“No, I won’t. It’s taken me time to work through everything and move past it all, but I have, and I understand why you did the things you did. You’re it for me, Ellery. You have been for months.”
“That’s not true. You’ve had plenty of other women since me.”
His smile faded, and his eyes flicked past me before returning to my face. “No, I haven’t. There’s beennoonesince you.”
I pulled my chin from his grasp and folded my arms across my chest. “I watched a mostly naked woman gyrate on your lap.”
“That was just a dance. A way to pass the time while trying to forget.”
“Forget what?”
“You.”
“You were going to all those whore houses?—”
“To forget, Ellery.” Annoyance tinged his voice. “I was also drinking a lot too. I didn’t have sex with any of those women; I tried more than a few times, but the idea of it….”
“The idea of what?”
“Of being with and fuckingthem. I couldn’t get off with them because they weren’t you. Hell, I couldn’t even get aroused.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Ryker
I’d givenher far more power over me and insight into my life than I’d ever given anyone, but it was too late to take it back now. I wasn’t sure I would, even if I could.
Everything had to be on the table if we were going to move forward together. We couldn’t have any more secrets, lies, or deceptions.
“Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with you, and nothing could change that… not even my determination to hate you,” I admitted.
Her striking blue-green eyes filled with uncertainty. She was so beautiful, and she was mine. I was never going to let her go again.
“And what about the times when you remember what I did?” she whispered.
I stroked the silken contours of her cheekbones before moving to the freckles speckling her nose. Her sun-kissed, golden skin and dark-mocha hair with its hues of chestnut andchocolate were a stunning contrast to the snow falling around us.
“I will uphold this promise until the day I die; I won’t bring up the past again, and I won’t hold it over your head… unless you lie to me again. If that happens, then all bets are off. I can understand why you kept the truth of the Hooded Robber from me, but I won’t understand another lie.
“If we’re going to be together, then from now on, there won’t be any more secrets or lies between us.Everythingwill be out in the open. Do you understand?”
She bit her bottom lip before replying. “Only if that goes for you too. You led me to believe you were sleeping with all those women.”
“I didn’t tell you I was.”
Her mouth pinched with annoyance. “You have no idea how much the idea of you being with someone else hurt me.”
“I know how much it did because I can’t tolerate the possibility of you being with another man. If you think about fucking someone else, Iwilldestroy them; do you understand?”
Her scowl deepened. “As long as you understand that goes foryouand other women too.”
I smiled at her, but she didn’t look as amused as I felt. “Understood. So, no other men.”
“No other men and no otherwomenfor you.”
“No other women.”
“And no more reacting like an overbearing ogre when I talk to afriendwho happens to be a male.”
