"Lori," he said, and her name felt different now—more intimate, more important. "I will be blunt with you. I am thirty-five years old. I am a veteran. I have seen things, done things, survived things that would haunt most people for a lifetime."
She was watching him, her green eyes fixed on his face.
"I carry a heavy baggage," he continued. "I have a temper, and a difficult personality most of the time. I am not easy to live with. I am not easy to …love."
He paused, his throat tight.
"Aside from this, there is an age gap between us. Quite a big one. You are barely out of childhood, and I am..."
He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
"And my family," he said, forcing himself to continue. "My family is not easy. Not at all. You would need to make a lot of adjustments. A lot of
