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“That’s why I can’t stand the thought of you leaving Vision Tech,” I barrel on before she can stop me. “That’s why I need you beside me.”
Nova freezes. The light disappears from her eyes.
“Vision Tech?” Her words are soft, bitter.
I feel like I’ve done something wrong, but I don’t know what.
With a violent tug, Nova breaks free from me and whips her head up. “So this is about Vision Tech?”
Why does she keep doing that? I can rip my heart out of my chest, toss it—bloody and beating—in her hands and she’d still find a way to miss the point.
“I’m saying I need you as much as the company needs you,” I explain. “I—”
Nova gives me a death glare. “You know why I have to resign, Adam? Do you know why I couldn’t wait for a single day to get away, even if it meant telling you on your birthday?”
I brace myself, already knowing from her tone that her words are going to hurt worse than a whipping.
“There’s a noose around my neck.” She wraps dark hands around her throat and squeezes. “And I didn’t realize it until some other guy’s hand was between my thighs and all I could think about was you. And how wrong it felt. And how I should apologize toyoufor letting someone else touch me.”
My chest heaves and my blood runs cold, picking through that information. The pounding in my head gets louder. My emotions are a chaotic storm swinging from wild anger at the thought of Nova being physical with someone else to mild awe at what Ithinkshe’s telling me.
It’s too much to hope that she feels the same way.
Too much and yet… not enough.
I want to inhale her. I want to wrap my arms around her anddevourher.
But I’m afraid to move.
I’m afraid to even breathe because it might shatter this moment.
While I’m skating on an ice lake of hopeful disbelief, Nova seems to be unravelling. She paces back and forth like she’s in the depths of hell, her beautiful face screwed up in anger.
“Dammit!” Her words slur but they’re shouted with such confidence that I understand every sentence. “It was my own body—myown bodyand it didn’t belong to me. And it’s your fault!” She hoists a crooked finger at somewhere beyond my head. “You and your stupid concern for me. Always showing up when I need you and making me feel safe. You and that stupid grin that makes my heart beat fast and that stupid nickname… ‘darlin’. Do you know I’m the only one you call ‘darlin’?”
My smile inches up over my face. I watch her pace to the other end of the path, walking a jagged, drunken line.
She stumbles.
I hurry over to her, but she elbows me away when I try to help her up.
Her eyes flash. She’s trembling with anger. “You consume me. You control me. I… I come when you call. I wait for you when you leave. I breathe for you. I fight for you. My entire life revolves around you.”
“You consumeme,” I cut in, almost melting from anguish and frustration. “You controlme. I come when you call. I wait for you whenyouleave. If there’s a way to breathe without you I haven’t found it.” I step so close to her that I can see the lighter brown flecks in the galaxy of her eyes. “You think you’re the only one suffering here, Nova? You think you’re the only one who’s trapped? My wholeexistenceis you. I don’t remember what my life was like before you were in it and I don’t ever want to imagine it with you gone.”
Her legs seem to lose their strength because she stumbles and then goes down. Gripping her upper arms, I hold her up and gather her as tight as I can to my chest.
She smells like flowers, like spring, like Nova.
Her head shifts. She looks up at me with fury, but beneath that I see an obvious hunger. Whether it’s the wine or the argument, her defenses are down.
This is pure, unrestrained Nova in all her glory.
I swear the air leaves my chest quicker than a pair of flat tires. My eyes land on her lips and stay there.
I need to taste her.
I cup her cheek, sighing when my thumb hits her velvety dark skin. Slowly urging her face to mine, I prepare to taste her lips for the first time.
