Always Enough by Stacy Borel Page A

from me and I let her. She paced back and forth, still naked and beautiful.
    “You know, you’re really starting to piss me off.”
    “Good, get mad. At least that’s an emotion I’m used to with you. Now tell me why you came here to put on a show in front of all the guys. To get my attention?” I couldn’t help raising my voice. I was starting to get mad at her for being so stubborn.
    “Christ, Kyler, do you want me to say it?” Her anger was like a living, breathing thing but she refused to let it go. It was like she couldn’t because it was something she could hide behind.
    “Yes!” I shouted at her.
    Her face got red and the tears started to slide down her face, when she yelled back at me, “Because I sorta love you, you asshat! I don’t want anybody else to have you. The idea of it pisses me off to the point of madness. I want your eyes on me, Kyler. Me. ”
    I was just about to say something to her when she decided to continue her little rant.
    “Something you need to know about me, Ky, is that my dad was a shitty person, and an even worse father. I have serious issues with letting a man in because I know they could take my heart and do whatever they want with it. My dad fucked with my and my mom’s emotions so hard. He would pick and choose when he wanted to come around and usually when he was around, he was so high off his ass that he didn’t even know I was there. That scared me to the point of believing I’d be better off using ‘em and losing ‘em. And you, you persistent bastard, wouldn’t leave well enough alone, and now you hold the piece of me that could crush me.
    “The man that is supposed to be my father, the one who essentially donated his sperm and helped to create me, gave me a slew of baggage to deal with. I have nightmares at night, Ky. I saw things that a child should never see, and I heard things that I will never be able to unhear. Is that the kind of person you want to declare their love for you? If it is, then you’re all sorts of fucked up.”
    I was shocked. It was something that I wanted to know more about so I could help her deal with it, but right now she thought that she wasn’t good enough for me, or that she was too messed up for me, and that didn’t sit well with me.
    “As a matter of fact, that is the sort of person I want to love me. Because, if that’s who you are, Harper, then you bet your ass it’s what I want.” I looked down at her. Her chest was heaving, as if confessing her darkest secret left her exhausted. “I can’t say I didn’t know there was something more behind your need to keep me at a distance, but I knew it wasn’t this.” I grabbed her on both sides of her face so she was looking right at me as I spoke. “Your ‘baggage’ isn’t a deal breaker. It’s you and me, Harper. I’m here and I’m not leaving because you think I can’t handle it. That’s just another challenge that I’ll win.”
    Her eyes darted back and forth, and I could practically see the wheels turning in her head. She was digesting what I said and thinking of her next move. Either way, I was ready for her.
    “You’re a pain in my ass, Lewis, you know that?” she smirked.
    Her playful attitude was back. Good. I loved it when she was feisty. “Yeah, and you just let me spank the shit out of yours, so what does that say about you?”
    Harper rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh, we’ll see if I let you touch my ass like that again.”
    I bent down and picked up my shirt and stopped in front of her.
    “Put this on, we’re leaving.”
    She was confused. I was starting to adore her confused face. “Now, after everything I just said, you want to leave? I was kidding, you know. You can totally spank my ass again.”
    My grin was wide, and I replied, “Yes, we’re leaving right now. And we are leaving right now because you just said you sorta loved me. So I sorta want to take you back to the hotel and sorta make love to you. So put the fucking shirt on, Harper.” As she