AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That was our original plan,” I admitted. “And there is a lot of truth to those statements.”
“Can you be serious for a moment?”
“Where did you hear these rumors?”
“The first time was from Tobias at the funeral.”
Sneaky bastard. Fucker should have kept his mouth shut. He wanted to see if he could throw her off-kilter.
“Let me guess. He added that you should watch out for Theo and me since we planned to take your seat.”
Instead of confirming outright, she said, “I told him I believed in your unquestioning loyalty to the Angelos family.”
“Our loyalty is to you before anything else. I wasn’t around to protect you before. I am now.”
“Others are saying the same things, Xander.”
“I like this one. It’s not about us taking your seat but about us wanting you.” I smirked. “I guess you were wrong about the figurehead bit. It’s the power of your pussy that has done your bidding.”
“Will you get serious? I don’t want anyone to retaliate on you or Theo.”
“Nothing will happen to us. Until someone confronts us to our faces, it is all hearsay. And I doubt anyone has the guts to say anything.”
“Why aren’t you worried about this?”
“Because I won’t bow down to cowards ever again. The things I had to do after the coup haunt me more than you will ever know. It went against everything I believed. I failed you once, and it will never happen again.”
“You didn’t fail me, Xander.”
I covered her mouth with my fingers. “I accept the truth of my actions. You forgave me. That’s all I can ask.”
At least I’d gained the forgiveness of one person in my life. With luck, someday the other one would find it in his heart to accept my apology.
She dropped her head against my chest, and her arms slid around my waist.
We stayed like that for a few minutes before she said, “I never stopped. I pretended to, but it was always there. That was why I was so angry.”
Closing my eyes, I soaked in the meaning behind her words. “Is it so hard to say the words?”
She lifted her head. “I worry that if I say them, something will happen to take what we have away again.”
No matter how much I wanted to assure her nothing would happen to separate the three of us, I couldn’t guarantee it. Believing something like that was impossible, especially after all we’d lived through in the last few years.
“Isn’t it better to have said them instead of keeping them inside?”
She lifted onto tiptoes and whispered over my lips, “I love you.”
“I never thought I’d hear you say that again.”
I hoisted her up by her thighs, gathered the skirt of her dress in my arms, and then wrapped her legs around my waist. She grabbed hold of my shoulders.
“I’m hardheaded. It took me a few seconds to admit I never stopped loving two possessive, obsessive men with insatiable appetites.”
I pressed her back to a bookshelf and settled my erection along the damp cleft of her underwear.
“Now that I have you accepting of your circumstances in life, we need to clear something up.”
A crease formed between her brows, but she smirked. “Go right ahead.”
