Melting Steel: An Alpha Billionaire Romance (15 page)

Henry

Relief swims in the blue eyes that look down on me. The most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen. My angel. My Keeley.

“You stayed.” My voice is gravelly.

“Of course, I stayed.” A single tear rolls over her cheek.

Wires and tubes are attached to my hand when I reach up to touch her face, wiping the moisture away with my knuckles.

What cuts me up is the fear she tries to contain.

“You saved me,” she says, holding my palm against her face.

“And you said yes.” It’s the last thing I remember before I lost consciousness.

“Yes.” She hiccups over a sob.

“Hey.” I try to sit up, wanting to comfort her, but pain shoots through my shoulder. Fuck. Getting shot hurts like a bitch.

“I’m sorry. I’m okay. I just…” She closes her eyes and takes a few steadying breaths. “I thought I was going to lose you. I…”

“I know, sweetheart.” I bring her hand to my lips and kiss each knuckle.

Catching her lip between her teeth, I see her warring with the unsaid sentiment. 

“Your brother, is he okay?”

“They took him into custody.”

“We’ll get him the help he needs.” The help Abby should have gotten. Drew’s young. With therapy and medication, he may be able to function normally. But one thing is certain, I won’t let him anywhere near Keeley, until I’m absolutely sure he won’t harm her. Physically, mentally, or emotionally.

She’s my first priority.
Always
.

“Sarah, John’s wife was here earlier.” Keeley brushes her hair behind her ear and glances down at the floor.

“Shit.”

“It’s okay. She’s a victim in all this.” Her eyes cloud over slightly.

“What did she want?”

“To hear the truth from me. I don’t know if it helped.”

Fuck. I wish that I’d been there for her. I don’t want her to have to deal with anything alone ever again.

“I’m so sorry.” Her voice is broken, ragged, laced with guilt. “For everything.”

“None of this is your fault.”

“Maybe not. But if you’d never met me–”

“If I’d never met you I’d be lost, broken, missing half of my heart.”

“God, I love you,” she says on a sigh. Her eyes widen when she realizes what she said.

A lump knots at the base of my throat. “I love you too, Keeley.”

“It’s enough.” She fidgets with something in her hand and I realize it’s the ring box.

“What’s enough sweetheart?”

“You. Us.” Her voice is soft, gaze downcast, and I can tell it takes everything within her to say the words.

I hold my breath, watching as her steel fortress melts away.

Exposed.

Raw.

Brave.

She stands before me, giving me everything – her heart.

I curse the pain that slices through my chest when I reach for her, but I need to hold her.

“You’re going to open your wound,” she says, when I pull her down beside me.

“I don’t care. I need to feel you.”

Curling beside me, she rests her head on my good shoulder and mumbles, “Strength and warmth.”

“What?”

“When I’m with you the emptiness disappears. The darkness goes away. I promised…” Emotion makes her voice crack. “I swore that if you pulled through this, I wouldn’t be afraid anymore.”

I hooked my knuckle under her chin, forcing her to look at me.

“It’s okay to be afraid sometimes. Shit, when I saw the look in Jax’s eye when he had the gun pointed at you...I’ve never been so fucking scared in my life.”

“You saved me.”

“I promised I would.” I grin. “Just took me twenty years to do it.”

She laughs softly.

A warm ache fills my chest.

“I love that sound.”

“What?”

“You. Happy.”

“You make me happy.”

I nuzzle my nose into her hair, and breathe in the sweet scent of her.

Her body stiffens slightly.

“What’s wrong?”

“I have to tell you something.” There’s tension in the words that make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

She tucks her chin into my chest.

“Keeley, look at me.”

She winces, but obeys.

“Tell me.”

“I had one of the nurses run a blood test. I didn’t know, and I wanted to be sure before I told you.”

“Are you sick?”

“No. I’m pregnant,” she blurts out.

Pregnant?

I choke over the swell of emotion. “Fuck.”

“Are you mad?”

“No. God. Of course not. Just shocked.” I brush my knuckles over her cheek and study her. I know the fears she’s kept locked inside her. “Are
you
okay?”

“Yes.” Her eyes cloud for a moment, but just as quickly the brightness returns. “Scared. But in a good way.”

Courage. Hope. Love. I see it her eyes.

I press my lips against hers. Just that small contact and my cock twitches. Desire swells. I’ll never get enough of her.

“How long before I’m out of here?”

As if sensing the need stirring within me, she chuckles. “A couple days at least.”

“Shit.”

“I’ll make it up to you…” Her tongue darts out over her bottom lip and the look she gives me makes me groan. “When we get home.”

