He would have come after me… I could have had this all along…
“There’s been no one else for me either, since you.”
Tears pool in my eyes, and as if he can read my thoughts, he pivots his hips, sliding me closer, and swiping the tears. “Baby—”
“I missed you,” I admit on a broken breath. “You gave me strength and didn’t know it. That’s why I ran.”
“Princess,” he scans my face, his expression growing concerned, “I promise not to push, but I have to know. Did someone hurt you?”
It takes all I can to not collapse into him and weep. “Not physically. But everything in my life was a smokescreen. I was a pawn in a game of power and privilege. There was a reason people called me the Prada Princess. I earned every one of the names. My ego and arrogance were valued traits in my world. For many years, I lived my life under a dark and nasty cloud of character that took me away from the woman I once was. Now, I’m fighting like hell to find my way back.”
“I’ll enjoy being by your side as you find that woman again.”
“I’m scared to death,” I admit with a shaky breath.
“What are you scared of, Ashlyn? Tell me so I can make it better.”
“You have been pursuing the woman you met in a bar. That weekend was the first time in my life that I acted on a whim. We had chemistry that kept us occupied. What if you don’t like the woman I truly am?”
“I’m a thirty-eight-year-old man who’s been having sex for over twenty years. You say we had chemistry? Baby, what we had was fucking explosive. Every single time I slid inside you, it rocked me to my goddamn bones. Never had that in my life. Did you miss the part about me waking up Friday jacking my dick to the memory?”
My stomach spasms, knowing I gave him that, but I can’t lose focus. “You’re proving my point! What if you’ve been living with a fantasy?”
“I could ask you the same question.”
“Seriously, Miller, you’ve got everything going for you. What do I have to offer? I lived a lie so long that I’m not sure who I am anymore. What I know about myself isn’t flattering. I’m uptight, have a tendency to be a bitch, can’t express gratitude, exhibit extreme OCD tendencies,” I tick these off one by one with my fingers, “not to mention, unemployed with no idea of the next steps in my career.”
“And homeless.” His voice is light with humor as he takes one hand away from my cheek and curls it around my ticking fingers. “Don’t forget, you’re soon to be homeless.”
“You think this is funny?”
“If you’re rattling off your charming qualities freely, homelessness needed to be mentioned.”
All the emotions dry up, and I wrestle to yank my hand free. In a flash, I’m pinned to the sofa under him, all humor gone. “Baby, you want to sit in my arms and cry all day, I’ll wipe your tears. You want to unload your problems by giving up what’s happened to you, I’ll listen until your voice is hoarse. What I won’t do is listen to you degrading yourself. I don’t know what kind of support system you had at your back, but you have me now and I’m not putting up with it.”
“Guess we can add irritating to my list,” I murmur and purse my lips when his eyes grow stormy.
“I have no fucking clue what’s happened to give you so much self-doubt, but we’ll work it out of you. You’re fucking beautiful, but you’ve got to know that. All that other shit you mentioned doesn’t scare me off. I think we’ve established that I can handle your form of bitch.”
“She’s not very appealing.”
“Depends on who you ask. Lucky for me, I find it sexy. Baby, that morning you cut your eyes, slinging attitude and threatening to fire me—my cock was hard as steel.”
“I was right! You aren’t sane!”
“All I could think about was taking you back to that bathroom and fucking you until you couldn’t walk. Even right now, remembering it, I’m ready to go.” He flexes his hips, rubbing his very obvious and large erection against me. “You think I’ve been living with a fantasy, and you’re right. The fantasy of what could have been, and now that I have you back, we’re gonna live out that fantasy together.”
Something inside my chest bursts wide open, and swarms of flutters flood my system. It may not be an elaborate and poetic declaration of love, but to me, it’s all the same. “Okay.” I wiggle my arm free, run my fingers through his hair, and cup the back of his head, bringing his mouth to mine. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you that I’m a handful.”