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Sabrina
Murphy and I don’t speak until we make it to the safety of our hotel room. I’m glad he didn’t try to calm me down because I don’t think I could have controlled myself. I may have thrown out the threat of destroying my mother’s life, but it’s a threat I don’t want to have to follow through with. As I storm across the room and try to get my raging emotions under control, I realize I left my purse downstairs.
Shit.
Spinning on my heel, I turn to face Murphy. “Can you do me a favor? Can you text Annabelle and ask her to grab my purse off the table and bring it up here before she and Declan leave?”
Murphy nods and shoots off a text.
“I cannot seriously believe my mother just did that. I knew she was a raging bitch with serious control issues, but those things she said...” I move in front of him and lay my palms flat on his lapels to stop my hands from shaking. “Aiden, I am so sorry. She had no right to speak to you that way.”
His phone pings, indicating an incoming text. “Belle says they’ll be right up with it.”
“Thanks.” I sit down on the small, cream leather sofa under the window and cross my legs so I can unbuckle the ankle straps on my heels. My gown won’t stop falling in my way, and my hands are shaking so badly that I can’t manage to unbuckle the tiny little strap. I’m ready to rip it off my body when Murphy sits down next to me and pulls my feet into his lap, the green silk now hiding his legs.
His fingers wrap around my ankle. “Sabrina, stop. I need you to breathe nice and slow for me.”
After he unbuckles and removes my shoe, his big hands reach under my gown and massage my calves that are tight from a night spent in three-inch heels, and it feels really nice. My body begins to let go of some of the adrenaline that was coursing through it moments earlier. My hands go to either side of his handsome face, cupping his cheeks, and I look into those gorgeous green eyes.
Pleadingly, I ask, “Please tell me you know my mother was wrong.”
Murph’s eyes dart to the side.
“Aiden, my mother is an uptight bitch who wouldn’t know a good man if he slept in her bed every night. I wasn’t certain she was screwing Senator DeFelice until I saw her react to what I said, but it sure seems like she’s cheating on my dad. Who is she to judge anyone else?”
Murphy’s hands wrap around my wrists, moving them from his face and holding them in his lap. “Sabrina, I realized something tonight before your mother attacked like a rabid dog.”
We’re interrupted by a knock at the door. Murphy drops a kiss to my knuckles and stands. “Hold that thought.”
Feeling slightly less frazzled, I watch Murphy cross the room and crack open the door. I hear murmuring but can’t make out what’s being said. Then he reappears with my purse as the door clicks shut behind him.
My small crystal bag is handed to me, and I remove my phone and power it down for the night. Then I move to the room phone and activate the Do Not Disturb option. My parents know where I am because I could only get a room here as my father’s guest. I do not want to speak with or run the risk of seeing either of them tonight.
I’ll find out later if my father was in on my mother’s confrontation or if that was all her.
For tonight, I’m just worried about the man in front of me and what my mother’s hateful words have done to the one thing I’ve begun to care about more than anything else.
When I turn around from shutting off the room phone, I face-plant into Murphy’s chest. He’s taken off his tux jacket and has his white sleeves rolled up. His sexy green leather watch is adorning his right wrist. “Are you a lefty?”
“I’m ambidextrous. I can give with both hands, Princess.” A glimmer of a smile crosses his lips.
I take a deep breath. “Listen, Aiden—”
Murphy’s fingers lay against my lips. “No, Princess. I’ve been listening to you all night, and now it’s your turn.”
I’m grateful for the smile on his face because it’s at least telling me he’s not mad at me. He moves his hands to my waist and makes me wish he’d take me out of this dress, so he could see what I’m wearing underneath.
“I don’t want to talk about your mother right now. I want to talk about you. I want to talk about the woman I couldn’t take my eyes off tonight. You were magnificent. You are so smart and so sexy.” He picks up my hand and places a kiss to one palm. “You had the room eating out of the palm of your hand, Princess. You had me eating out the palm of your hand.” Then he moves that hand to wrap around his neck as he steps back, sitting down on the sofa and pulling me down onto his lap.
“I think your parents love you, Sabrina, but your mother has a warped definition of what that is. I think the things she said were grounded in a touch of the truth but blown way out of proportion. I act like a goof. I know I do it. When my dad left us, my mom cried. A lot. She cried all the time, for what felt like forever to a little kid. Carys didn’t understand what was going on, and she was sad all the time because Mom was sad. I figured out early on that it was easier on everyone if I could make them laugh, make them smile.”
Murphy swallows and kisses my forehead before continuing, “I liked knowing that if I made my mom smile, she felt better. When she was happier, we were all happier. She wasn’t a bad mom. She still got up every day and made us dinner every night. She took me to every practice. She made sure we had everything we ever wanted. But she was sad, and I wanted to fix it. Once I saw how easy it was to make everyone smile, I just...I don’t know. I guess I kinda took it on as a part of me. Murphy the Goofball. People always think I’m not serious about anything, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
He pauses for a long moment.
I feel like this man is giving me a piece of his soul, and I’m scared to shatter the moment.
“Do you want to know what upset me most of all tonight? Because it wasn’t what your mom said, Brina. It was what you said.”
“What?” The accusation destroys me. I sit up straighter and push back at his chest to give myself space to breathe.
“Not upset with what you said, just that you had to defend me at all. That I put you in that position in the first place. I would burn down this entire city to keep you safe, Sabrina. I would destroy whoever got in my way. It’s supposed to be my job to take care of you. It’s my job to protect you, not the other way around. I love you so fucking much that my heart felt like it was cracking open when you had to defend my actions. And, I promise, if you’ll give me a chance, I’ll be worthy of you.”
My hands move to the hair at his temples as I push it out of his face.
“Murphy, you don’t need a chance. You’ve already got me. I’m pretty sure I’ve been in love with you since we were little kids, and you knocked Brady down when he shoved me off the swings in first grade. Whenever we’re in the same room, you’re the first person I see. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember, even when you didn’t care at all that I was there.”
“I always cared, Princess. I just didn’t think I was worthy of you. This year changed things though. Because I said, ‘Fuck it.’ I was going to make myself worthy.”
“Aiden, you don’t get to be the only one in this relationship who’s overprotective. It goes both ways.” He gives me a sly look, covering pain with humor like he always does. I place my fingertips over his lips. “Nope. Do not make a comment about going both ways right now. I’ll never share you with another girl. I only go one way, and that’s with you.”
