“But you’re leaving tomorrow.” He was nipping at her ear now. Maybe he could distract her.
“And Ryder’s been without his dad for sixteen years.” Her voice came out more annoyed than before.
“So? He can wait a little longer.” Duncan joked as he moved to kiss her, and she dodged.
“Duncan.” Aurora chided him. “This is important to me.”
His eyes implored her to relent, despite his chagrined expression. “I know. And I will. God, sweetheart, I’ve been dreaming about you. Please don’t deny me.”
Aurora let him kiss her this time but cut him off fast.
Realization dawned on him. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”
“It would take all of five minutes. And I can’t believe I have to bribe you. You told me you would try months ago.”
He released her and looked away, unable to meet her eyes.
Aurora crossed her arms in disgust. “You’ve had time. You just don’t want to fight for him.”
Duncan rose from the couch and started to pace. “Why would I start a fight I lost sixteen years ago? That didn’t go so well for the Germans, if you recall our unit on World War II.”
“Do not distract me with some terrible, twisted version of history. You lost the fight with Mariah. Ryder is his own person and can make his own decisions. You haven’t even tried. You just lump him in with your ex.”
“Why is it so important to you that I contact Ryder? I don’t understand. If I reach out to him, my ex is going to know about it. She’s going to come back at me, and it may very well get ugly.” His mind went to Mariah’s last threat, and a chill crept up the back of his neck. “Why would you invite that when we could have something beautiful and stress-free?”
“Because if you want a relationship with me, I need to respect you. And giving up on your child because your ex was a bitch is not going to earn you that.” Aurora rose as well. “He’s an adult now. What are you so afraid of? At least he would know you wanted him!”
“I don’t think you quite understand the pain I went through—”
Aurora started shaking, her hands clenched into fists.
“Do not speak to me of pain, Duncan Sullivan.”
She spat the words out, blinking like hell to keep the tears at bay. “Do not speak to me of pain until you’re pulling clumps of hair from your lover’s head and watching poison drip into his veins to no avail. When you’re racing the clock to get him platelets, so his nose stops bleeding …” She bit a knuckle to stop her rant.“At least Ryder is alive.”
She bolted for the bathroom.
Agony
Duncan collapsed onto the couch, his head in his hands. Aurora was hiding in the bathroom. He still couldn’t grasp why she cared so much about his kid, but her words had stabbed a knife in his heart over and over and over. Yet again, he didn’t measure up. Tears spilled from his eyes as the words she’d said replayed in his head relentlessly. He would fix it. He had to.
“Roar? Sweetheart? I’m sorry.” He knocked gently on the bathroom door. “Can I come in?”
“Okay,” came her tearful answer.
Duncan slowly opened the door and found Aurora in the corner of his bathroom, her head on her knees. “That position can’t be comfortable for your back.”
She didn’t respond.
“Look, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have compared my experience to yours. That wasn’t right.”
At his apology, Aurora lifted a red, tear-stained face but didn’t look at him. The light behind her eyes was missing.
“Please, help me understand why this means so much to you.”
“Because my kid has been my life.” Aurora wiped her face with her hands. “If anyone took her away, I wouldn’t sleep until I had her back. I’d turn over every stone from here to the moon. And I’d never give up.”
“I thought it was best this way.” Duncan sighed.
