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“Decide what I want.”
“I know what happens to people around me.”
“Oh my God.”
She steps back.
“What?”
“You really don’t hear yourself.”
“Clara.”
“You’ve spent eighteen years furious because your father decided who you were in one sentence.”
That hits hard.
“You’ve spent eighteen years angry at Devil’s Peak because they decided you were the bad Hale boy. The reckless one. The selfish one. The one who left.”
My jaw locks.
“And now you’re standing here deciding who I am.”
“That’s different.” I protest.
“How?”
“Because I’m trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“Me.” I grunt.
She laughs in my face.
“Arrogant asshole.”
“Probably.”
“No. Definitely. Do you have any idea how arrogant it is to think you’re so dangerous I can’t possibly know my own mind around you?”
“You haven’t known me in years.”
“I know enough.”
“You know four days.”
“I know you stop the second you think I’m uncomfortable. I know you slept beside me without touching me. I know you took your brother’s keys because you were trying to keep him alive. I know you built a company from nothing. I know you pretend not to care what anyone thinks because caring scares the hell out of you.”
“Stop.”
“No.”
I step closer and she doesn’t retreat. “Clara.”
“And I know you want me.”
My entire body tightens.
