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I responded without hesitation. “I love you.”

We remained motionless, except for our panting breaths and the lingering pulse of his now softening cock.

After a minute or two, I looked over my shoulder and said, “We should get some sleep before the caterers arrive. Thank God it’s only going to be our closest friends this weekend. I don’t think I can do the pretend thing after tonight.”

He gave me a tight smile, pulling from my body, and then grabbed a bottle from the shelf, pouring a quarter-sized amount of shampoo into his hands. He turned me to face him, gathered my wet hair, and began to massage the sudsy liquid onto my scalp.

“What was that look for?” I asked, bracing my hands on his shoulders.

Veer rubbed harder but kept quiet.

Shit, he only went silent like this when I’d hurt him, and it seemed like that was all I ever did over the last few months.

“Veer.” I placed a hand on his.

“Jaci, drop it unless you want to hear the truth.”

He tilted my head under the cascading stream, working the shampoo away.

I wiped at the water in my eyes and glared at him.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean.” He began to lather his hair and then rinsed, ignoring me.

As soon as he was soap free, he opened the door to the shower and stepped out, grabbing a towel from the rack and wrapping it around his waist.

I shut off the water in a huff and followed behind him, jerking my robe from the hook on the wall and shrugging it on.

“Dammit, Veer. What do you want from me?” I pushed my wet hair out of my eyes. “I’m trying. I…”

Before I could finish my sentence, he had me pushed against the bathroom wall.

His face was a play of pain and fury. “You want to know what I want? I want to get married. I want to have children. I’m fucking thirty-five, and the woman I love refuses to marry me. What the hell do you think I want from you?”

He released me just as fast and walked out of the room.

Chapter Three

Around six thirtyin the morning, I woke, freshened up, and came down the steps leading to my kitchen. I yawned, trying to shake the last of my sleep from my mind. After Veer’s abrupt departure from the shower, we spent the remainder of the night wrapped in each other’s arms, doing everything to avoid the turmoil boiling between us, which meant we spent the night making love and losing ourselves in passion.

I moved toward the water kettle on the counter and set it to boil. Veer hadn’t started the coffee, telling me he’d probably spent the morning reviewing the real estate and technology endeavors he’d had to step away from when he’d taken his oath as governor.

I’d felt Veer leave my bed a little over an hour earlier. For some reason, the man rarely if ever slept past five. It was something I’d had the hardest time getting used to when we’d first started our affair. I wasn’t a late sleeper but waking at five every morning was too much for me to handle.

I picked up the French press, filled it to my desired level of Costa Rican coffee, and poured in the boiling water.

A newspaper sat on the counter, and I skimmed it as I waited for the rich brew to soak in all its flavors.

The headline read: “Texas Governor Opposes President’s Budget Plan.”

I shook my head, setting the paper back down, and poured two cups of coffee.

Veer had definitely disturbed a hornet’s nest when he’d called out President Henry Edgar’s budget plan. It wasn’t as if Veer’s views were unfounded—the president needed to revise his plan to encompass projects outside of his agenda. The issue was Veer had taken an aggressive stance against a conservative president in a conservative state, showcasing his liberal tendencies. Veer wasn’t playing politics, and there was a chance people would remember he was a liberal-leaning Independent during the next election and vote him out.

With cups in tow, I stepped out of the patio doors and onto the deck.

Veer sat relaxed on a deck chair, watching the river. There was a deep intensity in his gaze that made my throat burn.

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