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Her throat was thick with both emotion and amusement. “Which one?”
The corner of his mouth twitched upward slightly, then faded just as quickly. “The one about your father. He needs you now more than ever. You can’t leave.”
“And that’s why you didn’t want me to get on the plane?” she rasped. “Because you think I should stay for my father?”
He pressed his lips together in a tight line, but his gaze never left hers. “If you’ve listened to all of my messages, you know the answer to that question.” His palm cupped her cheek, and his gaze swept over her from head to toe. “But if I’ve learned anything over the last week, it’s that my selfishness can get in the way of my happiness and the happiness of those I care about.”
“That’s not an answer to my question.” She couldn’t bring herself to speak at a normal volume. Every word was a chore to get out. Staying for her father was a given. She’d do what it took to repair the relationship where she’d failed the first time.
But if Elijah was serious about trying to mend their relationship after everything they’d been through, she needed to hear it from him and not just in her voice messages.
She needed to hear it from his lips in person.
Elijah’s entire expression grew even more serious. “Stay.”
Scarlett lifted her chin, searching for that adoration in his eyes she’d grown to crave.
“For me,” he murmured.
27
Elijah
Asking Scarlett to stay was risky. Elijah knew it. He’d much rather prefer letting her get settled with her father first. He dropped his hand from her face and took a step back, reminding himself of his place. “Let me take you home—to see your father.”
Scarlett blinked rapidly. “What?”
“You need to clear the air with him first. That’s more important.” Elijah reached for her hand, focusing on the way their fingers intertwined so he didn’t have to look her in the eye and pretend he didn’t want to make this all about them. “Your family is the most important thing.”
She made a soft sound but cut herself off. At least she wasn’t arguing with him. She could probably see that he was just trying to give her what she needed.
The drive back to Copper Creek was far too quiet for his liking. If he could have things his way, he would have attempted to have a conversation about how sorry he was. He’d have done everything he could to convince her that she was the one for him.
The time he spent on his way to the airport, each message he’d left her, all of it had brought him to one undeniable conclusion.
They were meant to be together.
When they pulled up in front of her home, she turned to face him. She didn’t have much time to say anything because the door to the house burst open and a very angry Carlos marched down the steps. His face was beet red, and his hands were pulled into tight fists. He moved like an angry primate, and if Elijah wasn’t in his truck, he might have been nervous.
Carlos banged on his window and hollered something Elijah couldn’t quite understand. Scarlett gasped, scrambling for the door handle before launching the door open. “Dad! What are you doing!”
Her father shot one look toward her, then back to Elijah. He gestured angrily through the window. “He should have never brought you home.”
“What?”
“It wasn’t his place. He should have never gone to get you. You should have just gotten on that plane and gone back to Germany.”
“Dad!”
Carlos sobered.
“Do you hear yourself?” Scarlett said, taking a step toward her dad.
Elijah could hear the pain in her voice, the desperation. All he wanted to do was get out of his pickup and shield her from this conversation, but somehow he knew doing so was impossible. Scarlett’s ability to take care of herself was one of the reasons he loved her so much.
He continued to watch her with admiration.
“Did he tell you?” Carlos said, his hands still clenched in fists.
