Tender kisses brush along my forehead, and suddenly it feels like I’m the one with ropes around me—around myheart. I never want to leave this bed. I want to lie here with him for the rest of my life.
I want to spend every day making him feel safe, cherished, and happy. For so long, I thought I’d never feel this way for another person. Now that I’ve found this happiness with him, I never want to let it go.
But I will.
I’ll have to. Because this thing between us was never meant to go this far. My arms tighten around him as a lump rises in my throat.
“Darling?” Arlo whispers as I hold him tighter. “Are you all right?” He brushes hair from my forehead, the gesture so sweet it feels as if I’ll break apart.
“Don’t go, not yet,” I murmur, tucking my face in his neck. “Let me hold you. Just for a little while longer.”
Arlo’s heart skips against my ear, and then his arms tighten around me. “Of course,” he whispers. “As long as you like.”
Minutes, hours, days—not even that feels long enough.
Not when I know the pain that’s coming when this eventually ends.
Chapter 18
Arlo
I am so bloodyscrewed.
It’s been years since I’ve trusted anyone the way I’ve come to trust Gunnar. I don’t want to let him go when all this is over. I want this stupid fake thing between us to be real so badly. I’d nearly told him as much when he held me after our lovemaking, then again when we’d showered together.
“Lo? Are we going in?” Gunnar’s deep voice jolts me out of my thoughts.
I realize I’ve parked us outside the ring store but have just been sitting there brooding. Too embarrassed to answer, I hop out of the car and lock it once Gunnar’s out.
Starting a relationship is not what we agreed on. The only reason Gunnar agreed to be my fake fiancé at all was so he could soothe his berserker rage without moving on from Leif. I can’t believe how daft I am. I’m falling in love with a man who’s in love with a ghost. A man who made it clear I would never be his mate.
Oh goddess, why is it always the broken boys who do it for me?
The bell dings when we enter the shop and a man in a suit smiles at us from behind the counter. “Welcome! Let me know if you need help with anything.”
Gunnar already gave me a beautiful engagement ring, so I’d like to pick something just as perfect for him while we’re shopping for wedding bands. Even though this is all fake. Goddess, that fact keeps hammering itself into my head.
I couldn’t fix the last shifter I fell in love with, and he went berserk and almost killed me. But if Gunnar breaks my heart, that’s it for me. I’d have nothing left to give to another person because, without even realizing it, I’ve given it to him, broken pieces and all.
The wedding is next week. Seven days until this thing between us ends.
Unless… maybe it doesn’t have to end?
I chase the thought from my head and focus on shopping. I doubt Gunnar’s the kind of guy who wants diamonds or flashy jewels. He’d prefer something subtle but not boring, which unfortunately this store doesn’t seem to carry. Nothing’s screamingGunnarto me.
“Lo? How do you like this one?” I go over to Gunnar. He points into a display case.
Nestled in a velvet box is a gorgeous white-gold band studded with sapphires. “It’s lovely.”
“The sapphires made me think of your eyes,” Gunnar mumbles, staring at his toes.
I bump my shoulder into his, hard, because damn it, why does this man insist on getting me in my feelings?
“I’d like to try it on.”
Gunnar waves an employee over and she fetches the ring for us. He takes my hand and slides the ring over my finger, but it’s too tight to fit past my first knuckle. Gunnar frowns, but Ipoke his nose. “Don’t be surly. We can get it adjusted.” His face brightens adorably. “Do you like it?”
A smile slips easily across my face. “I love it.”
