Therefore, I quit giving him time and mentioned his ex calling him Tucker.

He turned his head, his eyes coming to me then he turned his body, took two steps, bent low and stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray on the coffee table.

When he straightened, eyes back to me, he answered, “No woman calls me Creed. Only men… and you.”

“Okay,” I replied, not getting it but also thinking his somber mood meant he wasn’t up to explaining it.

I was wrong because Creed kept talking.

“Tried to keep the name, found women calling me that reminded me that I’d never again hear you do it. It reminded me of that night in the woods when we were kids and I told you I was who I was going to be. It reminded me of how you were there for me. How you were always there for me and how I’d never have that again either. So I went back to Tucker. Men call me Creed ‘cause that’s what men do.”

I nodded then asked, “So Chelle doesn’t know you’re Creed?”

He shook his head. “No one in my life knows but you.”

Okay, it was dawning on me I was seriously a freak because I liked that, a lot. I liked having that all to myself. There was a day when Creed was all mine. Now, with our histories changing, his body was all mine but his love was shared. I didn’t mind that. Even back then, I knew when we started a family I’d have to share him. That didn’t mean I didn’t like us having a piece of our past that was unaltered, no one understood, it was all ours.

“That wasn’t cool.”

Creed’s words seemed to come out of nowhere and made me focus on him again.

“What?”

“It wasn’t Chelle. I’m surprised as f**k she pulled that shit on you and it wasn’t cool.”

I shook my head but said, “I didn’t like it at first either, babe, but it ended all right. She wasn’t there to be a bitch. She was there to –”

Creed moved to the wicker chair, sat in it and lifted his long legs to put his boots on the table while interrupting, “I know why she was there and why she was there wasn’t cool.” He flipped out a hand. “Don’t know, haven’t lived through this shit, never expected to have a woman in my life I gave a shit enough about to live through it, so I don’t know how it should go. How I’d have liked it to go is me introducing you to her. Me having control of the situation. Me being at your back. Not you enduring a sneak attack which, luckily, because you are who you are and Chelle is who she is, didn’t go south. One or the other of you was having a bad day, it could have.”

“I can handle shit like that, baby,” I said softly.

He shook his head but replied, “I get that. I get you can take care of yourself. What you need to get is that I’m me and you’re you and no matter you can handle yourself and a gun and you got a tough skin, that doesn’t mean I’m down with you going it alone. Not with this. Not with anything. We always had each other. We lost that. We both feel that deep. Now we have that back and Chelle doesn’t get to take that away from you. No one does.”

Seriously, could this guy get any better?

I stared at him and he held my gaze steady as I did.

No, he couldn’t get any better. Then again, he was always the best.

I decided to move us on and asked, “So what are you gonna do?”

“I’m gonna sleep on it, call her tomorrow and tell her how I feel about it,” Creed answered. “Then I’m gonna tell her not to do it again. Then I’m gonna tell her I want the kids to get to know you better and us to have more time to get settled before she and I sit down and figure out what’s next for our kids and while we take that time, she needs to back off. And last, I’m gonna tell her she never approaches you unless you invite it or there’s somethin’ necessary goin’ on with the kids and she has to do it.”

“You don’t have to go that far, Creed. I liked her,” I told him. “She gave no indication we wouldn’t get along. Honestly, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

I watched as he took his boots off the coffee table, put them to the floor and leaned toward me, elbows to knees, his face turning from serious to “right now, pay some major f**king attention to me” serious.

“As I said,” he started quietly, “I get you can take care of yourself. When I said that five seconds ago and explained, you didn’t get me. So I’ll make it clear this time. I get you can take care of yourself, Sylvie. What you need to come to terms with is, no matter how badass you are, I’m gonna take care of you, too. You can spout a bunch of bullshit about your experience, your skills, your fearlessness but that will not mean shit to me. You’re not only my woman, you’re Sylvie. When I say I have your back, I don’t mean it in the way you’re used to with the guys you work with. I mean I have your back as your man, I look out for you in all ways I can do that, including emotionally. So, you liked Chelle. This is not a surprise. She’s likeable. But I control that f**kin’ situation so I can control any hurt or upset that might come to you and I mean control it as in stop it. Now are you with me?”

I held his eyes and realized I had a choice. I could hold onto my badass and make an issue of this or I could let Creed do what Creed felt he needed to do.

I knew I could take care of myself and his protection was unnecessary. He just told me he knew it but he needed to make his position clear anyway.

It meant more to him to take care of me as my man than it meant to me to retain my status of badass. I’d weathered a six year hurricane and didn’t come out unscathed. Through that, Creed had not been there to take care of me. For him, that struck deep. Further, I was his Sylvie as I was now and still the Sylvie I was to him way back then.

He needed this. I didn’t need to make a point that might be valid but, considering his emotion, however valid, it was unnecessary.

Not to mention, it felt seriously f**king good to have that part of Creed back too, the one who looked out for me, protected me. I’d proved I could carry the burden but that didn’t mean it didn’t feel great to share the load and be back in the position to return the favor.

So I made my choice and answered, “I get you. I also love you, Creed.”

His face relaxed before he replied, “Right back at ‘cha, beautiful.”

I closed my eyes, hearing those words, feeling them warm my skin, loving every syllable.