He reaches for me, hands bracketing my jaw, lifting it. He stamps a brutal, punishing kiss on my tender lips. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid now,bhean chéile. You were doing so well.”
“Don’t be a jerk.”
“He’ll try to get a rise out of you. Don’t let him. It’ll only make it worse. Stay by me. I’ll take care of you.” He starts for the door, but I stop him.
“I can handle him. I just don’t want him to hurt you.”
“Worried about me?” he says it like it’s the furthest thing from reality. But the truth of it cuts me to the core.
I don’t know why I’m trying to console him, but as I stare at the man standing across from me, I realize I have two choices. I can keep fighting this marriage—fighting him—with everything I’ve got. I can keep focusing on school and tracking down Mom’s leads. I can ignore him at home when we cross paths.
My second choice is that I can stop fightingmyself. I’ve wanted Aiden since the moment I met him. No matter what’s happened since then. No matter what he’s done, I can’t seem to stop wanting him. I’m tired of fighting this battle on all fronts by myself. The thought of having someone like Aiden in my corner...it feels a lot like hope that I won’t have to be alone.
Something I’ve desperately been missing since my mother died.
Someone to have my back.
Tonight felt like the first time we were united against our opposition, and as fucked up as it was, it felt good. Knowing Icould do something so important for him. Knowing how much he’d sacrifice for me.
Making my choice, I take a step toward him, and his gaze grows more intense with each step I take. “Yes, Aiden.” I rest my hands on his chest as I tilt my head up to look at him. His eyes are practically mercury as he realizes I’m not calling him by his last name for the first time in a long time. “I don’t want him to hurt you.”
“There is nothing to worry about. If something happens to me, you’re taken care of. You know that.”
I step closer, our sensitized bodies brushing together. “This has nothing to do with your fucking money, and you know it.”
He moves so fast, I barely finish my sentence before I’m pressed against the wall, hands fisting my arms against the glass, back and ass pressed against the freezing surface. “Tell me exactly what you mean, pet. I don’t want to misconstrue our conversation.”
I hiss at the intensity of his stare, resulting in a wash of gooseflesh dimpling me from head to toe. “I’m saying if you get yourself killed, I’m going to raise you from the dead and kill you myself.” I swallow hard, hoping I’m not making a colossal mistake.
He kisses me softly, languidly. Like we didn’t just go through hell. Like we aren’t two fucked-up, horrible people willing to go to devious ends to protect the people we love. When he pulls away, his hands are buried in my hair, and we’re pressed together from chest to thigh.
“Do you trust me?” he asks, and I nearly choke.
“I don’t know if I’d go that far.”
“I’m going to need you to try, just a little.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“I know, but you’re doing so well. Be brave for me a little longer. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Let’s go,” he says, just as softly as his kiss.
CHAPTER 24
AIDEN
I’m as cold as ice when I walk back into my office. Niall and the others frown at my entrance, but Cian is carefully unreadable. He’s wary. Waiting. Certain I’m going to do something that will justify him killing me. He wants it so badly that he’s willing to do anything. At the same time, he enjoys the hell out of watching me squirm.
He probably didn’t even care to watch. Just knowing he had me under his thumb was likely enough for him. The others, though? They’re pissed I blocked most of the view. But there was no way in hell I was letting them see my wife any more than they needed to.
Before, I would have killed them. Done something to get myself beaten to earn my way back into Cian’s good graces. But all I want now is to get Catriona out of their sights. Get her home, away from their grasp.
“Now, was that so hard?” Cian asks when we’ve settled in front of him. I keep to my feet, unable to sit due to theenergy coursing through me. Catriona takes a seat at the desk, managing to master her expression into something like cool indifference.
“I do like a bitch who knows her place,” Cian drawls once we settle. “I have to admit, I didn’t think she had it in her.”
