Friday brought the glorious news that Jansen was still ill. Honestly, hearing those sweet, sweet words was better than winning the lotto.

"Struggling with every breath he takes, apparently," Jude said when he plopped down beside me in the literature seminar and handed me a latte and a cookie. "Figured we should celebrate."

Too right. As well as the weekend coming up, I had my Friday night date with Linc to look forward to, and tonight he'd promised not to try cooking. Sofia said he'd asked her how to make macaroni and cheese yesterday, but he'd glazed over when she mentioned a roux.

And Sofia had also promised to take Hisashi to the park in the morning, complete with a shadow from Blackwood, which meant that if I wanted to stay with Linc tonight, I could. Although we'd slept in the same bed once already, the prospect of planning such a move and possibly doing more than sleeping terrified the logical side of my brain, that cautious part of my psyche that remembered pain and heartache. On the other hand, my libido thought it was a brilliant idea and I couldn't get her to shut up about it.

I compromised with myself and decided to play it by ear. Which was also what I needed to do in my final music class of the day, and without Jansen glaring at me, I was note-perfect.

"You look happy, ma'am," my driver said as I slid into the car at the end of the day.

"I think I am. I finally am."

The day only got better when Linc ordered our favourite Chinese and came up with a DVD that wasn't a cartoon, porn, or Star Wars. To be fair, I didn't watch much of The Notebook either, but it was the thought that counted.

The movie was almost at an end when it happened. I was curled up next to Linc on the sofa, my lips swollen from his kisses, drunk not just on the two glasses of wine I'd quaffed but the man beside me as well. Then his hand crept under my shirt and I froze, the fire in my veins turning to ice in an instant. Strength I didn't know I possessed surged through my muscles as I pushed him away.

"Get off! Please."

Eyes wide, he sprang back. "Sweetheart, what did I do?"

"You touched my stomach."

He fell to his knees in front of me. "Shit, I thought you were as into this as I was. I thought... I'm sorry. I... Fuck, don't cry."

I hadn't even realised I was, but when I reached up, my cheeks were wet. "It's not your fault. It's me. All me. I can't stand the idea of anybody seeing my body, or touching it, and I don't know if I'll ever get over it."

"What happened? Why do you think like that?"

I shook my head, biting my lip to stop the sobs from escaping. "I can't... I just can't."

"Shhh. It doesn't matter what you look like. You'll always be beautiful to me."

"I'm not, not under my clothes. My body doesn't match the rest of me." The tears fell harder, and I cursed myself. How to turn off a man in one easy lesson. The only miracle was that he hadn't run out of the door. "Why are you still here?"

"Because I love you."

"What?" I paused mid-sniffle and stared at him.

"I love you. You're the sweetest, most amazing woman I've ever met, and whatever you're hiding underneath your sweater won't change that."

He loved me? The idea was insane. Only Hisashi's father had ever told me that, but our relationship was different. He knew what I'd been through because he'd lived it too. How could a man like Linc love a woman as damaged as me? How had I let things get this far?

He deserved someone perfect, someone who could offer him the world, and that person wasn't me. I needed to make him understand that.

"You really think my body won't change how you feel? Dogs ripped apart the flesh on my legs, and I had to sew the wounds closed myself with a needle and thread I borrowed from the housekeeper. My body looks like Picasso did an autopsy on it, and I have another man's initials carved into my stomach. Think you can live with that?"

Gulping in air, I ripped at the hem of my top and dragged it upwards. Linc tried to stop me but I batted his hands away. The sound of fabric ripping tore through the air, but I didn't let go until I stood half-naked in front of him. I couldn't bring myself to look down, but I knew from the horror in his eyes he saw what I refused to see.

The abstract mess of lines, arrows, and misshapen flowers cut into my torso by a madman who'd fucked me when he got high. In the middle of it all, the raised scars of his initials marred my stomach, white now, faded from the angry red they used to be but hideous nonetheless. Cesar Puga. The other men called him El Perro, but to do so was an insult to canines.

When I first arrived in Virginia, I'd caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror one morning, and in a fit of rage, I took a pair of scissors to myself and changed the P into an R. CR, the initials of Hisashi's father. I thought I'd feel better afterwards, but as the blood ran down my legs, I leaned over and retched. Then I hurled the scissors at the mirror, and when they bounced off, I threw a statue of a dog that sat on the mantelpiece. Fitting. The mirror shattered, but even that didn't help. Nothing did. I was ugly to my core and always would be.

Except Linc was still there, staring at me. I tried to cover myself with my hands, but he clasped them in his own and gently pulled them away, and this time I didn't have the energy to stop him.

"You'll always be beautiful to me," he whispered in a repeat of his earlier words, and then he curled his arms around my waist.

Before I could process what had happened, he dipped his head and swiped his tongue across each of my nipples in turn, and they hardened involuntarily.

