Her hands fall from the zipper to hang limply at her sides. “Are you sure about that? You haven’t spoken to me all day.”
She ducks her head, maybe to hide the faint tremble of her lips.
Remorse spears my chest. I’ve behaved like a total bastard.
“I’m sure.” My voice is gruffer than usual.
I enter the room, deliberately closing the distance between us. The cat’s orange tail vanishes like a snuffed-out flame as she scurries under the bed to avoid us.
Smart animal. She must sense that things are about to get complicated.
“Turn around.”
Aurora hesitates, then slowly complies, presenting her back to me. The dress gapes open, revealing pale skin and delicate lingerie.
My heart rate quickens. “I didn’t know what to say to you. You’ve been… I was…”
My attempts at an explanation peter out.
I can negotiate million-dollar deals, threaten men into submission, and command loyalty from hardened criminals. But this—trying to describe the knot of feeling in my chest—is beyond me. Just like how I never told MJ what he meant to me. Even standing at his gravesite, the right words refused to come.
I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes.
“You looked like you were at your own funeral, not your wedding.” I work the zipper down to the small of her back. “Every smile and word felt like watching a prisoner being marched to their execution. Hell, you barely spoke at all without prompting.” Once the dress parts even more, I curve my hand around the base of her spine, and the warmth of her skin seeps into mine. “I thought you hatedme. I saw it on your face all day.”
“Not hatred. Just…resignation.” She spins back around while clutching the dress to her chest. “I thought you were done with me. That I was just a problem you had to solve and Roman was forcing this marriage on you, and once you got my compliance, you didn’t need to act anymore.”
I almost laugh at that while spreading my arms wide. “Woman, I cannot act to save my life. I am what you see.”
The corner of her mouth twitches up ever so slightly. “True. You are very honest.”
The observation startles me. “Not sure I’d describe myself that way.”
Unexpected heat sparks in my chest. People have given me many different labels. Blunt? Cruel? Unfeeling? All the fucking time. But honest?
I’m a killer. A criminal. A man who’s broken every commandment and violated every law. I’ve done things that would send Aurora screaming. No one’s ever described me as honest before.
She shakes her head. “That’s because you think honesty is only about what you say. But it’s about who you are. You never pretend to be something you’re not. Even when doing so would simplify your life. You didn’t hide who you were with Johnny. I’m sure the thought never even crossed your mind. You just came right out and asked me for help instead.”
The heat in my chest spreads. This woman notices too much. That should terrify me, but it also feels like she switched on a light after I spent years stumbling in the darkness.
“I’m here now.” She brightens with every word, shedding the invisible blanket that smothered her inner shine. “To do for you what you can’t.”
I raise an eyebrow. “And what’s that?”
“See the good parts. Say the hard things. Create something beautiful out of all this broken mess.” She waves a hand between us, and my lungs nearly fail when she almost loses her grip on the dress. “That’s what I do, remember?”
A backhanded compliment if I ever heard one, assuming I’m the broken thing in this scenario. I should remind her exactly what kind of man I am and why I don’t require fixing.
Instead, I’m fucking captivated.
Beautiful enough to be a Vila from some enchanted forest, this gorgeous woman stands half-dressed before me in her wedding gown, insisting she sees something in me worth salvaging. Worth keeping.
Worth loving?
The instant that last question surfaces, blood whooshes in my ears.
Love.
