Page 154 of Remy

I lower my arm to her waist. Her hip. She tenses yet there’s no revolt, nothing at all to stop me dragging her onto my lap to cradle her against my chest—so I do it.

If I’m losing this battle, I might as well make it worthwhile.

I’ll give her the comfort she craves and deal with the aftermath later.

She rests her head between my collarbone and chin, entirely pliant in my arms. Utterly perfect in her sorrow.

It was fucking futile thinking I could forget about her. No man could resist her gravitational pull.

She’s faultless. Flawless. Forever mine.

I don’t offer placations or talk for the sake of filling the void. I give her the peace to grieve what’s to come. To become accustomed to the agony as the damp grass seeps into the ass of my suit pants and her strawberry scent stains my lungs.

“That woman…” she says softly. “She’s a hospice nurse?”

I nod my chin against the top of her head. “The best in the city.”

“So my dad has a hospice nurse, is only meant to survive a few more months, and yet still plans to keep pretending everything is fine? Where’s the logic in that?”

“He doesn’t want you to suffer.”

“Remy, I’ve been suffering this whole time.”

“I know. But there’s a difference between the misery of speculation and the brutal reality of what’s actually happening. He tried to save you from that. At least temporarily.”

“All he did was steal time that could’ve been better spent. He wasted months. Months when we could’ve made memories. I would’ve taken him away—to the beach, to the mountains—while he was still in a state to handle travel.”

“You have time.”

“I have crumbs.”

I close my eyes and press my face into her hair.

“I wish you would’ve told me sooner,” she whispers.

Guilt strikes a punishing blow to my chest. “My loyalty?—”

“Is to him,” she cuts me off. “I know.”

It was.

Carlo had my loyalty for more than six months.

He harbored my secrets and I, his.

But she changed everything.

She pulls back and meets my gaze, those beautifully troubled eyes wreaking havoc on my nervous system. “You care about him.”

Yeah, too fucking much.

“He’s a good man and a coveted father figure.” I hold her stare, needing her to believe me. “I’ll admit those attributes have been hard to come by.”

“I bet your dad and Lorenzo would hate to hear you say that.”

“I’ve known my uncle for less than two years, and the last thing my father did in this life was try to kill me. So no, neither one of them would be surprised that a well-mannered, morally driven funeral home director has become somewhat of an idol to me.”

“That’s how you see him?”

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