Bought For Love

I brought my eyes to her face, and my jaw clenched at the worry floating in hers.

“I know I withheld a big part of my past from you, Emma. But I need you to trust in everything we’ve shared since we were married. Trust the man you’ve gotten to know.”

She swallowed and pursed her lips for a moment, then sighed. “I do trust you, Miles. It’s just…” She trailed off, and her faced remained pinched with unease.

I raised a brow but kept quiet, waiting for her to finish.

“My parents are already pushing me so hard to come home, and when they find out that my husband was a criminal…they’re going to flip the fuck out and drag me back.”

I stiffened for a millisecond as rage infused my body, then I rolled us over so Emma was trapped beneath me.

“Like hell,” I growled. “No one is taking my wife and child away from me. You are mine, Emma. All fucking mine.”

Chapter Ten

EMMA

“I know you think of me—us—as yours, Miles.” And although I didn’t admit it out loud, it sent a thrill through my system every time he got all caveman like that. “But you need to understand that my parents will mean well. They’ll want me to come home out of a misguided need to protect me because—”

“You are home.” His blue eyes burned into mine as he interrupted me. “Here. With me. This is your home now. Not back in North Dakota with your parents.”

After everything we’d been through that night, it was particularly telling that my eyes didn’t fill with tears until Miles announced that my home was with him. Between how I’d felt when Eva had landed her verbal blow at the party and listening to Miles’ tragic story, my heart felt like it’d been put through the ringer. I was sure the pregnancy hormones didn’t help, either. Or both of us being buck naked while we talked about it all.

But our conversation was too important for me to let it go without being completely open and honest about my concerns…especially since Miles had finally opened up to me about his painful past. “They might not always show it in the best way, but they love me. They’re going to be scared for me and the baby once they hear about your background.”

“Then I’ll just have to make them understand that I would never do anything to hurt you or the baby. I’ll fly out to talk to them in person. Open up to them like I just did you. Tell them everything. Offer to buy them a place here so they can visit as often as they want to keep an eye on me. Whatever it takes,” he swore. “Because I’m not giving you up, Emma. Not when I love you so much.”

I stared up at him in shock, and my tears spilled down my cheeks. “You love me?”

“Shit,” he groaned, dropping his forehead against mine and closing his eyes. “I’m fucking this up as badly as everything else tonight.”

“You’re not. You’re really, really not,” I promised. Reaching out with trembling hands, I cupped his cheeks with my palms and forced his head back up. “But I’m going to need you to say that again so I know for sure that I’m not imagining things. Please.”

“I love you, Emma. So fucking much.” My eyes filled with tears—happy ones this time. But Miles didn’t seem to recognize they were a good sign as he continued hurriedly, “You don’t have to say it back; not yet. Not until you’re ready. But you have to know I love you. That you knocked me right off my feet when you walked up to me at the diner. There wasn’t any chance of me marrying anyone else but you. From that moment on, I was yours.”

There was no missing how much he meant what he was saying. His love shone bright from his blue eyes as he looked down at me, and it spurred me on to share my feelings with him, too. “I don’t need to wait, Miles. I’m ready now.”

“Ready for what, sweetheart?”

I sniffled, tears spilling down my cheeks as I confessed, “I love you, too.”

“Are you sure? Even with everything I told you tonight? My past, and the mistakes I made?”

I lifted my head off the pillow and brushed my lips against his. I’d meant it to be a gentle reassurance, but as soon as our mouths touched Miles took control of the kiss. One of his hands slid around to cradle the back of my skull, and he wrapped my hair in his fist. The other palmed my jaw, his thumb stroking across my cheek to brush the tears away before tilting my head farther back to deepen the kiss. His tongue swept inside to tangle with mine, and when he finally tore his mouth away we were both panting.