Page 119 of Over the Limit

“I thought you’d left. I thought you’d—I don’t know what I thought.” Every crazy theory that went through my head over the past few days suddenly feels ridiculously silly.

I was trying to let him figure out whatever it was he needed to figure out and that only served to work myself up in a frenzy. And now he’s here.

I feel stupid but I can’t control my emotions or the tears that keep threatening.

He leans back and frames my face so I’m forced to look in his eyes. “Blair. Shh. I’m sorry. I . . . I had a lot to think about. To question myself over. I shouldn’t have taken the space and not explained it to you, but the race and the aftermath weighed on me.”

“Let me be here for you.”

“You were. You are. Don’t you get that? It doesn’t matter if I’m beside you or halfway across the world, I know you are.”

“I’m sorry this all happened because of me.”

“Don’t you dare.” He presses another kiss to my lips. “If it hadn’t happened, that means I wouldn’t have you. Have this.” He sighs. “But you were right. Shit got out of hand. Rossi finding out. Paolo finding out. The stakes are too high and I just . . . I just needed time to think.”

“Okay. And?”

“And you’re my all of the above.” He smiles shyly. “When all this is gone, you still will be.”

“We lay low. Until the gala is over. Until you get a new contract.”

“We fly under the radar—”

“Or fly backward like a hummingbird,” I say softly.

“Or fly backward like a hummingbird.” His smile widens. “I’m sorry I didn’t communicate what I needed better.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay. You’re mine, that’s what you are. Every single part of you is mine, and I can’t wait to be able to tell the world. Don’t you get that? This mind. This heart. This body.” He growls the last word out. “Baby, you are mine.”

“That doesn’t help when Monica sends me texts of you and Zola or you leave my place without a word. Do you know what it’s like to feel like you’re going crazy?” I chuckle self-deprecatingly, close my eyes, and sigh before scrubbing my hands over my face.

“I do. I feel it every time I think of you. Every time I want you.”

“I’m sorry. My emotions are all over the place. Between the stress of the gala and then the accident and knowing it’s because of me—”

He presses a finger to my lips. “Rossi did that because of his issues. He was reckless and dangerous and could have caused a massive accident. That’s not on you.” I shake my head. I still can’t believe Rossi did what he did. He could have taken lives. He should lose his seat.

“But still—”

“No but stills.”

“I’m just tired is all. Tired and overwhelmed and—”

“And I have the perfect cure for that.”

I lift a lone eyebrow. “Of course you do. Sex, right?”

“A few orgasms wouldn’t hurt, but no, that’s not what I was thinking.”

“You’re being cryptic.”

“And you are overwhelmed and need a break.”

“Lach?”

“You have a flight scheduled for Friday night.”