“The photographer twisted it to make it look like that! She doesn’t have those feelings for me either. She could tell I was upset, and she was just inquiring if I was okay. We were lined up with my mom and Winston and her parents in the shot. Ivy was giving me shit because I wouldn’t stand beside Pepper.”
His earnest eyes plead with me for understanding that is in limited supply right now. My thoughts are consumed with the way their faces were super close and the intensity in their eyes as they stared at one another. I think it will be imprinted on my brain for eternity. Although I am humiliated, I care less about what others think. I’m more concerned with the way they were looking at one another.
It fucking hurts to see my boyfriend looking at another woman like that.
“I didn’t want to get in a photo beside any woman who wasn’t you, but you know how my mother gets, and I just relented to get it over and done with. I had no idea they would twist it or that they would cut out the others and plaster us all over the internet.” He cradles my face in his hands, and tears well in his eyes as he stares at me. “Please, sunshine. Please believe me. Don’t let this come between us.” Steely determination glints in his eyes, and that’s the only warning I get before he presses his mouth to mine in a hard possessive kiss.
I don’t return the kiss. I’m still too hurt and too confused.
He pulls back, looking wretched. “Stevie, I’m so sorry. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt you. I should have refused my mother and gone home.” He loosens his hold on my face, brushing his fingers across my cheek. “You’re the most important person in my life, and I’m done letting her come between us. I’m giving my mother an ultimatum. Either she accepts you and stops trying to push me at Pepper or I’m done with her.”
“I don’t want you to do that,” I softly reply. “She’ll only hate me even more.”
“I don’t care. I’ve let her dictate my life too much, and it stops now. I can’t lose you. I won’t lose you.” He reels me into his arms, and this time, I don’t protest. His arms wind around my back as he holds me close against his body. Arching my head back, I peer into a gorgeous face I love so much. Garrick’s eyes are more green than brown today, but they are clear and determined as he stares at me. Electricity surges in the air around us, a reminder of the potent connection we share.
“I have wanted to tell you this for a long time, Stevie, but I held back out of fear over how you would react. But I’m done repressing my emotions.”
Gentle fingers dig into my lower back as he leans in, gliding his lips gently against mine. Emotion shines in his eyes when he eases back a little, never losing eye contact. Dimples wink at me as he smiles through his tears. “I love you, Stevie. I love you so freaking much, and I’m not letting anyone, not Pepper, not my mother, or anyone else, tear us apart. You are it for me. You’re my one and only, and I’ll get down on one knee right now if that’s what you need for me to prove it to you.”
ChapterTwenty-Six
Garrick
Stevie stares at me in shock, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. It’s a fitting analogy because it looks like she’s drowning in my words. I’m not sorry I spoke my truths. I only wish I’d spoken them earlier. Maybe then she wouldn’t be analyzing everything and rethinking our entire relationship.
I’m in full-on panic mode.
I cannot lose her.
She means the world to me.
I was sick to my stomach when I saw that picture and further sickened when it started popping up all over the net. I don’t get the exaggerated interest. So what if the governor’s daughter is apparently dating the heir to the Allen Empire? Who the fuck cares? It’s not like my family is that big of a deal.
“Are you serious?” she blurts, eventually finding her voice.
“About loving you or wanting to marry you?” I splay my hand flat against her lower back, and it’s killing me to show restraint. I want nothing more than to lay her down in this field, strip us of our clothes, and bury myself so deep inside her I eradicate every single doubt written across her beautiful face.
“Both, I guess.”
“I am speaking nothing but the truth, sunshine.” I trace my finger along her plump lower lip. “I have loved you for a long time. I was afraid to tell you in case it scared you away, but I regret it now because I see the doubts in your eyes, and maybe they would not be there if you knew the intensity of my feelings for you.”
Tears glisten in her eyes as she slides her hands up my chest. “You swear you’re telling me the truth? You swear you don’t have feelings for her because a picture speaks a thousand words, Garrick, and I don’t like how you are looking at one another in it.”
“I know how bad it looks, but I am not lying to you, Stevie. If I wanted to be with Pepper, I’d be with her. If I wanted to have an easy life and not clash with my mother, I’d be with Pepper. But I’m not with her because I don’t want to be with her.” I tug her flush against my body, needing to be as close as possible so she sees, hears, and feels my truths. “I want to be withyou. I don’t love her. I love you.” I punctuate the words, praying they embed deep. “I love you so fucking much, Stevie.”
“I love you too,” she whispers as a tear runs free down her face.
Relief courses through me at her admission. I envelop her in a mammoth hug, dotting kisses into her hair as I repeat how much I love her over and over again. A fine layer of stress lifts from my shoulders, but I’m not out of the woods yet. I know how deep-seated Stevie’s fears are about men and relationships, and this has, undoubtedly, set us back. But I won’t ever stop fighting for us because she’s my woman and I’m her man, and that is the only truth that matters.
“You’re my forever, Stevie. I’ve never been surer of anything. If I had my way, we’d get married right now.”
Her head jerks to mine, fresh shock seeping from her pores. “You cannot be seriously saying you know you want to marry me when you’re only twenty, Garrick. That is the definition of insanity.”
“I know what is in my heart, and it won’t ever change. I know, categorically, that I want to marry you. My age or the passing of time has nothing to do with it. I knew I wanted to marry you yesterday. Like I know I want to today, and I’ll know tomorrow and every day after that.”
She wrestles out of my arms, stepping back and clawing her hands through her hair in jerky motions. “Woah, you need to slow down. This is way too intense.”
“Is it?” I bridge the gap between us, gently unfurling stiff fingers from her hair. “You need to know if I’m being truthful, and that’s as truthful as it gets. I won’t apologize for finally admitting the totality of what’s in my heart. It’s fine that you’re not on the same page yet. I will wait for you to get there.”
