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“I’m going to be honest. I’ve never done this before. I’m not sure what the next steps are for us. But I’m willing to try an honest, true relationship. For you and only you, Layla.”
She relaxes into my grasp.
This is what it feels like to be content. This is the moment for us.
I hope I’m making the right choice. I hope this isn’t another bad one. I can be normal, right? Despite everything I’ve done, I can be happy.
Everyone deserves happiness. And I’ve already done everything necessary to guarantee our peace and that the past stays buried.
But can a monster have happiness?
Layla is the one thing I’ve ever cared about, and I’m terrified I’ll ruin her. I won’t. You would never hurt her.
You love her . . .
But will my love be her demise?
36
Layla
I’m speechless.
He bought the house. He bought a house for us.
The us that, for the last two months since I met him, I didn’t think was ever going to be a possibility.
Where’s the logic in this move?
That’s the part that has my tongue feeling heavy.
My mouth feels like it’s been sewn shut, and I can’t reason with myself to open up and ask these questions. He bought the house for me. He bought it because he saw me smile.
What does this all mean?
Cain has money, but to buy a house because someone is obsessed with it, well, that makes no sense.
Unless . . .
Maybe it’s also a business thing. Maybe after my comment about the next project potentially being based on Cape May, he wants to be here to see if it will work.
Yeah, that’s got to be it.
“It would be a great idea so you can see if a future development can be based on this town. Smart.”
He pulls back and looks at me. “This has nothing to do with a new development.” His hand reaches out, and his fingers land on my jaw, tilting my head up so that I can look into his eyes.
“This is about you. About us. I want to make you happy. I want a place for us to go. I’ve never had that, Layla. Not really. And I want to have this wish fulfilled with you.”
“How will we make it work? I’m in the city, and you’re currently in wherever the compound is being built and then off to another job so far away.”
“We can make it work.” He leans down and places a kiss on my mouth.
“But how?” I ask against his lips.
He pulls away from me and takes my hand in his, leading us to sit down together on the daybed.
“We come up with a plan together, that’s how.”
I turn my head to face him. His features are serious, and he’s quiet. If I could see inside his head, I’m sure his analytical brain is doing mathematical equations of every outcome.
“Right now, I don’t have a home.”
“What?”
“I’m saying this all wrong as that’s not important. What’s important is, up until this point, I have moved from site to site, but I don’t need to do that all the time. I can settle in one place.”
“You don’t?”
“No. I can reside in the city and take up a permanent residence there. Rent space to work, and when I need to travel to a site, I do.”
“You would be willing to do that for me?”
He lifts my hand to his mouth and places a kiss on my knuckles. “For us.”
Are we moving too fast?
I search his expression for anything to give him away.
That maybe he’s not comfortable with the speed we are going.
But based on the smile on his face and, well, on my own, I think what he’s suggesting is what I want, too. It makes the most sense.
“Layla, when you have lived your whole life with—” He stops himself.
“With what? What were you going to say?”
His lips part wider, but this time, it feels fake. “Forget it, it was nothing. Now that this is settled, what should we do today?”
I know what he’s doing, but regardless, I don’t press. We’re on vacation, and I don’t want to ruin the mood. “I’m not sure. What do you want to do?”
“How about we go for a swim?”
“Sure, I’ll just throw on my bathing suit.” I stand from the chair, and just as I’m about to walk inside the house, Cain picks me up and rushes to the pool.
“Stop. I’m not wearing a bathing suit.” I playfully hit his back. “And neither are you.”
He’s wearing gray sweats and a T-shirt, and I’m in a sundress.
It doesn’t seem to stop him because the next thing I know, we are doused with freezing cold water.
I kick and scream, and Cain laughs. A full-body laugh.
The sound is rare.
I have heard him laugh before, but never like this.
It’s rich and soulful, and it makes me believe anything is possible. Because this man, who has always been closed off, has let his guard down and let me in.
