Hell, he’d give her anything she wanted from now until the end of time. Although he’d already put his past behind him enough to move on, he hadn’t realized just how much he loved her until the second he’d heard her scream. Coming around the corner and seeing Colton holding a knife to her throat had shocked him into complete acceptance.

He loved her completely and absolutely.

If anything happened to her, if he lost her, he wouldn’t want to go on. Why in God’s name had he believed what they had was short term and meant to end? She was a part of him and he didn’t want to let her go.

He picked up the ice he’d put into a zipped bag and headed back into the bedroom only to find her wearing a pair of sweat pants and a shirt, hobbling between his closet and the suitcase she’d opened on the bed. The ice in his hands spread through his veins.

“What are you doing?” he asked as he placed the bag of ice onto the dresser by the bed.

She turned her head and met his gaze, her green eyes sad. “We agreed when Colton was caught, our time together would come to an end. I’m not going to stay here and prolong the inevitable.” She ran her tongue over her lips and he wanted nothing more but to kiss her, but they needed to talk first.

“Faith–”

“Wait.” She placed a stack of work tee shirts into the luggage. “I need to tell you something first. I want you to know that this isn’t what I want.”

Thank God for that, he thought, but she continued talking.

“If it were up to me, we’d stay together and see where things led. But you made it clear we had an expiration date, and because I love you, I’m giving you what you want.”

Jesus, his head was spinning. Even if he had thought things between them should end – eventually – he’d never have wanted her to leave so quickly. But at this point, he didn’t want her go at all.

“Let me get this straight. You love me but you’re leaving,” he said, summarizing her words, his heart thumping hard in his chest at the words she’d so casually tossed out. But he’d get to that later.

She blinked. “Yes. Because it’s what you want.”

“No.” He strode over, zipped up the suitcase, and threw it onto the floor.

“Jason!”

“You’re not going anywhere. First, you’re going to lay that cute ass down and ice that ankle because I can see it swelling more with every minute you stand on it.”

She narrowed her gaze at his rude command but it worked. She sat on the mattress and stretched out her legs. “Give it to me,” she muttered, opening her hand for the ice pack.

He handed her the bag and she gingerly placed it on her swollen ankle.

“My ass isn’t cute,” she said under her breath.