Page 88 of My Forbidden Boss

“Don’t you think if I had a choice about any of this, I would have done what I did? Knowing what I did against the man I lo…against you. I…. There was no other way…Mom had to…People like me don’t get choices. They get used. Swept under the carpet and forgotten. It doesn’t matter that it was my father. Anyone would do it because they can.”

She throws her clothes onto the cot and draws in a deep breath. She forms a fist over her heart, face contorted, cheeks wet with free-flowing tears. “It destroyed me, David. If you take nothing else with you after you get your revenge on Max, take that with you. There are no winners in this game.”

I need to set things straight. She’s so distressed her mind is creating scenarios that are far from the truth. I have to stop them before she believes them.

I take the two strides across the room towards her. She’s the sun and I’m merely an orbiting planet. The time for standing back is over. She’s in too much pain for anything else.

I cup her face in my palms. Touching her brings a sigh of relief through my body. Through my soul. I stroke my thumbs over her damp cheeks, fucking hating Max. Fucking loving Adeline. “Jesus. Fuck. Love. I’m not here for that scum.”

Fresh tears fall from her eyes and that ruins me. Her brows pinch and there’s confusion in the depths of her gorgeous eyes. “Then why are you here? Why do you care?”

She really doesn’t understand.

My heart is torn into little pieces that scatter at her feet. “If you have to ask that, then I haven’t done my job letting you know.” I stand close to her, so close my chest and abdomen are flush with hers. She trembles, tries to back away, but there’s nowhere for her to go.

I tilt her head so she can’t look elsewhere. So there is no space between us for any more misconceptions. I’ll make good on her promise to her mother, but more than that, this is about her and I. For the both of us and the rest of our lives.

“I won’t live with the regret of letting you go. Of letting anyone or mere circumstances stand between us. I don’t see you as ‘less than’. I don’t judge you based on your possessions. I see you, love. I see your beautiful soul. Your big heart. All of your faults and strengths and I want them all with a desperation that borders on insanity. You’re under my skin. In my bones. You’ve stolen my heart and I hand it over gladly. Willingly. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me. If you can’t see that yet, if you can’t believe it, then that’s alright. I’ll keep on telling you until you know it’s the undeniable truth. Until it’s ingrained into every cell in your body. I love you, Adeline. You. Adeline the woman. You. Adeline the person standing in front of me. Nothing matters but you. You, Adeline. I love you.”

The need to kiss her is unyielding. An undeniable urge I do nothing to stop. I bend my head and capture her mouth with mine. She’s stiff in my arms. I press so close I feel her heart racing. Her flaring body heat saturates mine.

I trace the seam of her lips, teasing, asking, hoping for her to respond, and finally, finally, her body relaxes. She parts her lips and I glide my tongue against hers. Her arms come to my elbows, slides up my bicep to ghost across the back of my neck.

I anchor a hand behind her head, my arm about her waist so I can pull her to me. With every act of my body, I’m happy to admit my desperation.

She tilts her head, deepens the kiss, and my heart sings. It means she’s listened to my words. She’s heard me. She’s accepting me. Losing herself in our kiss, all warm languid passionate woman.

My fingers clench in her clothing. I need her naked in my arms, but not here. I want her in my bed. In my home. Where she belongs with me. Forever.

The sharp ding of her cell makes her stiffen.

“Forget it,” I say.

I watch as clarity returns to her eyes, the responsibility that has been thrust on her too young, but that’s made her into the woman she is today, too much for her to refuse. “It might be Mom.”

She pulls the cell from the back pocket of her jeans. Her face loses its soft lines. I watch the transformation, helpless as the mask she wears so well that’s devoid of all emotion falls over her face and I curse whoever has distracted her because I know with all certainty, it’s not her mother who sent the message.

She looks up to me, firms her shoulders and notches her chin, using the only armor she has. “It’s Max. He wants to see me.”

Chapter 32

Adeline

The axis of my world tilts and spins into another galaxy.

I love you.

David’s words resound inside my head, creating soft layers around my heart.

Said with honesty. Sincerity. Openness. There’s no doubt he speaks the truth. They are the same words I need to say back to him and I’ll mean them as true and open and honest as him.

My heart sings for him. With him, my life is multicoloured. He builds me into three dimensions and it’s only now that I’ve changed I can see the difference.

I don’t utter a sound. Not that I don’t love him back, because I do. Blindly. Stupidly. Irrevocably.

And that is his downfall.

I don’t want to trap him because love is the greatest entrapment of them all. Two powerful reasons hold me back: his daughter and his pregnant ex, and I’m not sure they’re surmountable. In a simple life, they would be. Another person would conveniently set aside responsibilities, but I know David. He’s the person who makes responsibility a personal motto.

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