Home.
It’s the first time she’s called it that. I grin down at her and sigh.

Her smile matches my own as she snuggles deeper into my hold, threading her fingers through mine.

“I’m so tired.” She yawns. “But I don’t want to leave you.”

“Close your eyes.” It dawns on me that the sky is dark outside my window, the moon high in the sky. My body is washed in fatigue, my eyes heavy. “You can sleep in my arms. Where you belong.”

“Henry?” Her voice is light.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

My chest tightens.

Maybe the bullet pierced more than my shoulder, because if this isn’t heaven, I don’t know what is.

She’s my life now. Every beautiful, broken, part of her.

Mine.

“I love you too, sweetheart.”

Keeley

Six years later…

“Mama, mama. Look what Daddy gave me.” A whirlwind of dark hair runs into the bedroom and jumps on the bottom of the bed, swinging a wooden sword.

Lily squirms in my arms, chubby fists reaching for her brother. 

“My girls are finally awake.” Henry saunters into the room, dark hair mussed. Even now, he takes my breath away. His knuckles graze my cheek, before he leans over and kisses my forehead, eyes filled with an emotion only reserved for me.

Warmth and strength.

Harrison drops to his knees beside me and holds out the old wooden sword. “Look Mama.”

“I see.” I gaze at my beautiful boy. Already so big and so much like his father.

“I’m going to be a knight and fight dragons.”

“Like your daddy.”

Harrison tilts his head and blinks up at Henry, eyes wide. “You were a knight?”

“The bravest,” I say.

Henry sits beside me on the bed and wraps an arm behind my shoulder, so that my back is resting against his chest.

“I’m going to be brave too,” Harrison says, giving me a toothless grin. “And keep you and Lily safe, cause that’s what knights do, right Daddy?”

A soft chuckle rumbles from his throat. “That’s right. We fight for love. That’s what makes a hero.”

Harrison grins so wide I feel it right in the center of my chest.

My little knight
.

Lily babbles and crawls to Harrison. He makes a funny face and she gives a full-chested baby laugh.

Love.
It’s the most precious gift.

I never thought it was possible to love so much, to be loved.

Henry threads his fingers with mine and nuzzles his nose in my hair.

“So damn, beautiful,” he whispers, sending a thrill down my spine.

My champion.

My hero.

My husband
.

I never imagined life could be more than just surviving. But it’s so much more.
Love is living.

And I have more love than any person deserves.

There are some wounds that still haunt me, maybe always will. But no one survives a battle without a few scars.

I smile and glance around at my family, heart full.

Fairy tales do exist.

Sometimes you just have to fight a few dragons to get your happily ever after.

About the Author

C.M. Seabrook
is the author of
Fighting Blind
,
Moody
, and
Melting Steel
, as well as the Amazon bestselling fantasy romance
Cara's Twelve
, as well as the
Therian Agents Paranormal Romance Series
, and co-author of the
Mated by Magic series
.
When she isn't reading or writing sexy stories, she's most likely spending time with her family, cooking, singing, or racing between soccer, hockey and karate practices. She's living her own happily ever after with her husband of fifteen years and their two daughters. 
She loves creating new exciting characters - from sexy, bad boy alphas, to the passionate, fiery women who love them. 
Canadian born and bred, she started life in Edmonton, Alberta, and now resides in London, Ontario. She attended Western University where she graduated with an Honors degree in Anthropology.
Her guilty pleasures include red wine, pasta, binge watching Starz originals, and hanging out with her rescue pup, Jaxx. 
She loves to hear from her readers and can be reached at [email protected]

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Mackenzie Brooks is everything I've ever wanted.

Three years ago, she walked out of my life. No explanation. Just
 gone
.

With the biggest fight of my career only weeks away, she walked back in.

I'll do anything to protect her. Destroy anyone who tries to hurt her.

When it comes to Mac, there isn't a line I won't cross.

I've loved her my entire life, and now that's she's back I won't let her go.

She refuses to speak about the past, or the secrets I know she's hiding.

I know she's planning on running again. But when you love someone, you stay and fight.

Even if you're 
fighting blind
.

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Heartbreaker. Playboy. Reckless. Wild and Rough.
 Those are just a few of the names she's called me, but I don't care as long as I get what I want - 
her heart
.
She deserves more than I can give. Problem is she's all I want. The smart thing would be to stay away. And believe me I've tried. I've kept my distance for four years...and time's up. 

Isabelle Stewart is mine. 

I've been a fighter my entire life, and I'm not afraid to fight dirty - 
especially for her
.

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