Here’s my chance.
“I’m so sorry, Paige,” I try to say, but she’s already talking.
“Ward, I’m sorry. I should have—”
We both stop in mid-word collision.
“What did you do?” I ask.
“—I overreacted!” she throws out at the same time.
I close the space between us. We’re toe to toe.
“Let me go first?”
She nods.
“I’m a clusterfuck human being,” I start. “My issues with my parents—”
Her hand moves to my face, silencing me with a single stroke. “Aren’t your fault. I’ll just have to make not trusting me impossible.”
I bend down and plant my lips on her head.
“You already are impossible, but sweetheart, let me finish. My family issues are as resolved as they’ll ever be. Between you, me, and this room, I’ve been talking to a Swiss shrink ever since you walked out.”
Her mouth drops and her eyes fill with awe.
“They poisoned me, Paige, and I’m working like hell to draw out the venom. I was terrified I’d be a monster just like them. I thought I’d never be able to make you happy. But after spending time without you, the only thing I want in the world—the only thing I’ll ever truly need—is your happiness. Preferably with me. So here’s the big question. Can you ever forgive me?”
For a killing moment, she’s quiet, her face set like a mask.
“Of course! The whole fake engagement thing ruffled my deepest fears, too. The crap with Austin left me bruised, and then when I heard you say you didn’t love me and would never marry me after we—well, after we—”
I fold my arms around her and pull her to me. I love how remembering our passion renders her speechless.
“We made love, Paige, and I started talking stupid. Guess what matters more? What always will as long as I still have a pulse?” I smile into the heated green pools of her eyes, trying not to tremble with the need to fall in.
She closes her eyes and sighs like a whimper.
“Ward—making love? Is that what you’d call it? I felt played.” Her jaw clenches and she turns her head, those green gems so conflicted. “I thought our fun was just convenient.”
My grip on her tightens, heavy as hell with denial.
If only I could rip my chest open and show her my heart.
The wild, drumming throb of my pulse.
The invisible fire that was never there, never my whole life, not before I tasted a girl I learned to love indescribably more than I ever hated her.
This is painful for her, though, and it’s my fucking fault.
I press my forehead to hers.
“Listen. The sex was so good because you intoxicate me, woman. Can’t keep my hands off you, and even when we’re kissing and touching, I always need more. I don’t regret a damn thing. Do you?”
She shakes her head so intently her hair tumbles down her shoulders in a beautiful gold cascade.
“After the way it went down, I wanted to, but I couldn’t. You’ll always be a Wardhole, but hate you? No. I just hated that I wasn’t enough to be your everything. I...I didn’t want to be pushed away again.”
The tears in her eyes dismember me.
“Pushing you away—I was trying to protect you from ending up hurt by me or my bastard parents. Paige, you are everything. You’re breath for my soul. You helped finally fix things. I put my parents in their place and I came clean with Winthrope, and even if that was for me, for the company, it was always for you.”
“Yeah, Beatrice told me. I kinda hoped she was just buying you sympathy since that’s the whole reason we went through all of this.”
I shake my head.
“He would have found out sooner or later. I couldn’t lie any longer. Not after what I did to you. I let him know it didn’t matter because I’d already lost the most important thing in my life.”
“What’s that?” she asks playfully, a sass I’ll always adore behind her tears.
“Do you have to ask?” I answer her with my starving lips.
Fuck, I’ve missed her, every seething second we’re joined like twin fires. Her tongue brushes the seam between my lips, and her mouth opens for me. I caress the inside of her mouth.
She even tastes like home. Everything I’ve ever been seeking. The stuff of right and wrong and forever.
Her leg curls around my thigh, and I’m so hard I could be arrested for packing heat in the building.
My kiss deepens, trying to brand her.
It’s all I can do not to take her right here on the table. I place my palm under her leg and hike her other leg up around me. She tightens one arm behind my neck, running her other hand through my hair frantically without ever breaking the kiss.
I walk to my desk with the little devil’s mouth pressed to mine and warmth pressed to my hardness. I land in my office chair, barely pulling away from her, gasping for dear life.