Page 92 of Rebellion

“Because I never did anything to try to alleviate that stress. Because I didn’t push harder to find out the truth. I didn’t wantyou to retreat from me, so I avoided topics I thought might make you run. But I shouldn’t have because it put you at risk.”

She was confused. How had he put her at risk? Was he talking about last night?

“What happened last night wasn’t your fault,” she told him. “Oleg kidnapping me wasn’t something that anyone could have predicted.”

“Wasn’t talking about that, lass,” he said as he forked up some omelet and held it to her lips. “Eat.”

“I can feed myself.”

“Hmm, I’ve yet to see evidence of that.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

He popped the omelet in before she could close her mouth again.

So sneaky.

“You’ve lost a lot of weight. You haven’t been eating. I don’t remember you ever eating at the restaurant. You were too busy running around putting out fires that your manager should have taken care of.”

Oh. Right.

“If I had dug deeper into what was going on with you, then I could have ensured that you were eating properly. And getting enough sleep. And I could have kept you safe from that ass-pig.”

She decided to be brave and reached over to cup his hand with hers. “You can’t take on all my shit as your own.”

“Ah, lass. That’s exactly what I intend to do.”

He was joking, right?

“But last night was just last night . . . you said that just for a few hours I’d be . . . well, I would be . . . um . . .”

“Mine,” he stated as he forked up some more of the eggs. She had to admit they were delicious, but her stomach was churning and she wasn’t sure she could eat anymore without it coming back up. “Open up.”

“Colm,” she whispered.

“Don’t worry about it right now, baby. I’ll take care of it all.”

She closed her eyes. How could she explain all of it? Make him see?

Because they still couldn’t be together, which is what he seemed to want.

God, Colm Finlayson wanted her.

It was her every wildest fantasy coming to life.

But it wouldn’t work.

There was no way. Sacha wouldn’t allow it to happen and she couldn’t lose him. Either of them.

Not to mention the fact that she was... broken.

That was the only word she could come up with to describe herself.

Oleg had broken her.

And now she couldn’t see a future in which she got to be happy. Where she could be free of all the restrictions. Of all the fear and worries.

While she enjoyed his touches and kisses... she couldn’t help but think he’d get sick of all of her issues.

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