When she didn’t say anything, but just sat there staring at him, he asked, “You don’t have anything to say about it?”

She just finished off the slice of her pie while sipping her coffee. Then she finally said, “I thought I was the only one who felt that way. The only one bothered by the thought of someone else in your bed. I would tell myself you weren’t worth the pain you had caused me, yet when I heard you were messing around with Jodie, although not publicly, it bothered me nonetheless.”

Maybe confession time was a good thing, he thought. If nothing else, this discussion would get her to think about a few things. They had the bedroom thing down pat, but needed more work on the Kaegan-and-Bryce thing. They had issues, he knew that, but he was willing to work beyond them and wanted her to be willing to do so, as well.

“Why do you think it bothered you?” he asked her.

She shrugged her beautiful shoulders before pushing aside her plate and coffee and then lifting that pretty yet stubborn chin. “Because in my mind, you were mine and had always been mine. I believed that we had fit perfectly, and no other woman would fit to you as I did.”

She leaned in closer and added, “I believed every part of you belonged to me. And the thought of another woman touching you, and you touching her, caused me so much pain. It hurt me something awful and made me mad. So, I guess you weren’t the only jealous one, Kaegan.”

He knew it must have taken a lot for her to admit that to him. Causing her pain would always be something he promised never to do again. Now all he wanted to do was be the cause of her happiness, if she gave him a chance. If only she would trust him with her heart again.

“Don’t you find it rather strange, Bryce, that even when we weren’t supposed to like each other, we still felt possessive toward one another? Why was that?”

From the way she tilted her head, he knew his question had stumped her. It was giving her something to think about. Kaegan was glad he’d planted that little seed of thought into her mind. She believed she didn’t love him and couldn’t ever love him again. Hopefully, she would accept that wasn’t true for all the reasons she’d just told him.

He stood, went around the table and swooped her up into his arms. He loved this woman with every part of his body, and she was right. He did belong to her.

* * *

SHERIFF SAWYER GRISHAM was a suspicious bastard by nature. It couldn’t be helped. He’d been a part of the US Marine Corps Military Police and when he’d left the service he’d become an FBI agent. Now he was sheriff of Catalina Cove. He viewed his career in law enforcement and his move to the cove as his two best decisions in life. Had he not moved here, he would not have met his wife and claimed another daughter.