Page 138 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

“Violet—”

“I won’t sic my family on you. I promise,” I added, feeling more tears falling.

“VIOLET!” Chris shouted and made me jump.

I finally looked up at him, but instead of looking angry, he looked worried.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

“But, I’m brok—”

“STOP,” he growled. “There’s nothing about you that is broken. I’m not in any rush. I just want to be with you. We’ll work on this the way we work on everything else.”

“What if I’m never—”

“Then, we kiss. A lot.” He demonstrated it by dipping down and kissing me.

“I—”

“I love you.” He stopped my protest.

“But I—”

“I loveyou.Nothing you say is going to change that, other than you don’t want me to be with you anymore.”

“I love you,” I whispered back.

His eyes lit up, and it occurred to me I didn’t say it back when he first said it.

“Good. Now, what did I do that triggered you?” he asked.

I shuddered against the memory, and he pulled me closer to him.

“What you said. He said it, too... the first time,” I answered so quietly that I only knew he heard me by the way he tensed and buried his head in my neck.

“Thank you. I’ll watch those words for the future. The kisses were okay? What I was doing?”

“Yes,” I answered, looking up at him when he withdrew. “Your touch is so gentle. They never—It doesn’t remind me of how they treated me.” I couldn’t keep eye contact with him as I said the words, but he took my chin and moved my face until I was looking up at him again.

He bent down and kissed me, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and opened my mouth to his probing tongue. He slid us down until we were lying on our sides again.

“Are you sleepy?” he asked.

I nodded, pouting a little. Aside from sleeping like poop for the last two weeks, today had been draining. The half hour I waited to see if he would show up felt like each minute was an hour long.

“Me too. Let’s go to sleep.” He pulled the covers over both of us, and I snuggled in closer. I closed my eyes and let sleep claim me.

Iwoke up to my alarm blaring nearby. I reached out for it, only to hit a warm chest. I opened my eyes, and everything that happened last night came rushing back, and instantly I was awake. I looked up at Chris, who was looking for the phone sleepily. He grabbed it and passed it to me so I could shut off the alarm.

Once the annoying sound was gone, I closed my eyes again.

“What has more lives than a cat?” he asked.

I smiled, refusing to open my eyes.

“What?”

“A frog. Because it croaks every day.” I started giggling. I sat up and looked down at the man smiling up at me.

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