Page 70 of Desperate Needs

Not like I cared about Clementine. This woman had gotten past all my defenses. She was inside of me now. I held a piece of her in my very soul and I planned on keeping her right there.

But I’d been brutish. I’d fucked up.

The idea that my behavior would send my little Darlin’ running made my lungs seize and my heart stutter.

I couldn’t allow that to happen. I clenched my fists, forcing myself to release them when her gaze flicked to where I held them tight to my body.

Stop fucking this up, I told myself.

Maybe listening to her now, instead of jumping to conclusions, would be a good start?

“No. For anyone who needs it because women and children aren't the only ones to suffer,” she whispered.

My heart squeezed.

I was right before.

My little Darlin’ is so damn good.

I didn’t deserve her.

One thing I knew for certain, I wasn’t worthy of this creature. But I was equally sure I couldn’t let her go.

Not now. Not ever.

“There was a boy in my high school, very wealthy, but shy. His father was a foreign diplomat, untouchable. I met him once or twice and all I remembered about him was that the man never smiled. Not when he met me and not when he looked at his son, Andrew. I knew he was strict, though. Very strict,” she whispered.

“Andrew was your friend,” I repeated her earlier statement, and I felt like an even bigger piece of shit than I already had for making assumptions.

“Yes, but I wasn’t a good friend.”

“Clementine,” I chided.

“No, just listen,” she said, and her voice had gotten all thick as tears rolled down her face.

I felt so helpless. I was the one hurting her, bringing all this up. But my burning curiosity wouldn’t let me make her stop.

Besides, I’d read somewhere confessions were good for the soul.

If my sweet Darlin’ had something plaguing her mind and heart, I wanted to be the one to hear it.

I wanted to be there for her like she deserved.

Chapter 29-Connor

I had to clench my jaw to stop the rising tide of emotions inside of me.

I wished I could erase this memory from her past. To free her from the burden of her misplaced guilt and hurt.

But doing that would change the woman she was. It was a moot point, anyway. I wasn’t God. she sucked in a breath, and I focused on her.

On her pauses and her breathing, all her carefully spoken words. Plus all the things she was not saying aloud.

“See, Andrew told me he was scared. That he thought his father was planning something. But I just shook it off. ‘Don’t be silly, Andrew. Your father loves you. He won’t care about your sexuality or anything else when you tell him.’ But I was stupid.”

“You’re not stupid,” I growled and moved closer, placing my hand on her hip and squeezing it reassuringly.

Touching her was the only thing stopping me from going out and hunting down the man responsible for all this pain my woman was in. I needed Andrew’s last name so I could hunt down his father, but I would do that, goddamn it.

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