This was for the best. Staying here with her would be agony. One of the guys would gladly stay with her while he went back home. It was better to leave now than to prolong it.
“Goodbye, Fi.” He walked with leaden legs, every step heavier and heavier the further he walked away from her. The heart he tried so hard to protect lay bleeding and broken. So this was what a broken heart felt like? Would the pain ever ease? If not, he would just have to learn to live with it.
Chapter 17
Fiona stared up at the top of the stairs dumbfounded. She stillcouldn’tbelieve what she had heard. Vince loved her. She would have passed it off as some kind of line if she didn’t know him to be the playboy that he was. Did he even tell his own mother he loved her? Probably not often.
He loved her. The thought repeated through her head over and over again on a loop. She was elated because she loved him too. His fears about her family were unwarranted.True, he wasn’t the model citizen they would want for her. What he did was highly dangerous, but shedidn’tcare. Her family would accept her choice of man because shedidn’twant any man butVince.
Now she just had to convince the man himself that he was enough for her, no one else’s opinion mattered.Vincemade a mistake in telling her he loved her, because now she would never stop fighting to give them a chance. A real chance. Up until now, she was afraid of his rejection. That he would continue to throw out insults and push her away because hedidn’twant her. Now she knew the truth. It was to protect himself. No more.
Fiona climbed the stairs without a plan to change his mind. She had a strong suspicion he told her how he felt because he planned on running. She couldn’t let him leave. She knew if she did, she would never see him again.
I am strong.
She was.
Pushing openVince’sdoor, Fiona found his bag already packed and sitting on the floor near the door. This wouldn’t do. A sound reached her ears from the bathroom connected to the bedroom. The bathroom door was cracked open with steam drifting out. Fiona licked her suddenly dry lips. He was in the shower where he couldn’t escape her.
With shaking hands, Fiona pushed the door the rest of the way open.Vince’ssilhouette was easy to see through the glass. He stood with his profile to her, his head resting on the tiles as the water beat down on his back, his hands against the tiles next to his head. Taking a steady breath, Fiona disrobed.Vinceeither heard her or sensed her because he suddenly looked up and over at her. “Youshouldn’tbe here.” His words were strained and tight. His fist clenched into a ball near his head.
“I love you, Vince,” she said, her voice loud and strong. No more barriers, no keeping her distance. After his admission she couldn’t think of him as just Vincent anymore.
Vince blinked at her, at first shock, then pain and hunger in his eyes. “No, you don’t.”
“Are you trying to tell me how to feel now too? I love you,” she said again, taking a step closer to him. Her hands fought to cover her nakedness, but she resisted. She wanted him to see all of her. To show him she wasn’t afraid. “I have for years now. Even when I wanted to hate you, I couldn’t.”
“I’mno good for you,” he said, turning away from her, shutting her out. “You deserve a good man who’ll be home every night, one that your parents approve of. Now, leave me alone.”
Her heart broke that Vince thought so little of himself. He was far from an angel when it came to women, but there was no one more deserving of love. Her love. Did she hate that he had been with so many women? Sure, what woman wouldn’t? But she knew once he was hers, he would never stray. Not because of her family but because she meant more to him than any of those other women. She wasn’t just another notch in his belt.
Fiona opened the shower door. “You are a good man,Vince. One of the finest I know. I would consider myself so lucky to be with a man like you. Would being separated from you suck when you’re called away, yes, but I know you’ll do everything in your power to come back to me.”
Stepping behind him, she closed the door, silently thankingJoaquínfor having such large showers.Vincestilldidn’tface her, but his body was rigid.Both of his hands were clenched in fists against the tiles. Water sprayed her chest, running down her front. The water was scalding, far warmer than she preferred, but she refused to leave.
Fiona wrapped her arms aroundVince’smiddle, pressing her chest to his back. A shudder racked down his body, but hedidn’tpull away. The water stung her eyes and she tried blinking it out without releasing him; she had to turn her head away from the spray. His back was blistering hot to the touch.
Fiona just stood there with him a moment, running her hands over his chest as the water pounded down on them. Her hair plastered to her skin, causing rivulets to make a path across her face, tickling her. Still she refused to move.
“I just want you,” she said, kissing his back. “For as long as I can have you.”
Fiona felt the rise and fall of his chest against her palms. His heart beat rapidly.
Vinceslowly turned around, and Fiona opened her arms so he could turn within them. He kept his head down. Water ran over the top of his head, spraying everywhere before he blocked it with his back. Fiona shook her head to clear the water from her eyes, widening them. They still felt dry, forcing her to rub them and push the hair from her face over her shoulder.
Vincelowered his head to rest against hers. “Weshouldn’t,”Vincesaid, pulling back butnotremoving himself.
“We should,” Fiona countered, nipping his chin.
She could see in his eyes, his resolve was slipping.
“You’re brother.”He tried again, though his protest was strained and weak.
“Isn’t here,” She said easily with a grin. Vince was hers for the taking.
“You’re too…” he tried one last time.
“Oh shut up.” Fiona leaned forward, kissing him again, halting any more excuses he might spew out.
