His eyes fall closed, his forehead pressing to mine. His body shudders, as if my confession is working its way through his entire system.
"I didn't post your manuscript. I swear, I didn't," I say, still a little afraid he thinks I did it. "But it may have been my fault."
He flicks his eyes open, a question in them.
"I…um, I left the manuscript on the counter by the register yesterday. I thought it would be safe there," I whisper miserably. "But now I'm terrified that it wasn't. If someone got their hands on it because of me, I'll never forgive myself. I won't blame you if you sue me or press charges or never want to see me again."
"It wasn't your fault, princess," he says, his tone weary. "It was my assistant."
"What?" I blink, certain I heard him wrong.
"That's where I've been all day," he sighs, sitting up and pulling me up with him.
"Samleaked your manuscript?"
"Not on purpose." He burrows his face into my throat. He's tense, stressed. I'm not sure how to help him, so I wrap my arms around him. "She got a fucking email from someone posing as my editor, saying she needed a copy of the file. She didn't check the email address closely enough and sent it. By the time she realized there was a problem, it was already too late. But instead of telling either of us what happened, she panicked." He sighsagain. "She's been avoiding my calls because she didn't know how to tell me. She hoped it'd just go away, until it leaked."
"That's awful," I whisper, horrified. Who even does something like that? Shitty book-stealing scammers, apparently. "I'm so sorry."
"Me too."
"Can you do anything?"
He shrugs. "The legal department for my publisher will do what they can to track down whoever sent her the email and try to get charges filed, but there's no putting the lid back on the leak."
"I'm so sorry, River," I whisper, hugging him tighter.
"At least they don't have the whole goddamn book."
"Do they have more than what they've already leaked?"
"No. I sent her the updated version last week, but I hadn't sent her the new chapters yet." He pauses. "I didn't fire Sam. Maybe I should because she didn't come to me, but I can't blame her for falling for a fucking scam when they're everywhere." He turns to look at me. "I'm more worried about you."
"About me?" I blink, shocked. "Why?"
"You aren't a crier, princess," he says, tracing my cheek with a fingertip. "But it looks to me like you've been doing a lot of it today."
I open my mouth to lie and then snap it closed and nod instead. "I thought I was going back to jail. Or that you'd hate me."
"Which bothered you more?"
"What?"
"Which thought bothered you more? The possibility of going to jail or the possibility of me hating you?"
"You hating me," I whisper, my heart beating fast. "I…I couldn't live with that, River."
"Good." He grins, leaning down to press his lips to mine, but not before I see the satisfied gleam in his eyes.
"You don't have to look so pleased about it," I grumble against his lips.
"Oh, but I am." He bites my bottom lip, craning my head back. "Because I'm so fucking in love with you, Jasmine Knudsen," he says, his eyes locked on mine. "I love knowing that you'd miss me if I weren't here. I love knowing that I'm in your heart. And I fucking love knowing that you think I'm someone worth crying about, baby."
"You are someone worth crying over," I whisper, pretty sure my heart is going to burst out of my chest. He said it back. He actually said it back!
River is in love with me.
The way he smiles at me is perfection. And then he grows somber again. "I'm sorry the manuscript was leaked, princess."
