Her words slipped away as she opened her eyes, and the moment her gaze landed on mine, her chin quivered.
“Then why won’t you tell me what’s happening?” I wasn’t a man who begged. But I was ready to get on my knees and plead with this goddess to let go of what was holding her back, to beg her to fall for me. Just as I had fallen for her. “Why are you pulling away?”
“I’m not—”
“Then tell me what is wrong. How can I fix this?”
“I just need time…”
“Away from me?”
She pulled away. I could feel her mind racing. It was written all over her beautiful face. Slowly, she lifted her eyes. “I need to tell you something…”
A spark of hope lit up inside me. I was getting through to her.
“You can tell me anything.”
“Even if it means you won’t feel the same way about me anymore?”
“There’s nothing you could say, little bird, that would stop me from feeling how I feel about you.”
“Oh, there is,” she said shakily. She clasped her hands together and let out an unsteady breath. “There is something you need to know about me—”
A sudden knock on the door interrupted her.
I swung around, ready to murder whoever was on the other side.
“Go the fuck away!” I yelled, my hands curling into fists.
“Prez, it’s me, Davey, have you seen T, there’s no one at the bar and—”
“I swear to God, Davey, if that door opens!”
He paused on the other side of the door, then I heard him chuckle as he walked away, getting the wrong idea. “Horny motherfuckers…”
I turned back to Taylor, but she had taken a step back and I knew I had lost her again. Her walls were back up. She looked at her watch, her brow creased, her teeth grazing her lower lip.
“I have to go. Mindy is watching Noah, and she’ll need to get home for supper.”
“Taylor…please…” It was impossible to hide the desperation in my voice.
Her eyes softened. “You haven’t done anything wrong. This is all on me.”
I stood very still. Bracing myself. “Have I lost you?”
She reached for me and brushed her lips over mine and my knees went fucking weak.
“No. But there’s things you need to know about me. Things you’ll never be able to accept. But I can’t tell you here. Not right now. I will call you later and we’ll talk.”
She walked out of my office and my pounding, dark heart sank. My instincts were buzzing. And my instincts told me this wasn’t going to end well.
TAYLOR
I hadn’t cried in a long, long time.
When I escaped my past, I promised myself I wouldn’t cry over it ever again. It was done. I wasn’t that woman anymore.
But seeing the fear in Bull’s eyes reminded me that it wasn’t true at all.
I was still that woman.
And I had to be. The safety of my brother depended on it.
That left no room for love.
For him.
Especially him.
I was crazy for thinking I could ever be free of my previous life. Who I was. But being with Bull had given me hope. Made me think I could have the life I so badly craved.
I drove home with tears streaming down my cheeks. I knew there was a lot to say to him. That we needed to talk. I was hurting him and it killed me, because my heart ached to tell him how I felt. But I wasn’t ready. Because that would mean telling him the truth, and the truth would ruin everything. He said nothing could change the way he felt about me…but he was wrong.
Pain was a dull ache in my chest as I opened my front door, but it was quickly replaced with a paralyzing fear when I heard Mindy talking to a familiar voice in the kitchen.
When I entered the room, my breath left me and I felt my knees grow weak.
Mindy looked up from the kitchen table, her smile bright, her eyes twinkling in the light.
“Oh hey, Taylor. Look who showed up!” she said naïvely.
The man with his back to me turned around, and I came face to face with the monster I’d been running from for seven years.
“Tay, Tay,” he said, rising to his feet. His arms parted, but when I didn’t move, he gave me a hurt look. “What? No hug for daddy?”
After Mindy left, still blissfully unaware about who she had let into my home, I sat down at the table and tried to calm my nerves.
My past was here, and it was about to explode in my face.
“What are you doing here?”
“You haven’t seen me since Charleston, and this is the welcome I get?” Alex said.
Twelve months ago, he had turned up at my apartment after seven years.
Just like that.
“Cut the crap, Alex. Why are you here? It wasn’t necessary for you to come.”