“I was too. But, Diego, you checked out of our relationship way before I called it off. I felt like I was working really hard to be in a relationship with a man I loved so much but who didn’t have time for me. And I promised myself I wasn’t going to live my life being second best to the people I cared about. Not ever again.”

He looked stunned. “I…” He shook his head, looking uncharacteristically unsure. “I had no idea. What you’re describing, what I did to you, checking out like that, it’s exactly what Rocco did to me. He didn’t have time for me, not to help or be around, and I…” He shook his head again. “And I’ve hated him for it all this time. And yet I did the exact same thing to you.”

She could see the pain and regret in his eyes and felt her own fill. “Diego—”

“I’m sorry, Daisy,” he said with quiet steel, so genuinely and honestly that her throat tightened.

“I know,” she said softly. “I know it wasn’t personal. You were so young. Just a kid really, burdened with so much. Looking back, I can’t believe you handled it all with as much grace as you did, but…”

“But what?” he asked, moving closer to her, sliding his big, warm hands to her hips.

“But you need to go.”

He blinked, clearly unprepared for that.

“You have to,” she managed. “If you stay, if we keep spending time like this, I’ll fall again. And I can’t. I just can’t go through it again. Nothing can happen tonight that I’ll regret.”

Diego stilled, then with a finger under her chin, tipped her face to his. “I hear you, but you’re crying…” He gently swiped away the few tears she hadn’t even realized she’d shed. “I can’t walk away while you’re upset.”

With a sigh, she sank into him, pressing her face to his throat.

“Let me be here for you like I should have been all those years ago,” he said quietly, gathering her in. “Nothing’s going to happen, just me holding you.”

She laughed and cried at the same time. “We were never any good with just holding each other.”

“Trust me,” he murmured, slowly wrapping her up against his chest in a warm, full-body hug that had her closing her eyes and burrowing into him, taking comfort from a source she hadn’t seen coming. But everything about him was comforting, always had been. Like mac and cheese. Like ice cream. And he smelled good. So damn good. Pressing her face to the crook of his neck, she just breathed him in. And, somehow, the fingers of one hand found their way into his hair as she cuddled into his side, her other hand sliding across his abs.

How many nights had they sat just like this, watching movies, talking, laughing…making love? She closed her eyes at the thought, the scruff of his jaw rough against her face—which she loved.