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“That’s fascinating. I didn’t realize you’d put so much thought into it. I assumed you just walked into the store and grabbed a box off the shelf. You are a complicated woman, Ms. Square.”
I shrug innocently. If the shoe fits, I guess. “My turn. How did you know I dye my hair every month?”
He pauses, scooping the last of his lobster bisque. After he swallows, he picks up his glass of water and gulps it down. He’s buying time. My brows hike up. Oh, my God, he really did a background check on me, didn’t he?
“I might have kept tabs on you after our engagement broke off.”
After our engagement broke off? That was five years ago. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘kept tabs' on me? You had someone follow me?”
He tugs at his tie uncomfortably. “Something like that.”
My jaw drops in astonishment. “For the past five years?” A wave of emotion flows
through me,elationthat just like he’d been at the back of my mind, I was on his as well.Flattery, that he put someone on a retainer just so he can know what I do every day? And a littlenervousness, because he’s probably seen everything and knows almost everything about me at this point.
And he still wants to marry me?
CHAPTER 34
EZRA
After confessing that I’ve basically been stalking her for the past five years, Charlie goes quiet. I worry if I should have left that information out. I couldn’t exactly lie when she asked me point blank.
I signal to the waiter to bring our bill. After paying, I lead her outside to make our way to my car. The drive home is silent, and my jacket pocket seems to burn with the box stashed inside. This would be the wrong time to give her the ring, wouldn’t it?
“What’s going through that head of yours?” I finally ask her as we pull up in front of the house, unable to take the silence any longer.
“I don’t know. It’s just huge, you know? That you’ve been keeping tabs on me for that long. Why did you do it?”
I turn off the ignition with a sigh. Yeah, I should’ve expected that question. “Because despite how fucked up I was back then, I couldn’t totally let you go.”
I was just becoming a functional human being, barely two years after I stopped using drugs totally, and Dad suddenly came to me with an engagement to a teenager. I had no intention of going through with it. I was just getting control of my life, so I hated the feeling of helplessness and not being in control. Ialmost slipped up, but I turned to alcohol instead, which was just as bad.
Then I met her. I wanted her immediately. But I couldn’t let her be tied to the mess that I was. She was justeighteen,for God's sake. I don’t know what her father was thinking by agreeing to the engagement.
I was the one who suggested giving our parents ultimatums to break the engagement, but I felt like I had lost something precious when it worked. I knew then that we couldn’t ever be together, but I still couldn’t seem to let her go. I wasLa Fiamma, and I had contacts in all New England towns and cities. It was too easy to get someone to watch her. All I had to do was wire a pithy sum each month.
At first, I told myself it was to make sure that she was safe. The reports I got back had minimal personal details. I was clearly still caught up on her; I went on dates when she did. Fucked women when she spent the night with a man. I tried to move on, but it was almost impossible. I was obsessed with knowing where she was at any given time, as well as what she was doing and with whom.
She came to town after we agreed she wouldn’t. I let it slide the first time and avoided seeing her. But when she came into Peter Havens with Alex last year, all bets were off.
I get out of the car, frowning when she gets out without waiting for me to get the door for her, but I let it go. I follow her into the house, and we climb up the stairs silently. I’m wondering if she’s going to kick me out of our bed tonight when she suddenly turns to me at the top of the stairs. She kicks her heels off, staring at me as she does.
“What does it say about me that I like knowing that you’ve been watching me all these years?” she rushes out, her stunning eyes searching mine. I blink at her, my lips parting in surprise. I take a step toward her, and she takes several back, pausingbriefly to open the bedroom door. She continues backtracking into the bedroom.
“I mean it’s creepy and weird that seemingly innocent moments could’ve been witnessed by you, when I went on dates and…and youknow. You knew about it. Thatiscreepy. But on the other hand, I like knowing that I had left such an impression that you had to know what I was doing. I like that you were watching me. It makes me feel special to you. Like I’m important.”
At this point, she’s standing in front of the vanity mirror I had brought in yesterday. I think she would like to continue her backtracking, but there’s nowhere left for her to go.
“Youarespecial. You’re the only woman who’s ever owned my heart, Charlotte. And you’ve had it for a long time. You’re the only woman who’s ever completely consumed my thoughts. I can’t breathe when you’re not near me, or I don’t have my eyes on you. I feel a sense of possession, like you’ve always been mine to protect. And not just because I’m jealous; you’ve always looked at me like you know me better than anyone else, like you can see my struggles and my failures…but you don’t judge me. And someone like that–a pure, caring soul like yours–must be protected at all costs.” I tell her, closing the distance between us.
My hand goes to her hair to find the pins holding it all up. I tug at them until her hair falls loosely down her back, just past her shoulders. I sink my hands into the soft, silky depths with a low groan. She goes on tiptoes, and I meet her halfway, dropping my head to press a frantic kiss to her lips.
Her hands wrap around my neck as she returns the kiss greedily. It’s potent, igniting a ravenous hunger in me, like I didn’t just have her last night and the early hours of the morning. Impatient, I break the kiss and spin her away to face the vanity. I drag the zipper of her dress down, then take a deepbreath, reminding myself I need to be careful and gentle. She’s too precious to manhandle.
Our gazes clash in the mirror. I hold her gaze as I hook my fingers under the straps of her dress and pull them down her shoulders, the soft material swishing to the floor. My gaze drops to her exposed skin, and a strangled sound escapes the back of my throat when I’m met with her bare flesh. She’s naked except for a tiny scrap of thong. I swallow hard as blood rushes to my cock, thickening the semi-erect status until it’s rock hard.Patience.
I clench my jaw as I stroke my hands over her shoulders to savor the supple skin of her upper arms. The pace of her breathing increases, her breasts rising and falling with the frequency of my touch. My gaze drops to her taut, rosy nipples and I lick my lips. I run my hand down her spine; she shivers as I cup her curvy ass. I snake my hand around her indented waist to rub over her slightly curved stomach. My babies are growing there.Mine.
