t stop. He never would. She

would just have to get used to hearing those three little words a thousand times a day. Days, weeks, years, decades that he couldn’t

wait to spend with her. To explore with her by his side. In his heart.

“I love you so damned much. I love you for being so damned brave. I love you for being so damned steadfast. I love you for pushing

me to see that my mother deserves my forgiveness. And that I do too, for being so blind that I picked the wrong woman. I love you,

Kelsey, for being joy and light and wonder.” He held her tight to his heart, his body, his soul. “I love you with everything I am.”

* * *

Ares loved her.

He’d forgiven his mother. He’d changed his life. He was whole.

And he was hers.

Finally.

“I love you,” she said as he dipped his head to kiss her throat. “You’re everything I could ever want.”

“Tell me what you want, Kelsey.” He lifted his face to hers. “Tell me, and I’ll give it to you. Anything you want. Everything you

want.”

Didn’t he know? “All I want is you.”

“I’m yours.”

She wanted to revel in this moment forever. Wanted to block out the rest of the world, if only for a short precious time, and focus

everything on love.

When she smiled, it was full of emotion. And a touch of naughtiness too. “I’ve never made love in my office before.”

He kissed her hard. “I want to be your first. Your only.”

“You are. You always have been.” This moment between them was potent with meaning—and with joy. So much joy that it was perfectly natural, instinctive to tease. “I can’t stop fantasizing about having you ravish me with my clothes on. Like we’re doing

something totally illicit.” And so beautiful her heart swelled with it.

“Kelsey.” He murmured her name into the vee of her neckline, licking her skin. “I love how you’re not afraid to make love fun. To

play, even as you make me hotter than anything or anyone ever has.”

“Play with me,” she urged him.

On a lust-filled curse, he rolled her beneath him on the couch. She felt so soft, so sexy beneath his hard, heated muscles.

He bunched the material of her skirt in his hands and tugged it up slowly. “You made me crazy when I first walked in here. This

pencil skirt and silk blouse you’re wearing. They’re sexy as hell. I could barely restrain myself from ripping them off you.”

“I wanted to rip your suit off too.”

He stopped a moment, his features serious again as he braced himself above her. “Don’t ever stop being exactly the way you are. Don’t ever stop making me laugh, making me crazy. My sweet, sexy, wild, perfect Kelsey.”

Her heart contracted, and tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. No one had ever wanted her just the way she was. She’d lived her

whole life in her sister’s shadow.

But Ares loved her just as she was.

“I am sweet,” she said softly. “And sexy.” That came out louder, firmer. She was already rolling them over so she could straddle his

hips as she said, “And wild for you.”

He pulled her down and gave her a sizzling, openmouthed kiss, tasting her with his tongue, filling her. “You forgot one,” he said

when he finally let her come up for air. “Perfect.” He threaded his hands into her hair. “My every dream, every hope, every prayer,

come true.”

“Then love me now,” she whispered, looking down into his beautiful face, her gaze caressing his lips.

The next thing she knew, zippers were unzipped, buttons were unbuttoned, and fabric was pulled out of the way so that they could

come together.

They made love to each other with lips, hands, hearts. Joy, pleasure, love—there were no boundaries anymore. No more shadows.

Only the wild, perfect rhythm of their lovemaking, their sounds of pleasure, their whispered words of love.

And when they fell, they fell as one.