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“Why the fuck are you still all the way across the room from me?”
My gaze shot to him. His too-blue eyes looked shattered with agony.
“You’re acting like we’re enemies now. We are not enemies.” But then his eyes squinted. He shook his head and asked, “Are we?”
“I just found out my father was murdered today,” I said, blowing out a shaky breath. I have no idea why I blurted that of all things or how it was relevant to anything we were discussing, but it suddenly seemed like something I had to say… Out loud.
“I know.” Ezra shook his head sympathetically. “Jesus, Kaitlynn. This has got to be the most fucked-up mess of a—” When he stepped toward me, I held up a hand, glaring.
“I learned the woman who was supposed to be a mother to me had killed him.”
When he remained silent this time, watching me from grief-stricken eyes, I went on. “I realized I’d been angry at him for no reason. All this time, he had left me my biggest wish, and I’d been behaving like some kind of spoiled brat, feeling resentful against him and sorry for myself, while that wasn’t the case at all. Then, I learned my brothers had lost their own father the same way. And yet while I was absorbing the shock of all that, the only thing that mattered to you was making sure you still owned your fifty percent.”
“What?” he hissed. “No. Christ, baby, that is not at all—”
“That’s definitely the only thing your father cared about, and you certainly didn’t stop him when he went on full attack to—”
“No! No, no, no,” he chanted, storming to me, determined, and not stopping this time when I tried to ward him off. He clutched my arms and got into my face, forcing me to look into his eyes.
“I was in shock,” he insisted. “You weren’t the only one trying to process everything that was happening. Dad was already barreling along before I even realized what he was doing. I didn’t… Making sure I still had my piece of the pie was the very last thing on my mind. I swear to you. I didn’t… I fucked up. Okay. I admit that. I’m sorry. I didn’t react well, or soon enough, or whatever. Hell, I still don’t know how to react to this. But you can’t hold that against me, because I never in a million years meant to upset you. You’re the only thing I’ve been worrying about all day.”
I believed him, deep inside me, I knew he was being completely sincere, but I continued to hold myself stiff in his arms.
Shaking my head, I said, “When you told him my name, he looked at me as if I were Lana 2.0.”
Ezra gritted his teeth and growled a curse under his breath. “My dad,” he started, trying to explain his father. “That was my fault. He was just being an overprotec
tive father. He meant well, but… He didn’t know any better. He’s listened to me gripe about Lana for months now, and… And he lumped the two names together. I hadn’t yet told him—”
“No,” I cut in. “You hadn’t told him yet, had you? You hadn’t told him about us at all. That’s the thing. It was obvious you’d never told him a single thing about me. Not that we were together. Not anything.” Ezra reached for my cheek, but I nudged his hand away as a tear slipped free. “Were you too ashamed to admit any kind of association with me?”
“What?” His lips parted. “No. Never. Dammit, Kaitlynn, that’s not why I—okay, fuck.” He backed away from me, rubbing his hands over his face. “I didn’t tell him because I knew as soon as he learned you were her stepdaughter, he’d voice all these concerns about why I should stay away from you, and we were already being bombarded by both your stepbrothers on top of our own worries about Lana herself. I didn’t want to hear it from him too. I just… I was being selfish. I wanted to enjoy what I had with you for a little while first.” His eyes peered deeply into mine, his gaze beseeching. “I still want to enjoy what I have with you.”
When I shook my head, he demanded, “Why not? Why can’t we stay together? Nothing’s changed.”
What? Was he insane? “Everything’s changed!” I cried.
He shook his head insistently. “Not the way I feel about you.”
Those seemed to be the words that broke the camel’s back. The floodgates opened. And a hoard of tears joined the single one that had been hanging out on my cheek. My shoulders curled in around my body as sobs seized me.
“Oh, God,” I wept.
What was I doing? Why was I behaving this way? Why couldn’t I just—I don’t know. I didn’t know anything at the moment.
Taking a hesitant step toward me, Ezra lifted his hand to catch some of the tears with the tip of his fingers.
“From the moment I first saw you, I sensed it. I belong to you. Nothing else feels as right as it does when I’m with you. And I will do whatever it takes to prove that. So, if you want the entire company, then it’s yours. I’m rich and have the world at my fingertips. I can find another job. I can’t find another you. So please, God, Kaitlynn, don’t push me away.”
My hands trembled as I reached out and clutched two fistfuls of the front of his shirt. “But you love the company.”
He shook his head. “I love you more.”
I swear, I broke again, sniffing and sobbing, unable to control myself.
Ezra eased in closer. “Now, will you finally let me hold you? I’ve been fucking dying since the moment I saw your face when you learned about your dad, and if I don’t get my arms around you—”
I dove at him, cutting him off by wrapping my arms around him and smashing my mouth to his.
