“It isn’t all on him.” I was a huge part of the reason Milo and I couldn’t be together.
“I’m not going to question your family loyalty.” He leaned into my face, mesmerizing me with his perfection. “That would make me a hypocrite. But I can’t destroy myself in the process.”
“I don’t want anything from you.” My legs threatened to give out from underneath me. The weight of my burdens were too heavy for them to support. “I won’t accept anything else from you.”
“You don’t want anything from me?” He gripped my chin between his fingers. “Nothing?”
“No,” I whispered, but I knew the truth in my expression gave me away. He was everything to me, and I didn’t hide it very well.
“Not even this.” He brushed his lips across mine, kissing the corner of my mouth with a wicked intention.Is he trying to destroy me?
“Don’t.” I was too weak to resist him, but I had to try.
“Don’t kiss you?” He licked his lips. “Tell me not to kiss you.” He twisted his fingers in the side of my hair, forcing my face to his. “I want to hear you say it.”
If I said it, would that make all of this easier for him?
“I don’t hear anything.” His breath swept across my lips. “You want this, don’t you?”
I pressed my hand against his heart.My heart.I wanted to give in and surrender all of me to him. “Kiss me.”
His lips were obliging mine within the time it took me to blink. My pulse raced when he tightened his hold in my hair and kissed me with the forcefulness I’d come to expect. The dominance I sought.
I dropped my defenses, no longer angry or sad. No family obligations or fighting. All the background noise that had surrounded us our whole relationship faded away, and in that moment, he was mine.
Running my hands up his muscular arms and to his shoulders, I skimmed my fingers along his neck. The despair that had settled in the pit of my stomach the last few days had disappeared and was replaced with hope for a future with him.
He released my hair and touched my forehead with his as he gently caressed my cheek.
“Sweet Sable.” The conflict in his eyes spoke before he did. “You’re a liability I don’t need.”
So much for hope.
“I can’t put my family in jeopardy,” he said. “My father has worked too hard and has come too far to lose it all because of my poor judgment. We’ve already lost too much.”
His mother and his unborn brother. His scars cut deep. I wouldn’t be the reason his empire collapsed.
“I would never hurt you,” I said.
“Chance has already proven he can’t be loyal, and you’ve shown me that you’ll always put him first. I’m not blaming you for that. I just know when it’s time to walk away.”
“Why did you kiss me?” Tears brimmed in my eyes. “Why give me false hope?”
“I was saying goodbye.”
When I glanced down at the floor, the tears spilled down my face.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He wiped my cheek before gripping the side of my face and forcing me to look at him. “I never wanted to make those stunning eyes so sad. They were the first thing that drew me to you.”
“You said you loved me in the cabin. Did you mean it?” If he was going to kick me to the curb, I might as well let him destroy me all the way.
“I never say anything I don’t mean.”
“If you said it now, would you mean it?”
“That isn’t a fair question.” He released me from his hold. “Considering minutes after I said it, you couldn’t choose me.”
“If you really meant it, you wouldn’t have asked me to choose between you and my brother.”
