Page 38 of Forbidden Passion

She turned abruptly and couldn’t prevent the whimper she tried to hold back and went to the closet for some clothing. She came out and dumped the clothes into the suitcase.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked.

She hated to hear the anguish in his tone, but she couldn’t comfort him when she was barely holding on.

She stood in front of him with her head bowed. “I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do. I’d never do that to you because I lo … care too much for you.”

“Look at me, Angel.”

She couldn’t help but flinch at the nickname he’d given her, but she raised her head.

“I don’t want us to end,” he said.

“I don’t either.”

Silence filled the room.

“We can still see each other, Dominik. I can’t see my life without you.”

“Then why the fuck are you leaving?” he burst out.

“Because you haven’t asked me to stay!” she yelled.

She wrapped her arms around her waist and waited. More silence. She couldn’t take much more.

“So, I guess I’ll keep packing,” she said and turned from him.

“I want you to stay.”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “I don’t think I believe you. This is what I was afraid of.”

“What?” he asked, confused.

“Of pushing you into doing something you don’t want but think you have to.”

“You’re not making me do anything, Angel. I want you to stay.”

“Then why haven’t you said anything sooner? Why wait for me to pack to ask?”

“I didn’t think I’d have to say anything. I thought you knew.”

She threw her arms out. “How?”

“You know I love you…”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t.”

His brows snapped together. “I say it all the time.”

She looked at him in shock. “Dominik, you’ve never told me you love me or that you want me to stay.”

He looked confused. “Bull, I know I have said it.”

She shook her head again. “Think about it.”

She watched as he thought about what she was saying. She knew the instant he realized she was right.

“Fuck, Angel, I swear I feel like I say it twenty times a day.”

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