Please, I’m begging you, don’t leave me here.
Her text message haunts my memory. My chest clenches.
Lorenzo was tormenting her, and all I did was ignore it.Fuck! I’m such an asshole.
As gently as I can, I wash her fragile, battered flesh. She leans against me as I lather body wash over every inch of her skin, then rinse it away with the handheld sprayer. In silence, I wash her hair, rinse it, then condition her long auburn locks. A darksmattering of freckles grace her nose and cheeks, there’s even a couple on her forehead.
As much as I shouldn’t be turned on right now, I’m only human. She’s gorgeous, soft in all the right places, and it’s been nearly a month since we were together.
A twinge of emotion sweeps through me. At first, I can’t place it. Then I realize, I fuckingmissedher.
Not only physically. Yes, I miss the sex. But more than anything I missher. Being near her, her scent, the way she looks at me across a table. Her laugh. Her sassy remarks and that stubborn tilt of her head.
The way she screams my name when I make her come.
I bite down on my lip. This is neither the time nor place for dirty thoughts, so I ignore my raging hard-on and finish taking care of Ravenna.
Once she’s clean, I turn off the water and wrap a fluffy white towel around her body. I take a minute to ditch my soaked clothes before looping a towel around my waist. Then I set her on the counter to survey the damage.
Fresh cut lip. Swelling. Bruises.
Fucking piece of shit bastard. If I could kill Lorenzo all over again, I would. This time I’d make him suffer. Kill him slowly so he could confess to every single one of his crimes against this beautiful woman. Torture him until he begged me for death.
“Is anything broken?” I ask, although I already know the answer from examining her in the shower.
She shakes her head.
“Good. I have some ointment for these cuts.” I grab it from a drawer and apply a thin layer to her lip and eyebrow. Then I retrieve the arnica and spread it over her bruises. “I’ll get some ice for that swelling.”
She silently nods. I’m growing worried. Is it the drugs or the shock that’s made her nonverbal? She always has something to say. Always.
I gently cup her face and rest my forehead against hers. Eyes closed, I say, “Broc meala,It’s my fault that you’re hurt. I never should have left you.”
The man I was before I married Ravenna would never have felt like this. That past version of myself would believe that she deserved every bruise for lying to me. I would have called it justice. But something about my wife has changed me and I didn’t realize it until this moment. Yes she lied, but she didn’t deserve this. Any of it.
She sighs. “It’s not your fault, Cian. It’s mine. If I hadn’t lied and pretended to be my sister, we never would have married. I ruined everything, even though I was trying to save it. I made this mess.”
The very thought ofnotbeing married to her, toRavenna—not Elena—guts me. I can’t imagine myself with any other woman. Anyone other than her feels… wrong.
Fuck, I can’t believe I crave this woman even though she deceived me. It’s almost like… I’ve forgiven her. But how is that possible? Given my past, I don’t forgive easily. Or ever. Yet here I am, ready to forgive her completely. Ready to accept her reasons and apology and move on with our lives. Ready to give us a second chance.
Who the fuck am I?
“Actually, I’m the one who fucked this up.” I kiss her forehead. “We’re married. What’s done is done. Our issues are ours to sort out and no one else has any right to interfere.”
“Will you ever forgive me?” she asks in a small voice that tears at my heart.
My cynical side rears its ugly head, reminding me that she could be acting. All of this could be one big illusion meant todeceive me, to play on my sympathies, to lure me in only for her to reveal her true, sinister nature.
But that’s not rational thought, that’s fear.
I shake off my suspicions. I can’t keep living my life in fear. What are the chances that both women I’m drawn to turn out to be vipers?
With my luck? Ninety-eight percent or higher.
Shut up, I chide myself.
She pulls away, her gaze downcast. “I understand if you can’t forgive me. What I did was horrible. I stole the future you should have had with my sister. You didn’t deserve that. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, my sister might have made you much happier.”
