The Villa

as he started to walk by her. "Please, God. Don't walk away." The shakes were back, but had nothing to do with fear for her life. This was so much more. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that by not doing something I thought would worry you, I did something to hurt you. I'm used to taking care of myself, used to making my own decisions."
    "That's not how it works anymore. If you can't deal with that, we're wasting our time."
    "You're right. And you're scaring me because I understand this is important enough to make you walk away from me. I don't want that to happen. You're right and I was wrong. I wanted to handle it my way, and I was wrong. Yell at me, curse at me, but don't push me out."
    His temper had peaked and ebbed and, as always, left him feeling annoyed with himself. "You're cold. Let's go inside."
    "Wait." His voice was so final, so distant. It tied knots in her belly. "Just listen."
    She gripped his arm, her fingers digging desperately into his shirt. If he turned away now, she knew she'd be alone as she'd never been alone before in her life.
    "I'm listening."
    "I was angry when it came. All I could think was that the bastard, I know it's Jerry, the bastard's using my own work to taunt me. To try to scare me, and I'm not going to let him. I'm not going to let him worry me, or my mother or anyone I care about. I thought I could handle it myself and protect you from the worry. And I realize standing here right now that if you'd done the same thing, I'd be just as hurt, just as angry as you are."
    Her voice hitched, and she feared she'd sob. Unfair tactics, she reminded herself and bit down on grief. "I love you. Maybe that's the one thing I don't know how to handle. Not yet. Give me a chance to figure it out. I'm asking you not to walk away from me. It's the one thing I can't take. Needing someone, loving them and watching them walk away."
    "I'm not your father." He cupped a hand under her chin. He saw the tears brimming, and her valiant attempt to hold them off. "And neither are you. My being there for you, taking some of the weight doesn't make you weak. It doesn't make you less, Sophie."
    "He always let someone else deal with the sticky parts." She drew in a breath, let it out shakily. "I know what I'm doing, Ty, when I push people back so I can deal with problems on my own. I know what I'm trying to prove. I even know it's stupid and self-serving. But I can't always seem to stop doing it."
    "Practice." He took her hand. "I told you before I'd stick, didn't I?"
    A shudder ran through her. "Yes, you did." To steady herself, she brought their joined hands to her cheek. "I've never been it for anyone before. No one's been it for me. Looks like you are."
    "That works for me. We square now?"
    "I guess we are." Her lips curved. He made things so simple, she thought. All she had to do was let him. "It's been a hell of a night so far."
    "Let's go back, finish it off." He slid an arm around her to lead her back to the house, automatically taking her weight as she limped.
    Served her right, he thought, riling him up the way she had. "Hurt your foot?"
    The amused and satisfied tone didn't escape her notice. "I stepped on a rock while I was running after this big, stupid culo ."
    "Which would be me. I understand enough gutter Italian to know when the woman I love's calling me an asshole."
    "But very affectionately. Since you're up on the language, why don't we finish the night off by…" She rose up to whisper in his ear, ending the provocative Italian with a quick nip on his lobe.
    "Ummm." He didn't have a clue what she'd said, but the blood had cheerfully drained out of his head. "I think I'm going to need a translation on that one."
    "Happy to," she said. "Once we're inside."
     
    It surprised Pilar to see Tyler outside the kitchen door at what she imagined he'd consider the middle of the morning. It surprised her a great deal more to see the bouquet of flowers in his hand.
    "Good morning."
    "Hi." He stepped inside the Cutter kitchen, nearly shuffled his feet. "I didn't expect to see you here or I'd've…" Embarrassed, he shook the flowers in his hand. "You know, brought more."
    "I see. You brought them for Maddy? Ty." Delighted with him, she reached up, squeezed his cheeks. "You're so sweet."
    "Yeah, right. Well. How're you feeling?"
    "Fine. Lucky." She stepped toward the inside doorway and called for Maddy. "Sophia was amazing. Steady as a rock."
    "Yeah, that's Sophie. I gave her a break, left her sleeping this morning."