Ryan is broken.
Damaged beyond repair. Angry and hostile toward everyone around him. Everyone but me. It makes no sense. We're strangers. We barely know each other. But there's no denying the way I feel when I see him. The things I want when he touches me. He tells me those things are impossible. That the way I feel is wrong. That what I want will never happen. Can't happen. I should be afraid of him, but I'm not. I should stay away from him, but I can't. Because I know Ryan isn't as broken as he seems. He isn't as unreachable as he wants to be. And if he'd let me in, what we could be together could fix us both.
**GIVING GRACE**
I'm the broken Gilroy.
Or at least I was until Grace Faraday waltzed into my life with her mile-long legs, smart mouth, and quiet determination and decided I wasn't as far gone as everyone thought. She's trying to make something of her life. For herself. For her daughter, Molly. The last thing she needs is a washed-up soldier with a bum leg and a broken brain dragging her down, but the more I try to stay away from her, the deep her I sink. The more determined I become to save her from my bullsh*t, the faster I feel my resolve to do the right thing slip away. Maybe I am broken. Maybe I am beyond repair but Grace sees something in me. She makes me feel. Not like the man I used to be. She makes me feel like the man I should've been-could've been-if my life had been different. Grace is determined. She's stubborn. She won't give up on me. On us. All I know is I want her. I like the way she looks at me. The way she makes me feel, and I'm willing to do whatever I have to-be whoever she needs-in order to keep her.