“Slade, you certainly did make me mad. But anger wouldn’t’ve made me walk away fromyou.”
Slade pulled shaking fingers through his hair, then scrubbed his palm down the length of his face. She was here, lying in his arms. They’d just made love. He’d felt every moment of her heart beating in unison with his. How could she still beuncertain?
“Last night was the first good sleep I’ve had in weeks, darlin’. Head’s a lil’ fuzzy. You’re gonna have to break this down for me, nice andslow.”
He felt himself flush as he heard his twang fill the air. Usually he played the good Southern cowboy to entertain her. But this wasn’t an act. When he was worried—and right now he was deathly afraid of losing his heart—sometimes his Texas slipped through his defenses, and he started sounding more ranch hand thanexecutive.
“Slade, when you sat in your office and told me what Bull and Macy did to you, you wounded me. I saw how much that pain affected you. More than a decade later, and you still bore the trauma of thosescars.
“Knowing what they did to you, it hurt me. And to get back at the monster that caused you so much pain, you allowed your fear to turn you into him. Before my eyes, you became the man who’d hurt me most, because he’d hurt the man I loved. It would have destroyed me to watch you change completely into Bull, so Ileft.”
Slade stilled beneath her touch. The guilt of her words pressed him down into the mattress, rendering him paralyzed beneath her as she continued to speak. He’d been so angry when they’d first argued and upset she couldn’t see his perspective. The truth he was too proud to see then was crashing down over him right now. She’d loved him too much to watch him destroy himself, and he’d let her walk away as areward.
“I don’t think I could sit around and watch you become that monster, Slade. It would breakme.”
“It will never happen again,Mandisa.”
“But that wasn’t our only problem, Slade. There was the little issue of you thinking my work didn’t meet the same level of importance asyours.”
He shook his head and threw up his hands in mocksurrender.
“That wasn’t exactly true,darlin’.”
“Slade, it is true. I want to get past this. I want to wake up like we did today, cocooned in one another’s arms. But I’m not sure we’ll be able to get beyond ourhurdles.”
He laced his fingers between her braids and brought her mouth down to his. Things worked much better for them when they expressed their feelings through touch. Words just seemed to muddy the waters betweenthem.
“I promise you, I will do anything I need to, anything you ask, to make thisright.”
She passed her gaze slowly across his face as if she were looking for the truth in his words. He placed her hand on his heart, hoping she understood his promise was made from love, and not the words he’d used to expressit.
Slowly, he saw a spark of something devilish in her eyes, a sexy twinkle that made his recently spent cock toy with the possibility of getting hardagain.
“Anything?” The cocky lift of her brow gave him a brief pause. But even the slight whiff of concern that fanned across his senses couldn’t make him denyher.
“Anything you want,darlin’.”
“I want three weeks.” Now he was intrigued. Before he could speak she placed a silencing finger across his lips and continued. “I want you to spend three weeks in Brooklyn, seeing what it is I actually do for a living, for my community. After that time, if I can see that you have an appreciation for the work I do, I’ll give us anotherchance.”
A broad grin swept against his mouth as he considered her request. “How will you be able to determine I’ve learned mylesson?”
She pushed her hand between them and cupped the growing bulge of his cock. “Don’t worry, I have myways.”
Her ways hadn’t disappointed him yet, that was certain. But considering everything they’d just been through, he wasn’t sure if taking this bet waswise.
“You know how much I like to win, darlin’. It might not be such a good idea to enter into another wager considering how badly the last one blew up in ourfaces.”
“What’s the matter, cowboy? You scared you’lllose?”
He watched her smile light up her face as she used his words against him. Her smile shone until he could feel its warmth burrowing beneath his skin, directly to his heart. This woman was his lifeline, the only cure for the pain he’d carried around for so many years. Wasn’t she worth everything? Weren’t they wortheverything?
She was throwing him a line. All he had to do was look beyond his doubts and grab hold ofit.
“So what’s your answer,cowboy?”
