“Don’t you dare,” I growl. Shoving the ring box back into my pocket, I grab Mira’s face with both hands. “Don’t you fucking dare say shit like that about the woman I love. That’s bullshit, baby. Anyone with half a brain can see the truth, same as I do. That it’s impossible to walk away from you. That you’re worth all the effort, all the time, all the patience and pain, and I’ll prove it to you. All I ask is that you don’t shut me out. That you give this thing between us a chance.”
When she won’t meet my gaze, I lean down and claim her mouth, pouring every ounce of love, fear, and pain into the kiss until we’re both breathless and gasping. Pulling away, I rest my forehead against hers.
“Don’t shut me out. Please, give this a real chance. You promised me six months, and I still have two and a half left. Please, come home.”
“I can’t come home.”
Her words are a punch to my gut.
“I’m going to stay with Maddy for now. But I won’t shut you out, Griffin. I can’t. You’re my best friend and I love you. But because I love you, I’m going to do the right thing and take a step back.”
No. Unacceptable.
“Stepping back isn’t the right thing. Fighting for us is.”
Her smile is so devastatingly sad when she looks up at me from beneath her long lashes. “It is. Someday you’ll see that, even if it’s not anytime soon.”
She’s wrong. I know it, and I think she knows it too. She’s scared, and outside of her brother, every man in her life has walked away, so I get it. I understand.
What Mira doesn’t understand is that I’m not like the other men in her life. I won’t walk away, no matter how hard she pushes. I’ve meant every word I’ve ever said about fighting for Mira Graves, and I’m not a man who gives up. I fight for what I want. I work hard. And I win.
Mira may have convinced herself that this thing between us is a mistake, but I know better. I’ll prove her wrong. In the meantime, I’ll do everything in my power to be the mistake she craves.
“You’re wrong, baby girl, and I’ll prove it. You can stay with your brother for now, but when you’re ready to come home, I’ll be waiting with open arms. I don’t care if that’s one hour from now, a week from now, a year from now… Your home is with me.”
Leaning down, I press one more lingering kiss to Mira’s swollen lips before forcing myself to take a step back.
“You should get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Before she can protest or utter another word, I turn around and walk out the door.
I have plans to make and a wife to win back.
This isn’t over between us. It’s just begun.
forty-five
GRIFFIN
Isla opensthe door the next morning when I knock. She doesn’t look all that surprised to see me standing there, holding a tray of four coffees.
“Hey.”
Her eyes, soft and sympathetic, sweep my face, lingering on the bruise her fiancé gave me the night before. “Hey. What are you doing here?”
“Bringing coffee to my wife. And my brother- and sister-in-law.”
She grins at that. “Not sure that’s how it works.”
“I guess I don’t really care how it works. I consider you family, Teach. That’s all that matters to me.” The smile I give her is genuine, but it fades when my thoughts turn to Mira. “How is she?”
Isla sighs. “I don’t know. She hasn’t come out of her room yet this morning. You two have really been married these past three and a half months?”
“We have. Best three and a half months of my life.”
Heavy footsteps sound from inside the apartment, then Maddox is there at his fiancée’s back. My best friend of over a decade greets me with a fierce scowl. “The fuck you doing here, Wright?”
I knew it would hurt if Maddox decided to hate me rather than accept my marriage to Mira, but I didn’t expect to feel such a sharp pang of loss. She’s his sister, and I’m glad his loyalty is to her—I am—but that doesn’t mean I’m not hurt by the distance he’s putting between us. Maybe for the first time, I realize that not only could I lose my wife, but I could lose my best friend too. Losing either one would wreck me, but losing both? How the hell am I supposed to move on from that?
