AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s not fair,” she said.
“Answer the question.”
She looked away. “No. I don’t. I don’t.”
“If we could have everything with each other, why shouldn’t we?”
“I don’t know. But I’ve spent all these years trying not to have a crush on you, because I couldn’t think of anything more ridiculous. I never let myself look at you when you didn’t have your shirt on. I never... It would be too humiliating. I...”
“Look at us,” he said, cupping her face. “Look at me. It’s the same for me. I want you. It’s not embarrassing.”
“I’m not pretty. Not like Fia.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“She’s beautiful.”
“Charity, from the first moment I saw you I thought you were an angel on earth. And that was why I decided I couldn’t touch you. You know what my life was like.”
“So why can you touch me now, Lachlan?”
The question tore at something inside him. Because all the reasons he’d turned away from this for years were as valid now as they’d been then.
Why now?
“Because I didn’t want him to have you.”
That answer was torn from him. He hated it. As much as he hated himself in that moment. Because it was a shitty thing to say. It was a shitty thing tofeel.
But he felt it.
It was the kind of thing he’d never wanted to feel.
The idea of Byron’s hands on Charity enraged him. Or the fact that the guy could embrace celibacy when he had her all these years... That almost made him madder. Because Lachlan wouldn’t exercise any restraint with her. As he’d proven.
That meant he wanted her more. So there.
Removing Byron would remove this feeling.
“Say yes,” he said. “Say yes to me. Because you can’t... You can’t marry somebody else now. Please.”
He was not above begging. It was real. Sincere. This wasn’t some halfhearted attempt at getting his way. It was suddenly the only thing he wanted. An all-consuming need. He was going to have a wife; it needed to be her.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, Lachlan. I’ll marry you.”
He growled, pulling her into his arms and kissing her.
“We don’t have to live here,” she said between kisses.
“We can,” he said.
“No, I think... I think I need something new. I think I want something new. With you.”
“Okay,” he said. “But you know you’re gonna have to help me. I have it on good authority my house is not suitable for wives.”
“Oh no,” she said.
“What?”
