“I’m a single mother with three kids,” I half-heartedly argue, not knowing what else to say.
His bark of laughter startles me. “So?”
“Why would you want that? You could have any woman eager to fall all over herself to get a chance to be with you.”
Those ice-blue eyes narrow under furrowed brows. “I don’t want any other woman. So, the question you need to ask yourself is, what doyouwant?”
Deflating like a popped balloon, I slump back against the swing. “I don’t know what I want.”
Never afraid to challenge my bullshit, Fallon retorts, “Yes, you do. Stop being afraid. What do you want, Elizabeth?”
Headlights pierce the inky night as they come up the long drive.
“Looks like my ride is here.” Fallon pushes to his feet and leans over me, caging me between his muscled arms. He takes a wisp of hair that escaped my bun and tucks it behind my ear. “There’s something I’ve always wondered.”
“What’s that?” I ask, my pulse skyrocketing at his nearness.
“Do you seehimwhen you look at me?”
I hate that he thinks I might. Peter was a monster of the worst kind. Fallon was my fallen angel who saved me. They may have shared Phillip Montgomery’s blood, but that’s about all they had in common.
“Never. Not once,” I reply vehemently.
His thumb moves down my neck to the notch of my collarbone, and every nerve ending sparks to life. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”
I open my mouth, then close it, then open it again. The man has rendered me speechless.
Knox rolls down the window of the Porsche and pokes his head out to wave. “Night, Hoops.”
I don’t wave back. My attention is glued to the man walking away.
Fallon climbs inside the passenger seat, and I helplessly watch the taillights of the car fade into the distance as it drives away.
Chapter Twelve
FALLON
Family
Why did I push?She’s not ready. I don’t know if she’ll ever be ready. It doesn’t matter anyway because I’m not the man she wants. I’ve never been that man.
Devils and angels, and the devil always loses.
Wanting to punch something, I fold my arms over my chest, lean my head back against the rest, and shut my eyes. Block out the world and try to think of anything other than the panicked look on Elizabeth’s face.
“When is Aurora getting back?”
She, JD, and their kids went to Utah for their annual summer vacation trip to visit Arches and Canyonlands. It’s a thing with her. She wants to visit every national park in the US before she’s sixty.
Knox doesn’t take his eyes off the road. “Good to see you, too.”
I crack an eye open, not in the mood.
I can feel his eyes roll. “Next weekend.” He seems to think something over before saying, “Want to talk about it?”
“No.”
Knox is one of the boys Elizabeth and I met at the women’s shelter in New York. He’s the only one who has stuck around. He and Aurora dated for a while before JD came back. Competed in motocross until his body couldn’t handle it anymore. Now, he works alongside Marcus at the garage, managing their motocross team. I’m proud of all the boys. Him, Devon, Trevaughn, and Butch. They’re good men who have made great lives for themselves, despite the shitty hand they were dealt when they were born.
