No more forcing her. No more putting her in a spot where her decision was made for her. Now, it was all up to her.
I had surrendered everything to her, and if she chose to keep it for herself, so be it.
It was only about fifty feet to my car, but it felt simultaneously too far away and too close. I didn’t intend to make Delilah run a marathon if she decided, but for fuck’s sake, fifty feet could be closed in maybe ten seconds. If her mind was racing as it seemed to be… I might be halfway back to Vegas before she made a damn decision.
At one point, maybe ten feet from the car, I paused. I didn’t look all the way over my shoulder, but I did stop and try to glance with my peripheral vision. I couldn’t see her, but I had not once heard her move. She was undoubtedly still in that spot.
This was not a bit. I had to walk away to solicit an answer.
I was just still praying that the answer would not come in the form of silence.
I got all the way to the front door of my car. It had been backed in, such that I could no longer see Delilah short of a brief reflection in the driver’s window. I paused one last time to see if she would walk to me.
Still nothing.
Well.
I guess that was my answer.
I had played one last game, and I had paid the price.No, not the price. You warned her this side of you would never leave. You did yourself a favor.
I didn’t believe the words. I supposed in time, I would. But right now… I had a long fucking drive ahead of me.
I unlocked the car, my arms shaking with a mixture of anger, rage, and a certain level of grief. I opened the car door.
And then I felt someone grab my arm.
Her.
I spun around and saw her eyes glistening. She never let go of my arm. Her lips were trembling. I quietly shut the car door behind me and put my hand on her hip.
“Adrian,” she said, her voice shaky, her words barely above a whisper. She swallowed, as if catching herself, nodded, and then pressed on. “I didn’t think this would be so hard for me. What you said… you and I aren’t as different as I had thought. You might have more money, but we both have a desire for control and knowledge. We just use it for different means. I know that if I’m to do this… I have to let go of that. I’m not going to control you, I’m not going to control myself at times, and I’m never going to know everything. I…”
For once in my life, I kept my mouth shut and didn’t try to direct the person in front of me. I just let the river of words flow wherever it wanted to go.
Besides, the truth was, for the first time tonight, I was feeling cautiously optimistic this might end the way I wanted it to.
She turned her eyes up at me one more time. I looked at her. I wondered for a second if we might kiss, if we?—
Then she buried her face in my chest and drew a deep breath. I held her, first tightly and then intimately. At first, I felt jubilation, thrilled thatfinally,this game was done.
But then I wondered if she’d done this because she was trying to come to terms with this being over and wanted one last hug. That… that couldn’t be… this…
“I trust you, Adrian Vale.”
She looked up at me. Relief washed over me. I saw a woman I no longer wanted to control, to manipulate, to apply heat to.
I saw a woman I just wanted to be with.
And then, at the exact same time, almost as if of one mind, we came together in a gentle, tender yet passionate kiss.
I held her as if I never wanted to let her go—because I didn’t. Her arms held on to me as if for dear life.
And when she pulled back and looked me in the eyes, she had only two words that told me what her decision was.
“Follow me.”
CHAPTER 30
