I continue. “I want to get to know me again before I surrender myself to a man, even one who cares about me.”
He takes my hands in his and kisses my knuckles. “I can’t stay in Selnoa.”
“You do what you must.”
“Come with me to Couldermouth. It’s a beautiful place. You’ll live in a castle on the water. We have chefs, drivers, armies of people working for us. You’ll never have to lift a finger. The people of Couldermouth need a hairdresser too.”
I cry harder.
“We have puppies,” he says, relentless. “Potty-trained puppies. Hypoallergenic. They don’t even shed.”
I press a hand over my mouth and sob. Ugly tears. Very ugly tears, the ones with snot coming out of my nose. Declan passes me a box of tissues, and I have to collect myself before we can continue talking.
It’s just that he’s begging. This man is begging for me. After surviving a marriage where a man neglected me for years, I’m humbled. But I’m also heartbroken, because I’m not done healing, and I don’t want Declan to have to heal me. I want to heal on my own.
Besides, I can’t go with him. I don’t want to leave Selnoa and live far from my dad and Chi-chi. “I have to live out a part of my life alone and free before I can commit again.”
“How long?” he asks.
I frown.
“How long do you need?”
“I don’t know how long I…”
Declan stands and slides his sunglasses on. “How long, Dina? A month, year, decade?”
“I don’t have a timeline.”
“Then I’ll give you one.”
“No.”
“Yes. You have one year.” He lifts a long, slender finger. “One.”
I stand up, put my hands on my hips, ready to fight him on this, but nothing happens. I have nothing to say. I don’t know what’s happening. “A year?”
“Mmhm. Three hundred and sixty-five days. Do what you must in that time. Enjoy while you can, because when I come back, all your time, your body, your ever-fucking mind, is mine. Forever.” With that, Declan Crossbow heads for the door, but stops as he opens it.
“Your friend Martin, the cop, has been reassigned out of the city, so he won’t be coming around. And Dina?”
“What?”
He looks me dead in the eyes, and my heart almost stops beating at the danger emanating from him. It’s the look of a man who would go to war for me.
“Don’t get any ideas that you’re single,” he says.
I gulp. “I won’t.”
“I mean it.”
“I know. You made me a widow.”
Declan nods and slams the door behind him.
I stare at the door. I want him back.
I WANT HIM BACK.
