“The idea of you living somewhere else has been killing me. I thought it was the right thing. The noble thing. I was trying to be selfless for once in my life, and I managed to hurt us both in the process.”
“You’re not very good at being selfless.”
“No. I’m not.” He opens his eyes. “I’m possessive and controlling, and I make decisions without consulting anyone. I treat people like chess pieces, and I forget they have feelings of their own. I’m not a good man, Kirsten. I never have been.”
“I didn’t ask for a good man. I asked for you.”
Something cracks inside him. I can see it on his face. That wall he keeps so carefully maintained crumbles, and for the first time, I see him completely unguarded.
“Stay,” he says. “Please. Come home with me.”
“Only if things change.”
“They will. I swear to you, they will.”
“No more decisions without me. No more trying to manage my life behind my back. If there’s a threat, you tell me. If there’s a plan, you include me. I’m your wife, not your ward.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” I search his face. “Because this is the last time I’m having this conversation. If you try to send me away again, I won’t accept your sister’s help and hang around waiting for you to find me. I’ll be gone for good.”
“I understand.” He wraps his hands around my wrists, holding me in place. “I won’t make that mistake again. I promise you.”
“Promises are easy.”
“Then let me prove it.” He turns his head and presses a kiss to my palm. “Every day. For as long as you’ll let me. Let me show you that I can be better. That I can be the partner you deserve.”
My heart stutters in my chest. “That’s a pretty big commitment.”
“I’m already committed. I have been since the day you signed that contract.” His lips curve into something almost like a smile. “I just didn’t know how to tell you.”
“You could have tried using words.”
“I’m not good with words.”
“You’re a businessman. Words are literally your job.”
“Business words, yes. These words…” He shakes his head. “These are harder.”
I understand what he means. Talking about spreadsheets, mergers and quarterly projections is easy. Talking about feelings? That’s a foreign language for men like Menlow. The fact that he’s trying at all means more than he knows.
“So what happens now?” I ask.
“Now you come home with me. We figure out how to handle Jovan together. And we stop pretending this marriage is just a business arrangement.”
“Was it ever really just a business arrangement?”
He considers the question. “Maybe at first. For about five minutes. Then you opened your mouth and argued with me, and I was done for.”
I laugh despite myself. “You fell for me because I argued with you?”
“I fell for you because you weren’t afraid of me. Everyone else either wants something from me or is terrified of what I might do. You just…” He trails off, searching for the right words. “You just saw me. The real me. And you stayed anyway.”
“The real you is kind of an ass.”
“I know.”
“And controlling.”
