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Tears sting the backs of my eyes and I close them, leaving them that way for a long time.
“Promise me you’ll stay long enough for me to prove to you how fucking magnificent you are.”
This is insanity.
This is…perfect.
This is nothing I want…and yet, it’s everything I’ve hoped for.
I want to pull away, to grab my stuff and Steve, and run.
I want to stay forever and fill this house with our memories.
But beneath it all is theneedto run—
Remember that it’s okay to want something more than you think you deserve.
Ella’s words whip through my mind and I pause, eyes flying open and locking with Lake’s—reading the depths of his emotions, feeling them, knowing how much it cost this big, strong man to make himself vulnerable to me.
And…
I exhale.
I leap.
And I decide that—for once—moving forward might mean staying right here.
Forty-Four
Lake
“Tellme something about yourself that no one else knows.”
My heart does that Nova thing, pulsing, squeezing, reminding me it belongs to her, and I roll to my side, fussing with my phone in order to get it positioned correctly, to keep the camera on my face as I rub discreetly at the ache in my chest.
She’s at home in my bed, Steve at her side, her hair piled on top of her head, cheeks pink from the spiked hot cocoa she’s drinking and also probably from her excitement of showing me some of the photographs she took that day.
So far, our conversation had been carefully light, both of us aware of the events of the day before last.
Or maybe that’s just me.
She’s as bright and beautiful as normal.
Only…she’s also holding herself carefully.
Expecting me to push her away.
So, I know this question is a test—though I don’t think she realizes it. There’s nothing calculating about her tone or expression.
Nothing but that cautious way she’s holding herself, and how she’s clinging to Steve.
As though her pup will keep her safe from me.
Fuckinghatethat.
“I like Twix,” I say, going for easy-breezy.
Her mouth curves and the tightness in her eases slightly, shoulders dropping, grip on Steve gentling. The pup huffs out a breath and, swear to fuck, he glances into the camera with thanks before settling down to snore away in her lap. “I think I got that from the size of your stash in your pantry.”
