Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Taking the stairs two at a time, I made my way to my room, knowing that was most likely where she had gone. If she wasn’t in there, then I’d panic. Right now, I had to keep a calm head and make sure she understood this changed nothing. She’d listen to me once she was over the shock.
I swung open my door, not sure what to expect when I saw her, but the sight of her standing over by the small window in my room, staring with her arms crossed over her chest, looking almost lost, wasn’t it. I’d thought maybe she’d yell at me or cry. Hell, I didn’t know.
Closing the door, I locked it, not taking my eyes off her. It wasn’t until I was almost across the room to her that she turned her head to look at me. The depth of emotion darkened the cornflower blue.
Fuck, I hated this.
“Angel Face, this changes nothing between us,” I said, and she remained silent. “I swear it. Please don’t look at me like that. You’re killing me.”
“How long have you known?” she asked me.
Dammit. Why hadn’t I told her?
I sighed heavily. “Yesterday. I was going to tell you this morning. I should have yesterday. I just…I couldn’t accept it myself. I wasn’t sure how you’d react, and I was scared.”
She licked her lips and then turned to look out the window again. “She’s young, and she’s going to need you.”
“No, she will need money, and I’ll give her that. She doesn’t need me,” I said, wrapping my fingers around her upper arm and turning her around to pull her against my chest. She didn’t fight me.
Her gaze lifted to meet mine reluctantly.
“You. All I want is you.”
“She will need support. She can’t do that alone. It’s…it would be terrifying.” Her voice broke as she said it.
If she started crying on me, I was going to shatter.
“She will be fine. Let’s not worry about her. It’s us I want to talk about. You are my priority.”
Her eyes began to glisten with unshed tears. “I’m not asking for that. The baby needs to be your priority.”
That was asking something of me I couldn’t do. The baby wasn’t taking Salem’s place in my priorities. No one was.
I cupped her face with both my hands, keeping her eyes on mine. I needed her to see how fucking serious I was.
“The baby will be taken care of, but, Angel Face, I want you. You’re my future. You were meant to be my future from the moment we met. I knew it then, and I fucked it up. I won’t lose you again.”
A tear broke free and rolled down her cheek. I caught it with my thumb.
“Please don’t cry,” I begged. “I’m sorry. If I could go back and never touch Nixie, I would. It would have always just been you.”
She said nothing. I needed reassurance that we were going to be okay. That she’d stay with me through this.
“Don’t shut me out. Love me,” I said.
She let out a small laugh, but there was no humor in it. Instead, it was filled with sadness, and my heart twisted in pain.
“I don’t think I get a choice in that. I’ve loved you most of my life. Even when I didn’t want to.”
That sent a trickle of relief through me, but not enough. She’d also loved me living twenty thousand–plus miles away, married to another man.
“You’ll stay with me?” I pressed. I needed to hear those words.
She nodded. “Yes.”
Bending my head, I took her full lips and licked her lower one, like she had earlier. Her mouth opened for me, and I took the sweetness that was Salem and savored it. The touch of her tongue was a balm that my soul needed. Reminding me that she wanted me too.
I slid my hands down her arms, then around to cup her ass and jerk her closer against me. She grabbed my biceps to steady herself, but broke the kiss and dropped her forehead to my chest.
“I…I need to…I can’t do this right now. I just need to process.”
She had said she loved me. It was going to be okay. This didn’t mean anything was changing. She wasn’t pulling away from me. I’d tie her to me if she tried.
“Okay. Well, process while I hold you,” I said, scooping her up and walking over to the sofa.
“What are you doing?” she asked, frowning.
When I reached it, I sat down and tucked her close to me. “Letting you process,” I told her, then pressed a kiss to her temple. “Process all you need.”
She sighed. “I didn’t mean like this. I need to think. Be alone.”
Not a chance in hell was I letting her be alone to think.
“Pretend I’m not here.”
“Rome,” she said, as if exasperated with me.
I smiled. “Angel Face.”