Page 23 of Promised Vows

Will you please walk off a bridge? Sure, I’d love to. I needed to find my no that didn’t seem to apply to him. The whole conversation happened in my head as I strolled over to the couch and sat down.

Ari pulled me across his lap, wrapped his arms around me, and held me. That’s it. Silence filled my apartment to the point I could hear my heartbeat. Eventually, I leaned my head against his shoulder and snuggled closer.

I kept waiting for him to ask questions. To probe and prod. He didn’t. Why didn’t he? I had salacious information he needed to pull from me. He had no clue there was a chance if we chatted long enough, I might’ve spilled my guts.

“You’re not going to ask me what’s wrong?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

“You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”

Silence stretched while I chewed on that. “You’re not going to try to fix it?” They’d be blind solutions, but men were fixers. Every boyfriend I’d ever had seemed incapable of simply listening.

“I can’t fix what I don’t know.”

I leaned back so I could look him in the eyes. “Why? Why don’t you want to know? Or want to fix things?”

His hand came to my face, thumb caressing my cheek. “When you decide to pour your heart out to me, I’ll be here, hands cupped, waiting to catch you. Until then, I’ll hold you. Maybe that’s all you need anyway. You don’t always need me to slay your dragons. Maybe you only need someone to guard you while you figure out what to do with them.”

My fist landed on his solid chest. I didn’t hit him hard. I was frustrated. “I swear you always have the right answer. You’re driving me crazy. Why can’t you be…a pain in my butt!”

Humor reflected in his eyes. “One of these days I will be. I’m going to say the wrong thing. I’m going to make you so angry you’ll want to kill me in my sleep. I want you to have all these moments for those times when I fail you. So you have something to hold on to. To remind you that I’m redeemable.”

I should have brushed my teeth. My tongue darted across my bottom lip as my eyes dropped to his mouth. My head was screaming about donut breath and my heart and other parts were saying to heck with it. Kiss me, Romeo. Please.

“No.”

My eyebrows knitted together. “No, what?”

“I came over when you’d been crying. You can beg until kingdom comes, but I won’t kiss you.”

“How—”

Those lips lifted in a smug, lopsided grin I wanted to smack right off his face. “Your body does a lot more talking than your mouth.”

I wanted to be mad, but how could I be? Men had been handsy with me in the past, taken advantage of situations, and been smarmy. He was being chivalrous. “Fine.” I slumped against him, flattening my hands against his chest, and sighing. “Then hold me. I need you to hold me.”

“As long as you want me to.”

And with that statement, I smiled and waved as my heart went right over the cliff.

My dragon flapped its wings and my vision filled with Papa’s visit. What was I going to do about that?

Why did it feel like the universe had painted a giant target on my face in a game of dodgeball? I needed everything to stop long enough for me to catch my breath. Give me five minutes, universe, five minutes. Please.

Chapter Ten

ARI

Jason and I needed to talk about a couple of things. First, I needed to convince him to meet with Lucas and Gabriele Moretti.

Lucas had called me and told me he was following Claire. She’d snuck out that morning without telling Lucas where she was going. Then he’d gone radio silent for hours. It was unlike him, and by the time he called me, I was preparing for a war.

He’d handed down the law about his new bride. He wouldn’t tolerate any more disrespect towards her. I understood why when he said she’d given him proof that Franklin was responsible for Gianna’s and Dad’s deaths. I’d made up my mind right then. I’d step in front of Claire and take a bullet for her. Then he’d dropped C4 on me. She’d met with a lawyer and found out that the trust was already hers. She’d signed the trust over to him. The entire thing.

Before I arrived at Jason’s office, he’d informed me that Franklin was working with Marco and that they’d been working together for years, and they’d figured out we were the ones hitting his sex-trafficking ring. They were gunning for us. They’d made a big play, pretending like Marco was trying to take Claire. It was all part of the plan. By the time the meeting took place, I’d have all the information about Franklin neat and tidy.

Lucas had expressly told me not to tell Jason any of the information until the meeting. My hands were tied in that regard. Jason would learn everything at the same time Gabriele did.

When he’d ended the conversation asking me about Anna, I’d lied. Admitting anything more than that my marriage was simply fulfilling a duty to my family wasn’t something I wanted to divulge yet. Whatever it was, it was new, it was mine, and I wasn’t in the mood to share yet.

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