Page 66 of The Promise

Didn’t.

But that was exactly what she wanted to hear.

• • •

He gave her those thirty minutes he promised, letting her climb on top of him naked in the bed, and curl up into his waiting embrace. At first, she’d counted the minutes just in case. All the while thinking, you told me thirty; I want each one.

But he didn’t move an inch.

Not unless it was to touch her.

Their limbs were tangled with the sheets. Karine could feel the dampness on his skin, his strong masculine scent mixed with the undeniable whiff of sex still lingering in the air. Their sex. She tried to commit that to memory, too.

“No matter what happens,” she started to say, so quiet that she couldn’t even be sure he had heard her. “I want you to know you did the right thing—taking me with you was the right thing, Roman. I found where I wanted to be.”

In a way.

A very important way.

“And thank you for doing what you’ve done for me,” she added. ‘What you’re still doing.”

“Hey, it’s not a no matter kind of thing.” He hooked a finger under her chin, tipping her face upwards to him. “I will always come back to you, Karine. Even if I’m in pieces.”

He kissed her nose, her lips, then her chin. She drew in a deep, anxious breath, the exhale shaky even in her chest.

“What did I tell you, huh?” he asked. “As long as you want me, I’m here.”

“I don’t want to think of you in pieces—what does that even mean?”

“It means you have nothing to worry about.”

She rested her chin on her folded hands right in the middle of his chest, enjoying the way he watched her. The longer their gazes locked, the more her need for him started to grow all over again. To have him inside her; his words were always easier to hear when he was fucking her. It was the only way she could satiate her insecurities. If he was close to her, they wouldn’t taunt her.

Instead of feeding into the selfishness, she told him, “But you won’t be here, and you can’t blame me for wondering if you’ll be able to come back.”

Or if he’d be alive to, rather.

“Karine,” he said her name firmly, making her gulp when that hand of his came to lay against her cheek. “I’m going to ask you again—do you trust me?”

Honestly?

“More than anyone, Roman.”

Or anything.

“Good, because that’s really the only fucking thing I have. There’s not much else that’s good about me, babe, but that I can give you. My loyalty to you. If I say something, I’ll do it. For you. Do you hear me?”

She nodded once.

“I’ve never trusted anyone before,” she whispered.

It felt like it shouldn’t even need to be said, but she did it, anyway.

“I know.”

He kissed the curve of her shoulder, and then slowly started to ease her off his chest. She wanted to grip him hard, with both hands. She’d do anything—even something drastic right then—to make him stay.

But she couldn’t.