“I know.” My throat works.Cazzo.“That was fear. My fear. Not anything you did.”
“Fear of what?”
“This.” I lean my forehead against hers. “How much I need you. What happens when I stop pretending I don’t.”
She’s trembling now. Or maybe I am.
“I’m done pretending, Cassia. I’m done acting like this is just an arrangement.”
Her hands come up to grip my wrists. Holding on.
“Come to bed with me.” Not a command. A plea. “Let me show you what you are to me.”
“Okay,” she whispers.
I don’t let her walk.
My arms slide beneath her, one behind her back, one under her knees. She gasps as I lift her against my chest.
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to.”
She weighs nothing in my arms. Her head rests against my shoulder. She curls into me, clutching my shirt like I might disappear.
I shoulder open our bedroom door. Cross to the bed. Lower her onto the mattress.
I follow her down. Stretch out beside her and pull her into my arms, her back against my chest, my face buried in her hair.
We just breathe.
“She was paid,” she says at last. Quiet. “Two million dollars. And she didn’t even ask who was paying.”
“I know.”
“I’m not upset about the money.” Her voice catches. “I’m upset because I thought I was saving my family. Turns out I was just cleaning up someone else’s mess. Again.”
I tighten my arms around her. “You’re not cleaning up anything alone anymore.”
She laces our fingers together where my arm rests against her stomach.
“Cassia.”
She turns in my arms. Faces me.
“These past two days. I wasn’t pulling away because of you.” The words come out raw. Dragged. “I was terrified.”
“Of what?”
“What do I make you feel?”
“Like I can’t breathe without you.” I trace her jaw. My touch shakes. I can’t stop it. “That’s all. That’s everything.”
Her eyes shine.
“You walked into my study and offered yourself like you were worth nothing.” My forehead finds hers. “You’re worth everything.”
She doesn’t answer with words.
