That remembered conversation made me laugh. “I can’t…I just know how you think is all.” More seriously, I spelled out her fears as I saw them. “You think you’re not enough for me. You think I’ll see all the hot tail in front of me and I’ll dive into it without a moment’s hesitation. You think I’ll cheat…because I won’t be able to help myself.”

God, was that really how she saw me? That had been her fear once upon a time—the stumbling block that had made her choose Denny over me. That somehow, she wouldn’t be enough to hold my interest long term. That we’d fizzle, and I’d seek someone else. It was such an odd worry to me. She would never lose her appeal. She would never not mean everything. She was the sun to me. I didn’t just love her, I needed her. But if she really felt that way, still, then what would she do once I was gone? Especially if she was convinced that I was whoring again. Fuck me. Why did I have to think that?

Kiera sighed…and read my mind. “And now you’re thinking that I’ll be so lonely and depressed, imagining you with every starlet wannabe out there, that I’ll find comfort in another man’s arms. You think I’ll cheat…because I’ll assume that you already are.”

I almost stopped the car. Fuck. Yes, that’s exactly what I worry about. That was why I’d left so many reminders of me scattered around her life. Why I prayed that my left-behind affection would be enough to keep her faithful to me. And how sad was that? Could we do this?

Forcing myself to keep driving, keep going, I mumbled, “Well, aren’t we a pair.” How fucked up were we? How could we possibly survive? And after she leaves me, how can I live without her?

Like she could tell I was about to lose my resolve, lose my will to test our fragile faith in each other, Kiera laid her head on my shoulder and placed a Band-aid over the ache. “I won’t, Kellan. Even if I do think that about you, and I’m not saying that I will think that, but…either way, I won’t…I’m yours.”

Tension started melting from my body with her admission. She was flat-out saying she wouldn’t cheat on me. We might not work, we might break up, but she wouldn’t betray me. Hopefully, if she found herself at that kind of crossroad, she would cut me out of her life before she…moved on. That was a small comfort, and even though I knew it might not happen like that, especially if she got…swept up in something, it was still nice to hear.