When I first ran to Italy, I knew it would be beautiful, but since I was on the run from a ferocious man, I never expected to really enjoy it. Now it made me wonder if I would ever want to return to New York. Conway said I was free to do whatever I wanted. But would I ever want to go back?
I wasn’t so sure.
Pearl paid the tab. “Ready to shop?”
“Absolutely.”
Pearl dropped me off at the front of the house and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for spending the day with me.”
“Thank you for taking me out.”
“You need help with those bags?”
“No, I got it.”
She kissed me on the cheek again before letting me go.
I carried my two bags out of the car along with my purse and headed to the doorway. I waved before walking inside. A part of me expected to see Conway waiting for me, but he’d obviously been locked away in his studio the entire time. We were supposed to spend the day screwing on his table, but the unexpected happened.
I thought he would be over it by now.
I returned to our bedroom and hung up the new dress I bought. I got a bracelet to go with it, and I bought a pair of heels that weren’t as tall as all the others Conway bought me. At least this way I could look nice without killing my feet.
Conway must have known I was home because his footsteps sounded behind me.
I turned to face him, only to see the same pissed-off expression he wore when I left the house a few hours ago. He was in jeans and a t-shirt, the fabric hugging his chest in the sexiest way. Whenever he was angry, he somehow looked more handsome. It must have been his intensity. It used to intimidate me, but now I craved it. “I made it back in one piece, so you can calm down now.”
He slowly slid his hands into his pockets, his thick arms carved out of dense stone. “Am I not calm?” He spoke the words quietly, but they were filled with cold malice. His eyes showed his aggression. Unlike other people, he didn’t need to raise his voice and start screaming to get his point across. The quieter he was, the more terrifying he became.
“Not at all.” I pulled the black dress out of the closet. “What do you think?”
He didn’t look at it.
“I thought it fit well, and it has a nice slit right at the waistline.” I turned around and hung it back in the closet. “Your mom got something nice too. You know, for a woman in her fifties, she looks pretty damn good.”
“Which is why the two of you shouldn’t be running around together.”
I placed one hand on my hip and stood up to him just as his mother encouraged me to. “Let it go, Conway. Your mother asked me to spend time with her. I wasn’t going to say no. And it wouldn’t have felt the same if you were there.”
He silently excused himself from the conversation and left the bedroom. He’d come in here hardly saying anything, and now he was leaving without accomplishing anything.
“Conway?”
He stopped but didn’t turn around.
I crossed through the doorway and entered the sitting room. Stopping behind him, I pressed my hands to his lower back. Slowly, I moved upward, feeling the muscles of his flank through his t-shirt. I traced the grooves between his muscles with my fingertips and moved higher until I reached his shoulders.
He released a deep breath, responding to my touch.
“Tell me what happened to your family.”
He took another deep breath, his back expanding slowly. “What did she tell you?”
My hands moved down again, following the lines between his muscles. I felt his strength at my fingertips, felt his power under my touch. I followed the curve of his back until I reached his narrow hips. “She told me to be understanding of your protectiveness, to be patient with you because of what your family has been through. But she also told me to stand my ground against you, to live my life to the fullest…despite your attempts to protect me from everything. She didn’t say anything else or give specifics.” She allowed her son the opportunity to tell me his secret. She wouldn’t take that away from him.
He breathed again, this time in relief.
“Tell me, Conway. My whole family is gone, and I have nothing left. I know how it feels to suffer, to lose someone you love. I know how it feels to be completely alone in this world.”
“But you aren’t alone, Muse.” He slowly turned around, my fingers gliding across his torso and then his stomach as he turned. He stopped once we were face-to-face, his head tilted toward me so he could look down at me. “You have me. You’ll always have me.”