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“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not,” he said. “If I’d know—”
“It wouldn’t have changed anything,” I replied and pulled away. The sadness on his face was a painful pill to swallow. “I didn’t want anyone to know, Nolan. I couldn’t… I’m still not thrilled that you know.”
“They know because I needed someone to know.” Killian. I turned to find him standing in the kitchen doorway with a coffee holder in one hand and a bag from Waverly’s in the other. My stomach fluttered. It wasn’t the leather jacket or the way his clothes fit every muscle that made me melt. It was how his expression softened when I caught his gaze. And then he backed out the door and yelled into the living room, “Everyone out!”
“Killian!” I exclaimed.
“You and me, we need to talk,” he told me. “And we’re not going anywhere until we’ve done just that. And I don’t need these fuckers chiming in.”
“Language,” Maeve cut in.
“Jesus fuck,” he grumbled, sighing in frustration. I pressed my lips together and tried to not laugh at him.
“Killian Donovan Byrne,” she began as her head popped around the corner, “you and me are going to have a long talk about that tongue of yours.”
“Some people like my tongue,” he said under his breath, and I burst out laughing, my cheeks burning. He winked at me. “Sorry, Mom. I’ll do better.”
“Don’t lie, baby boy,” she replied. He let out an exasperated sound, and she patted him on the shoulder.
One by one, everyone filed out of the house. Killian’s brothers gave him shit as always while I mumbled an obscene amount of apologies. I felt bad—him kicking them out because of me and all—even if none of them seemed bothered by it all. In fact, most seemed like they were anticipating just that happening.
“Horny villain,” Killian said ever so casually as Raven walked past, offering a hand.
“Donut villain.” She high-fived him, and I frowned. What the heck had happened between those two? Spinning in the doorway, she blew me a kiss and drew a heart in the air, making me smile.
Declan was last to file out. He paused next to Killian and clapped him on the shoulder. Something inexplicable passed between the two of them. It was brief and pumped full of emotion before Declan disappeared, leaving the two of us alone as Killian shut the door.
“I came back.” His deep voice filled the silence.
“I know,” I replied. Still, his fingers curled around the back of my neck as he pulled me closer, pressing his lips to my forehead in a lingering kiss. Quietly, I repeated, “I know.”
“We‘re going to eat, and then we’ll talk.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“I wasn’t asking, Genevieve.” That tone of his changed—commanding and unyielding. His dark gaze held mine, waiting for me to argue. “You haven’t eaten since yesterday, and we had a long night. You need to eat, and you need to hydrate.”
“Yes, Sir,” I whispered.
“Good girl.” He kissed my temple. “Thank you. I just want to make sure you’re taken care of.”
“I know.” I was used to Killian and his firm but gentle reminders on things like eating, drinking water, and when to go to sleep. I wasn’t great at taking care of myself. I was better at taking care of everyone else because they mattered more. I took the sandwich he held out for me and followed him to the blanket fort in the living room.
“Now,” Killian began a half hour later as he tossed his wrapper in the bag, “you and me, we’re going to talk. No power play, no control. I want us to actually talk to one another.”
“Okay.”
“And we’re going to sit and talk until we’ve talked about everything—”
“But your family—”
“Can fucking wait,” he said over me. When I opened my mouth to protest, he cut me off, “Genevieve, we should’ve done this a long time ago. We need to do this. There’s so much shit between us that we can’t consider moving forward if we don’t talk.”
Consider moving forward? I didn’t like the sound of that. Was he unsure of us?
“You don’t know if you want to continue our relationship?” I asked quietly.
