What an amazing night. Not just the making love part—that had rated right up there at a hundred on the Richter scale—but the moments afterward when he’d opened his heart and told her about his childhood. That horrible past explained so much about him. Why he had joined the military. Why he had no parenting guidebook instilled in him as a child. Why he stuck to schedules and order like they were lifelines. She realized they were such similar creatures, she and Mike, both wounded by their pasts and surrounded by brick emotional walls. Mike had broken down some of his walls tonight. Maybe it was time she did the same. Opened up. Let him in. Trusted. Mike drew her into his arms. “Hey, you’re awake.” She chuckled. “Barely. Somebody wore me out.” “Speak for yourself. I did all the work.” She arched a brow. “All of it?” “Okay, you did your fair share, especially the third time.”
