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“What?”
“He sounds like an annoying little brother.”
Before I can defend myself, she says, “Why didn’t I ever notice that you treat Manelik’s friends like you do your family? And not surprisingly, you also push them away because you don’t like to be attached to anyone—not even to your own family.”
Those words hit me like a bullet to the chest. Unfortunately, she’s not wrong. But how do I fix that?
I deflect the question. “Were you part of the foster system?”
“No. Mom was a foster mother for teenagers.”
“Your dad?”
She glares at me. “He wasn’t interested in having a family.”
I feel less than an inch tall. “Was it a bad divorce?”
“I wouldn’t know. He didn’t stick around for me to meet him.”
This is going to be harder than expected. There’s no way in hell she’s going to let me inside when her own father didn’t want her. “You know I wouldn’t do that to our baby or you, right?”
“We agreed not to discuss the subject.” Her voice carries a warning.
“I—”
“Walk away, Iskander. I don’t need saving. My life, my decisions, my future. You’re not included.”
No, she can’t just shut me out now. I dare say she doesn’t need me. Now that Manelik and Nydia know what’s happening and can help Siobhan and her sister, she can easily push me away, and my chance to be around is over.
“What if I want to be a part of it?”
“I’m not interested. I refuse to be someone’s maybe. I’m entitled to a life, dreams, and someone who loves me unconditionally. Not a man who can only offer a warm bed and a few hours of fun.”
“You’re wrong, Siobhan. We were more than that. We’re good together.”
She laughs. “You can’t possibly think that. Sex between us is amazing”—she presses her lips together—“It was great, I’ll give you that. There’s nothing else to sustain a loving relationship.”
Siobhan stares at me for a couple of beats before saying, “That’s not who you are. You were my rebound guy. I learned during these few years that I’m tired of making compromises and accommodating everyone just to get a few drops of love. If I ever fall in love again, it’ll be with a man who’s not going to shy away from surrendering himself entirely to me—the way I do. I deserve better than a casual fuck.”
But she wasn’t that, and I… “I can change.”
“Did you miss the part where I said, ‘I’m not interested?’”
I chuckle because now I understand what everyone said they needed me to fix.
They saw it, how much I love her and do for her. Not once have I flown someone to another city and an exclusive restaurant for a first date. I don’t last more than a season while fucking a woman—and they never make it to my bed.
Siobhan has been different since the moment we met. No one spends three years living with an extraordinary person without falling in love.
Everything is so clear. Those conversations where I was trying to convince her that Wicked Luna wasn’t the best working environment for her was probably in anticipation of offering her a position in my company. I want her with me. I don’t care if she goes back to Luna Harbor.
And fuck Lang for being right. I have to do major groveling and probably make her fall in love with me. This is the exact moment when I should be downloading some of Nando’s audiobooks. He claims to be good at relationship advice—people pay him for that.
I laugh again.
“Did I say something funny?”
“No, it’s just ironic.”
