“I was prepared to give you all the reasons you should marry me.” I keep my voice soft as I shift closer until I can feel the heat of her skin against my thighs.
“With my ring on your finger and my last name, the Taggerts can’t touch you. They wouldn’t dare. And if they still go after Brady, you can use my fortune to defend him. I had a whole pitch ready… everywhat-ifyou should worry about. If the truth of my father’s death comes out… If the Taggerts blame you for not being able to pay back their debt…”
I pause the words tasting sour on my tongue.
“But the truth is…” I rush the rest of the words out. “I don’t want to manipulate you. I just want to marry you.”
I hold her gaze, letting her see how I feel. “I want you with me. Every day. Every morning when you burn your tongue on your first sip of coffee because you’re impatient, and you’re scarily grumpy until at least half a cup. I want to hold you every night after every good and shitty day… Because I don’t want to know another night without you. I want you flipping me off and scowling at me because I turned down the volume on your sappy Taylor Swift that you blast getting dressed in the morning.”
My chest feels tight. I exhale.
“I just want you. Forever.”
“Wait.” She shakes her head, trying to process everything I just dumped on her. “Your fortune? Not that Brady needs it, but I thought the whole reason you needed to work at Elite was because you needed the money?”
I make a face, and she lets out a disbelieving breath. “And your mother’s trans-Atlantic cruise… I’m guessing all that expense talk wasn’t true.”
“No.”
“And you wanted the job at Elite because?—?”
“It was the only way I could stay close to you.”
Sera waves her hands in the air, and mine drop from her face.
“You lied to me.” She gives me a hard stare.
“Yes.”
“To recap… You didn’t need a job?”
“No.”
“And you only took the job to be near me?” She looks baffled.
“Yes.”
Is that bad?
I can’t read her expression.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“You left your regular life on the off chance you would see me in the office... But we barely knew each other then.”
My stomach knots. When she says it out loud, it sounds crazy.
Like her stalker ex.
A tear slips down her cheek, and I feel sick.
“I never meant to make you feel…” My voice cracks.
“That is?—”
“Crazy?”
What the fuck did I do?
