“I opened a bakery,” she blurts.
“That’s great, Shelby. You said you wanted to.”
She lets out a laugh.
“The strange thing is that the one person I wanted to share that with ishere, being a coward, running away from things that became too hard. Isn’t that right, Ember?”
“I can’t let you go through what you did with Drew or the destruction my past brought into our lives.”
“What Katie did was the action of a sick person, Ember. Brody is okay, and it seems you’ve made up your mind. So, I don’t have a fucking choice in this?”
I walk to the window and stare out at the rain, which seems to be coming down harder.
‘Being with you, that was my choice. When I met you, I never expected to fall for you as hard as I did, but when I did, I realised that I can’t be afraid forever,” she continues. “But I can’t make you choose me, Ember, I can’t make you choose us.”
I place my forehead against the cold surface of the window. “You came all this way to tell me that?”
“Yeah, ‘cause you’re an asshole, and you’d have stayed here feeling sorry for yourself, drowning yourself at the bottom of a bottle.”
“You have tons of sass for a little thing, firefly.”
I spin, and she’s standing there, her breathing ragged.
In a few strides, I am standing in front of her. “What if we keep fighting the way we do?”
“Then we’ll make up, stupid.”
I laugh. I run my knuckles over the soft skin of her cheeks. “I missed you.”
“Don’t play with me, Ember.” Her green eyes are fully dilated.
I frown. “I don’t say things for the sake of it. I missed you so fucking much. I missed your eyes, your smile, even your sass.” Shelby is breathtaking. I could stare at her all day, and she’s here, with me. She chose me; of all the men she could take her pick of, she picked me.
I hold her face in my hands. “I don’t deserve you, Shelby.”
“Not at all,” she retorts, but the smile on her face is all the answer I need.
“Can I still kiss you, though?”
She bites her nips and shakes her head.
“I think you want me to kiss you.”
I crush my mouth against Shelby’s, and her lips part, and I feel life seeping back into me as I taste her again. She loses herself in the kiss, and that makes me want to keep at it. My hands start to explore the curve of her ass, and she moans in my mouth. It has been too fucking long, but I am about to change that.
I shift her coat off and slide both my hands up her shirt. Her skin feels like heaven beneath my hands, and it makes my cock strain against the zipper of my jeans. Soft moans slip from her lips, and I deepen the kiss while I undo the buttons of her shirt and push it off her body. I look down at her cleavage, and fuck, I need to get those loose. I unclasp her bra at the front, and she springs free. I lean down and suck the sensitive skin of her neck and collarbone. I take her nipple into my mouth and feel a growl build in my chest.
“Tell me to stop, and I will.”
“Don’t,” she murmurs, running her hands through my hair. And I don’t; instead, I carry her into my bedroom and spend the rest of the day making love to her body.
“I love you so fucking much,” I tell her as I kiss her forehead when we’re lying in bed.
“You might have said that before.”
I smile against her hair. “Thought you didn’t hear that.”
“I did. And I think I love you too, EmberassholeDale.”
