Page 86 of At the Edge of Surrender

While I held back, not sure what the hell I was supposed to do with myself.

What had I been thinking? Just…accepting his terms?

But in the moment, it’d felt like the only option I had.

My spirit flailed.

Itwasthe only option I had. There was nothing else I could do but agree to this because I sure as hell wasn’t just giving Maci up.

Getting through it was an entirely different story. Staying under the same roof with this man who made it feel like he was stealing the last whole part of me.

With the man who made it feel as if I was on a countdown to destruction.

All while my chest stretched tight at his care.

I shook myself out of it and hurried up the steps behind them. At the top, there was a landing that opened to hallways that ran down either side.

Kane moved down the hall to the left. Coming to a stop, he pointed at the first door on the right. “This is you, Emery.”

I swallowed around the rocks in my throat and inched toward it, faltering a bit when I stepped in.

I was not expecting what I found.

The room was lush and feminine.

Decorated in a deep plum and a whimsical peach.

It smelled faintly of paint, though a bunch of candles were burning from a shelf up high on the wall.

A huge antique bed with a black metal headboard sat on the far-left wall, and there was a giant window with a seat thatoverlooked the rambling lawn out back and the stream that snaked through at the edge of the forest in the distance.

“Hope you like it.” I startled when the rugged voice rolled over me from behind.

Chills skated along the nape of my neck and down my spine.

Fine hairs lifting in antsy anticipation.

I attempted not to show him I was affected as I turned to face him and set my bags onto the floor.

“It’s fine,” I told him.

Something akin to a smirk hitched the edge of his mouth. “Fine, huh?”

He definitely knew it was gorgeous.

“Hey, where’s my room?” Maci shouted from out in the hall, the hardwood planks clattering from her jumping in place.

Kane hesitated, as if he wanted to say more, before he gave and ducked back into the hall.

“The room right next door to your auntie’s,” he said, his grumbly voice echoing as they moved.

Little feet pounded, then Maci screeched, “What? This is the best room in the whole wide world! How did you even get this princess bed?”

Her joy vibrated through the wall.

My head spun. How had he done all of this? For her? For me?

A low tolling of laughter joined it. “Well, the second I found out you were coming to stay, I knew I had to get it ready.”

---