The Boy Who Has No Hope (Soulless 6)

He stared down at his joined hands, absorbing my words.

“It doesn’t change us… It just upset me, I guess.” It’d only been a short time since our physical relationship began, but I was so attached to him, and I knew that was because this relationship began long before we shared a single touch.

He stayed quiet.

“Anyway, it’s getting late—”

“I said I would try. I meant that.” He lifted his gaze to look at me. “My feelings for you are pretty obvious. If you haven’t noticed, then you should pay better attention. I can’t promise you anything, and I want to take this slow, but my intentions are honest. I’m risking as much as you are because I’ve been hurt badly in my life. My birth mother abandoned me, and I never want to feel that way again.” He stared me down and watched my face for a reaction.

My affection for him deepened because of the honest way he spoke to me, the way he reminded me of why I was risking my heart—because he was worth it. He was better than any other man out there, and I would risk everything for him a million times…and risk nothing for anyone else.

“Don’t give up on me before you’ve given me a chance.” His voice changed, his voice slightly pleading. “I can’t lose you…not now.” His eyes had been glued to my face in a special way since I’d let him into my heart, in a way he’d never looked at me before, in a way he’d probably never looked at anyone else.

“You aren’t going to lose me, Derek.”He opened the door to his penthouse and looked at me with that intense gaze, like I was just as beautiful now as I was the last time he saw me. I was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved sweater, wanting to be casual and authentic. Both of his parents had already met me, so I didn’t need to impress them.

They knew exactly who I was.

His arms circled my waist until his hands gripped my lower back and pulled me close. A deep kiss was pressed to my lips, shadowed skin slightly rough against my skin. His hands tightened on me as he pulled me closer, as he embraced me on the doorstep like he wanted to pull me inside and to his bedroom.

I wanted to be kissed like that forever.

He pulled away and loosened his hold. “Ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be…”

“They already like you, baby.”

“I know. I just…feel a little awkward. I’ve never done this before. You know, meet a boyfriend’s parents.”

“You’ll be perfect at it—just as you’re perfect at everything you do.” After he locked the door behind us, he took my hand and walked with me down the hallway to the elevator.

It was the first time we’d held hands in public. We stood in the elevator together and rode down to the lobby.

He glanced at me, as if to check on me.

I got lost in those eyes the second he looked at me, lost enough to forget where we were going.

Hand in hand, we walked down the sidewalk together, under the streetlights, like two regular people, a man and a woman. He wasn’t my boss. I wasn’t his assistant. We were just us. It was nice.

He approached the restaurant and opened the door for me.

Now I got nervous again.

Derek moved his arm around my waist and guided me to the table where his parents were waiting.

They sat at a table together, side by side, both having a glass of white wine, with a bottle on the table. Deacon’s arm was over the back of Cleo’s chair, and he stared at her with the same focused expression his son had when he looked at me, and he listened to every word she said, like he was fascinated. His fingers lightly grazed over her shoulder, his affection subtle but powerful. That was all it took to show that he was a man still in love with the woman he’d married decades ago.

It was really cute.

When we approached the table, Derek moved first. “Mom. Dad.”

Cleo turned to him, her eyes lighting up like her greatest joy just walked into the room. She was on her feet, in sky-high heels, and she embraced him like it’d been years since she’d last seen his face. “Honey, how are you?”

“Good.” He kissed her on the cheek then embraced his father. “Dad.”

He smiled as he looked at his son.

Cleo moved to me next, wearing a slightly awkward smile. “I’m sorry that I deceived you. I hope there’re no hard feelings. I just wanted you to be comfortable with me so I could help you as much as possible.”

It’d been months since the last time I saw her, and I’d had affection for her from the moment we met. She was kind, bubbly, and so smart. We clicked right away, and I viewed her as a friend or the aunt I never had. “There’s definitely no hard feelings at all. I just… I’m a little embarrassed of the things that I said to you.”