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"Belle?" He bangs on the door again. "I know you’re in there."
I freeze, and I’m sure the look on my face is that of pure panic, for Gio rises to her feet. She marches past me and grips the door handle, before turning to me. "Should I tell him to leave?"
I shake my head.
She sighs. "You want me to buy you some time?"
I nod.
"Why don’t you go on into the bedroom?"
"Thank you" I race past the other girls.
Behind me, I hear her throw open the door. "Edward, what are you doing here?"
16
Edward
"I’m here for Mira."
"Hmm." Gio purses her lips. "What are your intentions toward her."
I glance past her to where the other women look at me with varying expressions of displeasure and mistrust.
"Can I come in?" I hold up my hands. "I mean no harm."
"That’s debatable." She purses her lips, then finally, stands aside.
I stalk past her and into the center of the rom. "Ladies." I tilt my head. "I’m glad Mira has friends looking out for her."
"Can we say the same about you?" Summer asks in a serious tone.
Of everyone in this room, I’ve known her the longest. I attended her wedding to Sinclair. I’ve seen the bond between them grow. Sinclair loves her more than his own life, and she reciprocates their sentiment. She’s aware of my past. Of the incident that binds Sinclair and me and the rest of the Seven together. No one else in my family knows the true extent to which that incident scarred me. It’s a secret, known to us, and now the wives of the Seven.
I keep my arms loose at my sides and nod. "You can."
I hold her gaze, and she must read the sincerity in my eyes, for her shoulders relax.
"She’s my friend, Ed," Summer murmurs.
"I’m aware."
"Don’t hurt her."
"I won’t," I hear the vehemence in my tone. "I’ll do everything to protect her."
"Including from yourself?"
I blink.That's the plan.The problem is, when I’m around here, I don’t act in character. I tend to become unpredictable and unable to keep my gaze off of her. I’m also not able to stop my mind from wondering how it would be to have her under me, to bury myself in her softness, to have her scent wipe away the images from my past, to allow her voice to lead me out of the maze I am stuck in.
And I can’t allow that to happen. I can’t let myself fall for her. "I’ll do everything in my power to give her what she needs."
She frowns. "That doesn’t answer my question."
I square my shoulders. "Her happiness is important to me. I will ensure she is taken care of, that she wants for nothing, that all her wants are met—"
"Including her emotional ones?"