Then he stood back and pulled off his own shirt, and it was my turn to gasp. The pecs I'd run my hands over through his clothes so many times stood firm, and his abs glistened with sweat, smooth and hard. But while his left side could have graced a calendar, his right was a mass of mangled flesh, scar tissue that rivalled my own but without the attempt at order.

My eyes widened as they met his.

"Never judge a book by its cover, Akari. It's a lesson I know very well."

"Afghanistan?"

"I lost part of my liver, and they didn't think I'd survive the night."

I took a hesitant step forward, waiting to see what he'd do. When he didn't move, I took another until there was only an inch of air between us. I tilted my head back to look into his eyes, expecting to see pity, but what I saw was love.

"The outside doesn't matter, sweetheart. We're all just a bunch of atoms. Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen. The important part is our souls, and nobody can change those unless we let them."

"You're my oxygen. I can't breathe without you."

"You don't have to."

That did it. I pressed against him, feeling his cock harden against my stomach as I stood on tiptoes to claim his lips. Need overcame me and I clawed at him while he fumbled first with my zipper then with his belt. He sprang free and I stroked his length, thinking only of having him inside me.

"I promised myself we'd take this slow," he said.

"Later. We can do slow later."

"In that case, hold on. I draw the line at fucking you for the first time over a sofa."

He picked me up and carried me to the bedroom, flipping open his wallet as we went. By the time he laid me on the bed, I'd snatched the condom out of his hands, impatient to do the honours. The dim glow from the lamp on the nightstand cast long shadows as I straddled him, but for once I didn't care about staying in darkness. He'd seen me, all of me, and he still loved me. That—more than anything—made me burn from the inside out.

As soon as he was sheathed, I lowered myself onto him, relishing the fullness. He shifted his hips, hitting exactly the right spot, and I let out a whimper. I'd loved and lost once, and the part of me that still hid in darkness, the part that thought I'd never find another man to share my heart, crept out into the light. With every move, every whisper from Linc, a little more brightness shone into my soul. And soon he had me wound up so tight I almost exploded. When he reached out a finger to stroke my most sensitive spot, that pleasure turned into a scream. Now, those were the kind of fireworks I liked.

"Mind the neighbours, sweetheart. These walls are thin."

Oops.

He tipped me forward, muffling my next cry with his mouth. My tongue tangled with his as I rode him, taking his hardness until I shattered. When I went limp, he rolled us so he was on top, pumping into me until he too surged over the edge. I clung to him as he peppered my face with soft kisses, all the while murmuring my name.

"I love you too," I whispered.

"You've just made me the happiest man alive."

He kept me awake for most of the night, and like he promised, he gave it to me slow. As well as fast, creative, and in the shower. When the sun rose, sheer exhaustion meant neither of us could move.

"Do you know anywhere that delivers breakfast?" I mumbled into his chest.

"I can make you something."

"Is that a good idea?"

"I can go out and buy you something."

"Better." I kissed him again, hungry for more than just food. "But maybe in a little while?"

He fed me chocolate muffins in bed, rich and decadent, and then I got my first taste of him. My new favourite food, and I never intended to share it.

"What do you want to do this afternoon?" he asked, brushing my hair away from my face.

The room smelled like chocolate, sweat, and sex, and I inhaled deeply, committing every nuance to memory.

"I need to get home for Hisashi. It's not fair to keep asking Sofia to look after him."

"She doesn't mind. She said she loves to spend time with him, but I do too, so why don't we take him out somewhere?"

"You'd do that with me?"

"I'd do anything with you. How about the zoo? I know he's only little, but he could still watch the animals."

Ah, the zoo. We'd only been once before, to the Metro Richmond Zoo in Virginia with Bradley. At two months old, Hisashi hadn't understood a whole lot, but I'd adored Kumbali the cheetah and his companion Kago, a yellow Labrador. It had served as another reminder that friendship could be found in the most unlikely of places. And the lady who ran the gift shop adored Bradley, seeing as he'd bought half of it.

So yes, I loved the idea of a trip to the zoo, and with Linc and my son, it would be even more special.

"We'll need to take my car."

And I'd need to properly introduce Linc to my driver, which meant that Emmy would find out how serious things were between us.

Until now, I'd tried to keep her out of the loop because I didn't want her meddling in Linc's life as well as mine. I knew what would follow—background checks, an interrogation, and a constant stream of awkward questions about my safety. I'd be back in the spotlight. Both of us would. I'd been enjoying my relative freedom without a team of bodyguards watching my every move, and I hated the thought of giving that up now.

But the other option was to take a cab, and I preferred Hisashi to sit in a proper car seat. If I wanted to have a life with Linc, I guessed I'd have to accept that Emmy would know about it and probably annoy the hell out of him.

Boy, were things about to get difficult. But with Linc by my side, difficult didn't mean impossible. We'd get through it.

His smile broke through my worries. "Let's take a shower and get dressed, then pick him up. We can grab a late lunch while we're out. How does that suit you?"

"Perfect."