Page 178 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

‘Stop!’she cried, and halted him with a raised open palm. ‘Our contract is void, Dante. I broke—’

‘It does not matter. I do not want to know. You are here now, Emma. We can continue as we agreed.’

‘We can’t,’ she corrected.

‘We can,’ he rasped. ‘Here with me, you can have it all. Physical pleasure. Security. Safety in my arms. Everything I have promised is yours.’

‘It isn’t enough anymore,’ she admitted, her chest tight and heaving. ‘I lo—’

‘Emma, don’t,’ he warned, his every feature tight. Drawn.Pained.

But she would. All her life she’d been running from her feelings, her needs, her secret desires. Afraid she’d turn out like her mum. Unloved and unwanted. But Emma was wanted. And she wanted to be loved.

Loved by him.

‘I’m in love with you,’ she said, and it felt freeing. Liberating. So she said it again, ‘I love—’

‘Do not say it again, Emma,’ he warned darkly.

‘I know right now you’re afraid.’

‘I am not afraid.’ His black gaze intense beneath arched brows, he said, ‘You have betrayed me, Emma. You have betrayed us both.’

‘I believed that too. It’s why I left. Why I wrote that note. I knew I’d betrayed us both. But those two versions of us,theybetrayedus,’ she corrected,

‘There is nous,’ he said.

‘Our parents. Our pasts. The ghosts of both, they are dragging us down, forcing us to deny our feelings, making us hide them underneath our fear. They are defining our lives, our relationships, because of their mistakes.’

‘Nobody defines me. I live my life my way, by my rules.’

‘You know that isn’t true,’ she said. ‘Your mother was the reason you had a vasectomy when you were all but a child.’

‘I was a man.’

‘You were a boy entering manhood the only way he could,’ she rejected. ‘You severed any potential threat that a child could be used against you. Because you have been taught, as I have, that people use other people for their own selfish desires. You’ve learned not to trust. Not to let anyone get close. Not to love anyone, or let them love you, because ultimately, they will betray you. That’s why you have so many rules. It’s why we had a contract. So you wouldn’t get attached. Because all the people who should have been attached to you emotionally, unconditionally, they abandoned you. So you created a world full of safety nets and get-out clauses for when things got too real. Too risky—’

‘Do not twist my words, Emma,’ he said. His voice was a low hiss of warning. ‘I meant,I mean, exactly what I said.’

‘I know,’ she soothed.

‘Do not try to placate me.’

‘I’m not. I meant every word I have ever said to you too, and we were both wrong,’ she said. ‘I won’t hide under false promises anymore. Or fake rules. To live a safe existence. To simply survive this life I’m meant to be living because I’m afraid. I will be free of them. I will exorcise those that wish to trap me in a life of fear. Of rules. Of contracts. Those who would deny me what I deserve. And I deserve to be cared for when I’m hurt. To be treated softly when I need soft. To be kissed passionately whenever I want. I will have it all. I will be loved.’

‘Do not use words when you do not understand the definition. We both know that love is a lie. There is only lust. There is only the body—’

‘I don’t believe that anymore. What about the soul?’ she asked. ‘You recognised mine the night we met. I recognised yours. We recognised each other. We were drawn to each other without rhyme or reason. Without logic. Our bodies knew, if not our minds, our hearts, that we belong together. We have lied to ourselves. We created rules and signed contracts to make the illogical logical. We gave ourselves a way to understand it. This connection between us. But it is deeper than sharing our bodies. We are—’

‘Compatible,’ he interjected. ‘In bed.’

‘We are soulmates.’

‘You are deluded.’

‘I am enlightened.’

‘I will call the doctor.’

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