Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 17028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 85(@200wpm)___ 68(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 85(@200wpm)___ 68(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
“It’s not the same, Alana.”
“It’s the same to me.”
“No.” His expression tightens. “It wouldn’t be if you knew the details, which you will not.”
“That doesn’t work for me, Damion.”
“Try harder to make it work,” he demands.
Anger churns in my belly, and I try once again to escape his embrace. I barely move. He’s too big and too strong for me to push myself out of this confrontation.
“I thought I could protect you by staying away, but that didn’t work,” he confesses. “My father still has his claws in your family. I need you close, but I don’t know how close I dare.”
“Living with you is pretty close.”
“Probably too close, but I need to be able to protect you.”
That’s twice he’s made that statement, and this time, I bristle and press my hand to his chest.
“Is that what this is? A way to protect me?”
He covers my hand with his. “You know better. Do you really think I’d give you that ring and tell you the story behind it if I didn’t want to marry you, Alana? If I didn’t want to see the look in your eyes when I told you what I’d wanted then, and what I have always wanted with you.”
“And what did you see, Damion? What do you see now?”
“A woman who doesn’t believe I’ll be here tomorrow.”
“Will you?”
“I need to know nothing can blow back on you.”
My gut twists in painful knots. “That’s not the answer I want, and most importantly, it’s not the answer I need to be able to say yes to living with you. It sounds like an excuse.”
“It’s not a damn excuse. I’m standing here, right here, right now, telling you it’s bigger than that, Alana. It’s so damn much more.”
In that moment, it’s easier for me to believe he’s afraid of what I might learn than afraid of a real future with me. Maybe because it’s true. Maybe because it’s what I want to believe. “The part where I’m not the little girl next door anymore just doesn’t seem to compute with you, and maybe it never will.”
“No,” he says, “you’re not the little girl next door. You’re the woman I want in my bed every day when I wake up.”
He shrugs out of his jacket, and everything inside me screams, “Yes, please, let’s stop talking. Let’s get naked.” My sex clenches, and there is this need inside me for this man that has existed for what feels like my entire life. It’s pure craving, and that craving doesn’t care about heartache, rings, business agreements, or even living arrangements.
I reach for his silver tie and tug it free, the silk pooling on the ground as surely as I’m melting in my own high heels.
His hands settle possessively on my hips, scorching me right through the thin black silk of my blouse. There’s possessiveness in the way he holds me, the air charges around us, and my knees tremble with the intensity of what I share with this man. “God, woman,” he murmurs. “What do you do to me, and how do you do it over and over and over again? Tell me.” But he doesn’t give me the chance to argue the reality, which is much different than his version of who does what.
I blink back to the present and swallow hard against the emotion burning my chest. I love this ring. I don’t want to take it off. Ever. But the universe seems to forever divide me and Damion. How do we get by death and destruction? How do we end the cycle? Is it even possible?
Chapter Six
The vehicle turns, and I stretch my neck to the realization that we’re now headed down a two-lane road lined with trees, and I have no idea where we are other than somewhere in Jersey, or so distance suggests. And I don’t even care. I care about Damion. I glance at my ring again, still half living my memory. He’d been certain I would hate him. No wonder he so easily believes I do now.
Still hyperaware of Adam’s silent presence, I once again peek over at him. “Anything from Damion?”
His lips thin, and he shakes his head.
“I need to talk to him,” I say.
“I don’t disagree,” he assures me, but he offers nothing more. He doesn’t know where he is, but in my heart, I believe Adam will try to bring us together.
I breathe out an emotion-laden breath and give a short nod, turning away from Adam to glance out of the window without really seeing anything at all. Damion made confessions to me he thought I’d condemn him for, and I did not. He has to know nothing has changed. I snatch up my phone, but in mixed company, resist the urge to try to call Damion again and instead write him a text, relaying many of the thoughts I’ve had on this drive: I’m sorry. I have handled this all wrong. I wanted to protect you by ending your father. I was willing to throw myself on the sword to do so, and I knew you’d never let that happen. It wasn’t hate that made me turn my back on you. It was love. It is love. Please call me. Please.