Page 114 of The Promises We Break

I choose you.

“That look fits you better. So much more than that scowl you had when you walked in.”

I’m shocked and questioning my sanity.

I crane my neck around the kitchen island and take one step toward the living room.

It’s as if all the air deflates from my body as I drink her in.Standing in our home, gorgeous as ever, with a beaming smile on her face and both suitcases at her feet.

“What can I say? I only have this look when I know you’re mine.” She bites down on her bottom lip and tucks her hair behind her ear, like she does when nerves get the best of her.

“Are you mine?” I ask, rubbing the nape of my neck, pinching myself at the same time.

I can see her chest expand, like she needs air.

“Wait, I don’t mean that in some possessive, controlling way. I mean that in the ‘I love you so fucking much and I will do whatever it takes to work this out between us’ way. I want to be a part of giving you everything you dream of, not holding you back. I want?—”

“I know,” she interrupts, beyond calm.

“That’s it?” I ask, so fucking confused.

“Well, it took a few hours, a view from thirty thousand feet in the air, and one conversation with the right person, to realize the mistake I was making. It was sort of a perfect storm of epiphanies.” She smiles, that gorgeous glowing smile of hers.

“I also saw a news article, about my parents,” she tilts her head to the side, eyeing me deeper, “and somehow, I think a divine intervention by the name of Seamus Matthews had something to do with that.” Giving me a knowing look.

My eyebrows reach my forehead as I put my hands up in surrender. I open my mouth, unsure if I’m going to defend myself or deny yet.

“I don’t want to know, and I don’t care,” she adds.

My hands fall to my sides.Thank fucking god.

“I’m a little slow on the whole relationship slash love thing. So it may have taken me longer to get here, but this is my home,youare my home, and… I love you. I just didn’t know how to say it before, but I love you so much.”

“Fuck.” A smile beams out of my chest, and my legs instantly stalk over to her. I grab her, one hand cupping herface and the other gripping her waist so tightly I swear I’ll never let go.

“You’re really here?” I ask, between kissing her lips, chin, jaw, anywhere my lips lead. My eyes are squeezed painfully shut, afraid if I open them she’ll be gone.

“I’m here for as long as you’ll have me.” She tilts her head back, giving me more access to the column of her neck as I trace lips over her creamy skin.

“Forever, little red, forever. And that’s not long enough.” I pick her up as she wraps her legs around my waist. Nothing is stopping me now that she’s in my arms, back in our home, and the turn of events in the last few minutes has my mind spinning and body desperate to reclaim every part of her.

I carry her down the hallway and into our room. “I hope you slept on the plane.”

58

EMBER

“Ineed you.” His words are desperate, in a way I’ve never heard. It just solidifies my reasoning for telling Corbin that I couldn’t take the job and had too much more I needed to do here. Not just with Ford, XConnect, and Afterburn, but the most important part of my future. The man who desperatelyneedsme. This man. The one who has loved me so unconditionally that I was blind to for too damn long.

Saying “I choose you” was quite literally that. Because I will always make choosing him a priority, like he’s chosen me.

He’s always been the most respectful gentleman, even in bed, when he takes control and dominates my body. But tonight, he’s unleashed. I can feel it in the way his fingertips latch onto my body as his hands roam every inch of me.

Buttons fly everywhere as he tears the front of my top open and pulls the cups of my bra down over my breasts. Pushing them up even further, giving his mouth closer access to my hardened nipples.

I gasp as his lips pucker around the firm tips, and I roll my hips into him in response.

“I don’t care what job you get, where you go, or what youwant to do. We’re in this together. Do you understand?” He stops kissing me to cup both my cheeks. His soft but inky eyes gaze into me, and his playful tone is replaced by something grave.

---