Page 95 of Rivals & Revenge

"Are you done?" she growled. "We are not saying goodbye."

She pushed off me and stomped from the room, making sure I heard every step as she descended the stairs and slammed the front door.

I sighed heavily, scrubbing my fingers through my hair.

"What was that all about?" Connor asked, meeting me at the bottom of the stairs.

An incredulous laugh bubbled up through me. "I told her I love her."

She swatted my chest. "Seriously? Now? What the hell is wrong with you?" she whisper yelled, punctuating every word with a swat to my arm.

"That girl has never been loved; not really. If this doesn't go our way—if I don't walk away from this—I need her to know she was loved."

"I guess that makes sense," she murmured.

"Your apology is not accepted." I gruffed, swiping my keys from the hook by the door.

"Your timing still sucks."

"Acknowledged. Next time a deranged cow decides to play games with our lives, I'll make sure to call a timeout before I say sweet words to my lover. Better?" I snarked.

"Your terms are acceptable."

"Clearly, the real threat has always been the two of you teaming up against me." I grumbled, closing the door behind us.

Chapter 50

TIERNEY

After the third conversation Ahren tried to start, he figured out I wasn't in the mood to chat and let it drop. I ignored him the entire ride, choosing instead to research the house the best I could. Plugging the GPS coordinates into a search engine gave me a wealth of information about the property, including the floor plan and even a clear aerial view of that damned maze. Ahren said he had that handled, but I wasn't going to hold my breath that he was great at mazes or whatever.

His words caught me off guard and I needed time and space to process them, neither of which was possible at the moment. He loved me? Me? What the fuck was I supposed to do with that? Aside from dying happy, this perfect man with a beautiful heart, wicked smile and a body carved by the gods—found something in me worthy of love.

Gravel crunched beneath the tires as we turned off the smooth asphalt, stealing my attention from my phone.

My eyes finally met his, finding nothing more than tenderness, but in true Rossdale fashion, not a trace of remorse.

"We're about ten minutes out. I get that you're pissed. Good, get pissed. But I need you to put aside your irritation with me and remember, we are a team. Channel all that shit into killing this bitch, and I promise to let you work out your frustrations when we get home."

"I can do that. It's not that I'm angry, just—overwhelmed maybe. I didn't know we were at the pretty words stage of the relationship. I don't have any for you."

"Tierney," he whispered my name, dropping the "r" like he was too good to bother with the offending letter. "I'm not gonna lie. I want you to love me, too. But I can wait for you to feel it. No rush."

"Connor, you know the plan."

"Yep." she nodded, sounding more confident than I had heard since the kidnapping. "Don't worry about me."

His hand cradled my face, his thumb ghosting across my cheek, and I leaned into his touch.

"I've never loved anyone—I swear. Honestly, I didn't think I was capable. If I could go back, I would take that first rose and knock on your door and introduce myself. Start all of this long ago and have six more years to love you."

The first tear fell, and I swiped it away angrily. "You know you have shitty timing."

He laughed, "so I've been informed."

He pressed a soft, tender kiss to my lips. "Now, let's go kill this bitch. Burn this shit down and salt the earth."

I nodded. "Make sure no one ever pulls this shit with us again." I agreed.

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