“You have to stop watching me. Remove the cameras. Trust me. Trust in us and let go of that compulsion to have eyes on me all the time. It’s not healthy, Phoenix. Not for you or for me, but mostly for you.”
Every instinct I have is desperate for me to argue, to defend myself, and to tell her she doesn’t understand what it was like for me before. That I’m never going to change, and I’ve made peace with this version of myself. The words are right there, but when I really look at her, I understand.
She’s not asking me to stop loving her.
She’s asking me to love her without the cage.
“I can control it.”
“Can you?”
If it's hurting her, I'll stop.
Fuck.I don’t know if I can.
I have to take the first step, even if it kills me.
“How about this?”
I hate this already, but hey, look at me, compromising.I’m gonna go ahead and call that growth.
“I leave the tracker on your phone and take the cameras out of here, but the ones in your office stay because I won’t allow you to be alone with Lawson. That’s not negotiable.”
“How about you take the cameras out of here, leave them in the office, track my location but not my emails or messages anymore… and move in with me.”
“What was that?”
“Like you ever had any intention of sleeping away from me again.”
“You’re serious?”
“Completely.”
My heart drops somewhere out of the fucking world, and I kiss her over and over, laughing into her mouth and nodding like an idiot, because she just handed me my whole future in one sentence.
“I love you, pretty girl.”
“I love you too, Phoenix Cassidy.”
Chapter 23
Shannen
I’m staringat myself in the closet mirror, fighting with the clasp of my necklace, when my eyes are drawn to the tattooed god walking up behind me.
A couple of buttons are undone on his white shirt, exposing dark ink that disappears beneath the fabric, and his hands are buried in the pockets of his gray slacks that cling to him like they were tailor-made.
And I just stand there like a fucking idiot.
If it’s possible to come just from looking at someone, then I’m two seconds away from a full-body meltdown.
Fuck me, he’s so hot I might cry.
He takes over and clasps my silver necklace, his fingers brushing the nape of my neck. I feel his lips lower to my bare shoulder, pressing an affectionate kiss there, lingering as he breathes me in.
“You’re so beautiful.”
Holding my stare in the mirror, he runs his hands down the sides of my dress, stopping at my waist.
