Page 22 of Mine to Worship

He kisses the tip of my nose, and I force my entire body not to react. He places his forehead against mine, his longing rippling across my skin.

“Do you have any idea how mad I am about you? I am burning up with need for you. You own me. Every fiber of my being craves you.”

“You should have thought about that before you ruined us,” I say, voice taut with resolution and disentangle from his hypnotic touch.

Chapter 10

Kian

I ponder if this is the solution, to push her like this and cram ourselves together in isolation, hoping to rekindle our relationship. It has to be the right thing to do because love still pulses between us. But love has never been the problem. Patience, I’ll remind her how great we are together and she’ll be mine again.

Today, she met me halfway, and it gives me hope. My core lit up at her saying we’ll share a bed. Right then and there is when I fall in love with her all over again.

She might be hurt, and in pain, and still, this is her extending her hand to me. I won’t screw this up, not and never again.

Fighting for Ellia is the challenge of my life. She offers me a finger, knowing I want more and when I grasp it, she snatches it away. I will take this as punishment, every day of my life, if it means she’ll be there.

We finish unpacking in deathly silence then I leave her to rest and go downstairs.

On the couch, I open my laptop and reply to some emails before calling Brandon.

“How is Ellia? It’s been days. I was—”

“She’s pregnant.”

That cuts his verbal diarrhea.

“I’m on my way.”

“No, you stay there and do your job. Mikaela says you’re doing great.”

“I don’t know which is more shocking, that or the fact that Ellia’s pregnant. Definitely the first one.”

“Grow up.”

“I am. Mikaela is busting my balls. She hates me. You want examples? Let me give them to you. I have thousands,” Brandon complains.

I groan at his dramatics, but this new bond with my baby brother also eases my spirits.

“Yesterday, she told me I was one brain cell away from being useless, because I called her and asked her where the cost report was. She busted through my office door, pushed my chair aside, and typed in my password. By the way, I never told her what it was. Are you sure you did a thorough background check before you made her the new executive assistant?”

“Stop whining, and yeah, I did.”

“I am going to have an alcohol problem because of her.” He gulps and asks, “How did the pregnancy happen?”

He didn’t just ask the most stupid question in history.

After a beat of silence, he says, “You wanted it.”

Will everyone draw the same conclusion? It’s not as if it will bother me.

“Ellia is having a difficult pregnancy, and she doesn’t want to come home. So, we’ll stay here for a while longer.”

“And then?”

What if after a month she says we’re done? What then?

No, I am not even entertaining our end. The only end we’ll have is when I am dead.

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