Precious

Meaning:

Something rare, of great value, not to be wasted or treated carelessly. Greatly loved and treasured by someone.

That's what he called me. It took a while for me to understand why. It took even longer to accept it.

See, I'd had reasons why...

1. For a long time, I'd lived with a crippling fear of the day I'd have to explain to Otto the only reason I'd become his mother was that I'd taken Mia's life. Never mind that as much as I'd been behind the wheel that fateful day, it was the drunken motorcycle driver's irresponsibility that caused us to have the head-on collision.

2. With my penchant of armor in Victoria's Secret layer underneath my clothes, I'd never really been the girl who felt she could embrace being wanted by any man, let alone one such as Nikaiah Greene. But his green eyes, kiss-me-breathless lips, and his alpha you're-mine-you-just-haven't accepted-it-yet-persona blew all my perceptions under the water.

3. I'd been raised to believe I had dark in me. Dark so vile my heart stopped feeling and just did the basic duty of beating.
To be fair, that had also had a lot to do with the fact that I was raising my baby boy who would forever link me to his biological father who'd been more than happy to watch his brother take me by force. A memory I'd lived with since the age of fourteen. But just when you think time will heal everything, love swoops in and proves that when time fails to heal your wounds, you shouldn't run in the other direction. You shouldn't fight it...You should run to it and let it heal you...

... even if his blast from the park suddenly shows up, tainting your peace.