Page 68 of Her Filthy Mistake

“Hey.” I give her a weak smile, and she straightens the blanket.

“I’m going to go out and talk to Daisy.” Zayden brushes past me, patting me on the back. “She’s going to be fine.”

All the air rushes out of my lungs as my knees buckle. Shit. Stay upright. The door shuts behind him as I stay rooted in front of the door. My vision of sweeping her off her feet went awry, and now, I’m not sure what happens. Is she happy to see me? Does she not want to see me?

The second the door closes, tears fill her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry about.” I step closer to her.

“Yes, I do.” Her bottom lip quivers. “My father ruined your life.”

“Please.” I sit at the end of her bed and rest my hand on her lower leg. I don’t want to add more pain to the situation, but not touching her is out of the question. “My life isn’t ruined.” I chuckle in self-depreciation. “Okay. There’s been some shitty things happen, but none of them were your fault.”

She launches upright and grabs my shoulders. “Yes, it was. If I hadn’t gone on and on about you to Dad four years ago, you’d be out on world tours at this point. He refused to sign you and made sure no one else would either.”

I’m not surprised by her revelation, but it’s still not her fault. I arch my eyebrows. “It wasn’t meant to be.”

She shakes her head. “I’m sorry I didn’t see what a jerk he was sooner. If I would’ve….” She sighs, “None of what happened in Saint Lucia would’ve occurred.”

“None of it?”

Her face turns from a pale, pasty shade to a beautiful pink in a fraction of a second. “Okay. I wouldn’t change any of it until the last few hours with my dad. The rest was wonderful.”

I smile and pull her to me. “I’m glad you think so.” I hold her, inhaling her scent, and relax for the first time since she was last in my arms. “I’m sorry I let you believe I’d used you, but at the time, I didn’t feel like there was any other choice. I didn’t think you’d believe a word I said with everything he had stacked against me, and I didn’t see the benefit of spending years in a Saint Lucia prison.”

She shudders against me and wraps her arm around my waist. The one with the IV attached remains at her side.

“Then later, when I got back to the States….” I shrug. “You wouldn’t have believed me then either, and you hated me.”

She glances up. “I would’ve believed you. If you’d told me.”

I cup her face and stare into her eyes. “Zoe, I love you. I don’t care what stands in our way. I want to be with you. I know it’s a lot to ask for you to risk your relationship with people you care about, but I hope they see how much I care about you and wouldn’t intentionally choose to hurt you. And with that, hopefully, they’ll be okay with us being together.” I lick my lips and swallow hard. “If that’s what you want.”

The corners of her mouth curve upward. “Thank you for catching me when I passed out.”

“Anytime.” I kiss her lips gently and pull back so as not to give her any additional stress.

Her eyes narrow. “That wasn’t a very, I’m happy to see you and want to ravish you six ways to Sunday kind of kiss.”

I laugh at her pouting face and pull her close again, nuzzling her neck. “I’m trying to be good here. You’re hooked up to a bunch of monitors, and I don’t want the doctors and nurses to think you’re having a heart attack.”

“Good idea.” She shivers as my lips graze her skin. “Because I’m fairly certain my blood pressure will be up the next time it’s taken.” She pulls back, and tears fill her eyes.

“Are you okay? Did they tell you what’s wrong?” My heart beats wildly in my chest. I hate seeing her cry.

“No.” She shakes her head. “Not yet. But I’m not crying because of that. Those songs you wrote were beautiful.” She runs her thumb over my cheekbone. “No one could ever do anything sweeter than that for me. I love you so much. Thank you for being the most amazing person in the world.”

“I think you’re exaggerating.”

“No. I’m not. You’re gorgeous. Your voice is beautiful. And you wrote the most raw, vulnerable songs about me. About us. I don’t even know what to say.” She inhales and bites her bottom lip. “I’m the luckiest woman in the world to have you in my life.” One side of her mouth arches upward. “Finally.”

I groan and roll my eyes. “There you go, stabbing me in the heart. I’m sorry I pushed you away. I honestly didn’t think I was worthy of you and didn’t want to upset everyone in the family. Especially if you weren’t sure I was what you wanted. And even if you did….” I shrug again as I study her face. “I didn’t want to ruin your life.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I might be. Zayden said they all planned it.”

“They all planned what?” She frowns and lays her hand back into her lap. I lace my fingers through hers, too afraid to lose this connection with her, as I finally begin to accept that what I’ve dreamed about for years is within my grasp. Hell, it is in my grasp. Zoe. Music. Concerts. Sobriety. Happily ever afters with marriage and children. It can’t get much better than this.

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