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"Not happening; not anytime soon," he scoffs.
"That’s what Cade said, and look at him now."
"He’s one pussy-whipped bastard. But damn if I don’t envy him having found the love of his life. Something which you, too, have by the way. So don’t waste the opportunity, man."
I toss the towel aside and rise to my feet. "If you’re done with your sermonizing, I need to get back to my work out."
He blows out a breath. "Just don’t leave things too long." He cuts the call.
I stare at the blank screen for a while longer. Am I leaving things too long? Am I being a coward here? Nope, I’ve done everything to ensure her career and mine take off. I’m making sure we don’t sacrifice our dreams. Sure, we’re in love… I haven’t told her that explicitly. But she should realize it after how I made love to her that last time. Right? Hell, it was the most moving experience of my life. The kind a man doesn’t forget easily. And I saw her emotions in her eyes. She loves me, even though she hasn’t told me so. Nah, we have time. Once she’s here, and we’re done shooting the movie, which shouldn’t take more than two months, everything will be on track. Then, we can plan a real wedding in the run up to the premiere of the film, and fuck if that won’t benefit the both of us.
So, this is what you’ve been reduced to? Playing the PR machinery like a loser? Bending your life to feed the machinery you once loathed?The same machinery also built me up, though. It gave me the fame, the power, the control I craved. And once I release this movie, I’ll have achieved the one thing I feared was out of reach. I’ll be unstoppable after this. I begin to work out again, when my phone vibrates with an incoming FaceTime call. It’s Solene.
I reach for it, then stop. If I talk to her now, nothing is going to stop me from getting on the next plane to her. And right now, I don’t want that. I need to stay on track. Need to get the shoot set up so I can bring her over. This time, I can’t let things slide. This time, I’m going to deliver for both of us. I sink down into a push up, when the phone vibrates again. And again. I reach over and punch the red button disconnecting the call, then I switch it off.
I’m still at the gym an hour later when the director of the film barges in. He waves his phone at me. "You need to see this."
Even before I’ve snatched the phone from him, I know it’s her. My heart leaps into my throat. A screeching sound fills my ears. I glance at the phone screen in time to see her topple over. She sprawls on the floor next to her stool and mic stand. Her blonde hair streaks across the dark wood floor in an obscene parody of sun rays lighting up a cloud-heavy sky. The camera zooms in on her features, so pale, those heavy lashes a dark fan against her cheekbones. Her lips—those soft sumptuous lips, slightly parted, as if she’s asleep. But she’s too pale, too still. Is she even breathing? That screeching sound between my ears turns up until it’s vibrating from me, around me, cloistering me so I can barely breathe.
"Breathe, dammit!" I roar.
The sound of yelling fills the screen, the camera wavers, then cuts off. I stare at the blank screen, unable to understand what I’ve just seen. The piercing sound in my head fades, leaving me with complete blankness for a second. Then, the sounds around me penetrate the place I’ve fallen into. I toss the phone at the director and reach for mine on the floor. Switching it on, I call my pilot. "Ready the jet! I’m going to my fiancée."
66
Solene
I’m cold, so cold.A shiver runs down my spine, traveling all the way to my feet, then bounces up the front of my legs. A chill wracks me. My teeth chatter. I bring up my knees, curling them into my stomach, trying to keep in the warmth, but pain cuts through my side. I gasp. The shivering intensifies.I’m cold, so cold. So lonely. Where am I? Where is he? Declan? Why aren’t you here with me? Dec—
"Shh, baby, I’m here now."
As if my thoughts have conjured him, I hear his voice in my ear. The next second, warmth heats my back. What can only be his big body curves around me. Heat wafts off the hard muscles that spoon my back. I instantly push my ass back until it connects with a familiar thickness.
A groan rumbles from him. "Fuck, baby, don’t do that."
A weight descends about my middle, and he pulls me even closer. As if trained, I lift my head, and he slides his other arm under my neck. The heat intensifies, sinks into my blood. The chill finally dissipates. I stop trembling, let the sleep pull me under.
* * *
I come awake with a start. The scent of antiseptic that teases my nose, and the beeping of machines around me tells me I am in a hospital. The last thing I remember is trying to fight off the pain in my body and then, nothing. At least, the pain in my body seems to have ebbed somewhat. I open my eyes and still.
Facing me are dark, sooty eyelashes that block out those startling blue eyes from the world. For the first time, I watch him unobserved. I’ve never seen him sleep before this. How strange is that?
He’s always awake, doing something or glaring at me with that cold-fire gaze that makes my knees buckle. That makes me want to sink to my knees and beg him to have his way with me. It’s so distracting, I’m often unable to string my thoughts into sentences around him. I’m too busy trying to cope with the overwhelming emotions he raises in me. That complex need of wanting to be with him, to sink into him, to welcome him into my body, to allow him to have his way with me.
But I fight myself on this. I fight how he makes me feel. How he makes me want to conform to what he wants me to be, to be the kind of woman I thought I left behind. I didn’t want my family to tell me what to do but when he does, I like it; and I can't explain it.
I feel needy and weak when I'm with him, yet he also makes me feel safe and secure.
There’s nowhere else I’d be rather than by his side, but he makes it so difficult for us to be together. It started because I was too young, too immature to stand up to my brother for him. But he was older than me, and he should have known better than come to my room when I was alone. What my brother did to him was unpardonable, but I've apologized to him for that. Declan says he’s forgiven me, yet he keeps hurting me. And a part of me knows that’s because of his issues. If only I could get through to him. If only he’d let me get through to him. If only there were a way to start all over again. If only...
Tears prick the backs of my eyes, and it’s crazy, really, that I should be crying now, when so much has happened between us, but I’m unable to stop the tear that slides down my cheek.
"Don’t cry, Rabbit."
I still.
He flicks open those eyelids, and his powerful gaze settles on my features like the warmth of the early morning sun.
