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“Let’s get out of here.”
Matteo stilled at my words, his eyes focusing on my face a little harder.
“I want to show you my apartment.” I raised my hand and waved the waiter over to bring me the tab.
“What’s the rush?”
I looked at Bones’s expression in the mirror. This time, that amused smile was gone. Now he just looked angry, like he might shatter the glass he held in his hand. “You said you could help me get over my ex. Prove it.”
We drove in separate cars to my apartment. I was too pissed off to think about what I was doing, so I gripped the steering wheel and felt the adrenaline pump through my veins. I wasn’t even sure why I was doing this, other than to piss off Bones.
And it would definitely piss off Bones.
I didn’t feel bad for Matteo because he was aware of what this was. He knew about Bones, and he knew I just wanted to get over him—and he didn’t mind being the man I used to accomplish that.
So no one would get hurt.
I arrived in my parking lot then walked to the door.
But there was a bear standing in my way.
Bones stared me down, looking more terrifying than he had in the bar. He blocked the door with his immense size, making it impossible for me to get inside. His arms were by his sides, and his blue eyes were colder than the freezing temperatures.
“Leave.”
“No.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I want you gone before he gets here.”
“Because you know a boy like that is no match for a man like me.” His arms shook by his sides, like he wanted to punch the railing along the walkway.
“No. Because we’re done and you have no business being here. You can’t let me go and then sabotage my every move. That makes me a prisoner all over again. Am I free or not, Bones? I thought you were a man who kept your promises?”
“I never promised to stop loving you.”
My heart thudded in my chest, skipping a beat.
He stepped closer to me, his shadow coming over my face. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have been at the restaurant. I shouldn’t be spying on you. I shouldn’t be on your doorstep right now. But don’t do something stupid just to get back at me. Don’t do something you don’t even want to do with a man who doesn’t deserve you.”
The guilt sank into my stomach when I listened to the sincerity in his voice.
His eyes shifted back and forth as they looked into mine. “I’ll leave if you promise me nothing will happen. You want to move on, then fine. But don’t sleep with the first guy you meet to piss me off. If you’re looking for the man you want to spend your life with, there’s a better way to go about it. But if you fuck this guy, then you’re just hurting both of us for no reason. If you want sex, I’m here. No one can fuck you better than I can. And trust me, this guy isn’t going to impress you, not when you’re used to a real man who knows what he’s doing. Promise me.”
I wanted to refuse out of defiance, but when I saw the genuine pain in his eyes, I couldn’t. “If you promise not to interfere with my love life again.”
He took a deep breath like I’d just asked him to move a mountain. “Fine.”
“Then I promise.”
The relief flooded his eyes.
I stood there and stared at him, the rage immediately gone. What he did tonight was unacceptable, but the second we moved past it, I got lost in his expression all over again. He was the only man I wanted to invite inside. I was sick of sleeping alone, sick of dreaming about the man I couldn’t have. I wanted his hands in my hair and his lips on mine. I wanted to go back to the comfortable silences, the way we would stare at each other for hours without saying a single word.
I missed all of it.
“I miss you,” he whispered, his chest rising and falling with his deep breathing.
“Don’t do that…”
“I do. All I do is sit in my office and stare at your painting. All I do is jerk off to your memory at night. I can have almost any woman I want, but the one woman I actually give a damn about is the one I can’t have.” He broke eye contact and shifted his gaze to the floor. He ran his hand through his short hair, sighing with the frustration that weighed on his shoulders.
“You should go…” Matteo would be there any second, and I didn’t want to explain why this enormous man was standing on my doorstep.
“Yeah.” He dropped his hand, and his eyes shifted back to mine. “I should. You’re the kind of woman who keeps her promises, right?” It was the first time since I’d met him that he showed a faint trace of vulnerability, of fear. He was too busy acting fearless and unbreakable to let something get under his skin. But now his heart was on his sleeve, along with the terror that gripped my heart.
