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I swear my heartbeat triples in the matter of half a second. “He’s here?” I gape openly at my mother.
“He’s been here almost an hour.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“Of course I did.” Her grin widens.
“And?”
“And I think maybe you need to hear what he has to say one more time.”
I know she can see the indecision in my eyes.
“Go.” She shoos me with her hands.
Without another word, I take off up the stairs, my heart thudding against my ribs so hard it’s a struggle for me to pull in a real breath. When I reach the top, I take an unsteady step down the hall and then another, my feet moving on their own accord.
I try my best to smooth my features and calm my breathing as I push open my bedroom door, but the instant I see his large frame standing in front of my window, his back to me, I know that there’s no hiding from this.
I knew it the moment he sat down next to me.
This is inevitable.
He is inevitable.
He turns when he hears me step into the room.
The sight of him steals the air straight from my lungs.
“You’re here.” My voice comes out shaky.
“I know you told me to leave but I couldn’t. I can’t. Not until I’ve said everything I need to say.”
“I thought you already did.”
He shakes his head slowly from side to side.
“I’ve spent my life perfecting the art of manipulating people into giving me what I want. But with you...” He runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to play games. I just want you and I want you to want me too.”
“Mateo,” I start, but he raises a hand to cut me off.
“I love you.”
My entire body feels the effects of his words.
“I love you,” he repeats, crossing the space toward me. “I haven’t said those words to anyone since my mother died, but I’m saying them to you now.” He stops directly in front of me. “I love you. And I know I said I wouldn’t beg. I’ve never begged for a thing in my life. But I’m begging you.” He drops to his knees in front of me, his hands reaching up to take mine which tremble beneath his fingers. “Please, Mila. I’ve never wanted to share my life with another person. I never wanted to let anyone too close. But then you stormed in and changed everything for me. I don’t care about the money or the power. I just want you. Please give me a chance to prove to you that I’m worthy of your love. That I deserve to be the man that gets to call you his. Because I don’t want to do any of this without you.”
“I...I...” For the first time in my life I’m speechless. Like I have absolutely no words.
He’s begging. He’s literally on his knees begging for me to love him. A man who never begs. A man who kneels to no one. A man who could literally have any woman he wanted. And he wantsme.
The power I feel in this moment is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. Knowing that I can bring a man like Mateo Rivera to his knees. Knowing that he’s so desperate for my love that there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to get it. It’s overwhelming. It’s exhilarating. And it erases every single reason I had concocted in my head as to why this could never work.
“Please stand up.”
He hesitates for a split second before rising to his feet.
“I don’t know how we can make this work. I don’t know how to live in your world.”
