Page 43 of Mine to Keep

She shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Please stop.”

“I’ll never stop, Love. You’re so much a part of me that if you left, I would never recover.”

She started sobbing.

He pulled her against him and rubbed a hand up and down her back. “Shhh, it’s going to be okay, Love.”

She kept sobbing and couldn’t seem to stop.

“Let her get it all out,” Stacey said.

Laila cried for a few minutes before her energy gave out. She lay limply against him, trying to slow her breathing and gain back some semblance of strength.

Stacey cleared her throat. “I think you need to get herback into your room today. Right now, I’d take her upstairs, lay down with her, and hold her. Tell her how you feel over and over until she believes it.”

“Yes. That’s what we’ll do,” he said.

“If it’s okay with her, I’d like to come back in a few days to talk to her privately.”

Roland nodded. “Anytime. I just want her to feel better.”

Stacey stood and patted his shoulder. “I know you do. I’ll call later.” She bent and pressed a kiss to the top of Laila’s head. “If you need me at any time, Laila, call.”

Laila sniffed and nodded. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, Honey.”

They sat for a while, just holding each other before he picked her up and took them up the stairs and into their room. He shut and locked the door before stripping both of them and getting them situated on the mattress with her head on his shoulder and plastered against his side, and it felt like Heaven. Like coming home.

Chapter Twenty

Laila fought to stay awake, but being back in Roland’s arms made her feel peaceful and content for the first time in weeks.

The hand that continued to skate up and down her back made her desire, something she hadn’t felt for a while, start to rise. She thought it was too soon to tell him she needed him because she was afraid it would mess everything up.

Her emotions were so jumbled she couldn’t pinpoint one. The future she thought she had lost still made a darkness remain like a deep hole, but now there was a glimmer of light.

“I know we have a lot to talk about, but I can tell you’re tired,” he said. “The most important thing I need you to know and believe is I love you with every cell in my body, and I wasn’t kidding about you trying to leave. I’d never recover.”

Laila flattened her hand on his warm chest. “I love you so much it scares me. I want you to have everything you want to be happy, and I’m still afraid I’m not it.”

He cupped the side of her face. “Sweetheart, you’re the only person that can bring light into my life. You’re the only woman I can see myself with. Please don’t take that from me.”

She felt tears fill her eyes at his passionate plea. “I will never intentionally be away from you. You’re my whole world.”

His hand stroked over her body. “We will never be apart.”

He leaned down and started to kiss her. When he heard her moan, he lifted his head.

“Let’s take a nap, Pet.”

She shook her head. “Not yet. I need you. Please.”

He didn’t waste time and started kissing her. When she made a sound this time, he didn’t stop. He paid special attention to her breasts, and because of the pregnancy, they were highly sensitive.

“Tell me if I’m hurting you,” he said and then went back to sucking her tits. A tear came to her eye when she realized he’d moved down and was now kissing her stomach where their baby lay.

Roland glanced up at her. “I am so excited to start a family with you.”

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