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Roth’s head dipped again. “I heard you on the phone yesterday. You were agreeing to meet with someone. To talk things over. I assumed it was your ex.”
Shit. He’d overheard her. Why hadn’t he said anything before now? Well, he was half-right. She had agreed to meet with Cyrus, but only to give him all his junk she planned to pack up tonight. “I promise you, Roth, he’s not the man I want in my life.”
“Tressa…”
He paused as if whatever he needed to say pained him. Anything this difficult to declare couldn’t be good.
“For years,” he continued, “I’ve avoided romantic attachment like the plague. Being hurt once was enough for me. I was content with my bachelor lifestyle. Then you stowed away in the back of my SUV and forced me to whisk you off with me to my cabin.”
“Forced? Really?”
“Whose story is this?” Roth said, followed by a lazy half smile.
“Fine. Carry on with your tall tale.”
“Not many people have ever seen me beyond what I’ve wanted them to see. I keep trying to hide from you…” He sighed heavily. “I can’t.”
“Why would you want to hide from me, Roth?”
“You know how they say every man has a weakness?”
She nodded.
“You’re mine. And honestly, I hate that shit, Tressa. You scare me. You scare me because you make me too vulnerable. Vulnerability gets you hurt. Vulnerability is a sign of we—”
She pressed a finger against his lips. “Vulnerability is a sign of being human. And being human looks excellent on you.” She smiled but Roth remained stone-faced. “There’s something you’re not saying. What is it?”
“I need to fall back, Tressa. Not because I don’t want to be with you. Trust me, I do. But I need you to be 200 percent sure I’m who you want.”
Her heart sank to her feet. Where was all of this coming from? He wanted to be with her, but he wouldn’t? It made no sense. How in the hell had things dissolved so quickly between them? “Roth—”
“Please, baby. It’s hard enough letting…” His words faded. “Don’t fight me on this.”
Tressa snatched her hands away as frustration kicked in. “Don’t fight you on this? You claim you want me, but it sure as hell doesn’t feel that way to me. You asked me if I could let you go so easily. Can you let me go?”
When he didn’t respond, she stood. “We spent an amazing week together, one that I’ll never regret, but obviously, you do. If you want to walk away, Roth, I’ll let you. But you will not, will not,” she repeated, “put your cowardliness on me.”
When she tried to walk away, Roth placed his hands on either side of her waist to keep her from escaping. She blinked rapidly to keep her tears from falling. “I’m giving you your out, Roth. Just take it.”
He didn’t utter a word, didn’t budge. Instead, he pulled her close to him and rested his forehead against her trembling stomach. She couldn’t explain, but she could feel his fear as if they were one cell. Instinctively, her hand smoothed over his head to comfort him. This was one of the strongest men she’d ever encountered, but at that moment she truly believed she was his weakness. What she desperately needed him to know was she would also be his strength.
Lowering to her knees, she positioned herself between Roth’s legs and cradled his face between her hands. A look of exhaustion played in his features. The sight clenched her heart.
Neither of them uttered a word. Words would have only bottled something too powerful to contain. Besides, none were needed. All that needed to be said was conveyed by a method they’d seemed to have perfected.
The stare.
That stare.
Their stare.
His eyes said he knew. And she was sure he saw the same knowledge in hers. Nothing was accidental. Where they were on this journey was exactly where they were both supposed to be.
CHAPTER 12
It’d been a week since she’d returned from Silver Point, and Tressa missed her time there already. She and Roth were still going strong, and she’d been the happiest she’d been in a long time. Every time she thought about him—which was quite often—her heart skipped a beat.
