Page 50 of The Locksmith's Promise

I hesitated, not wanting to lead him on or take what I wouldn’t give back. But his coat smelled like him and carried the heat from his body, and I couldn’t resist.

Nodding slowly, I drew back, ripping my velcroed heart from his.

I rubbed my palm over my chest. “We have to establish some boundaries,” I blurted.

He nodded. “What do you need?”

To turn back time.

“We need to focus on how we’re going to co-parent Corwin as friends,” I stated firmly, fighting the wind for mastery over my hair. “We can’t entertain romantic ideas. We tried this once before and it ended in disaster.”

“Maggie,” he began.

I tipped my chin up and cursed the tears in my eyes. “Bax, I can’t afford another disaster.”

He regarded me steadily, then tucked his fingers into his jeans’ pockets. “If that’s what you want, I’ll abide by it until we find our equilibrium with Cor.”

I shook my head. “No, you don’t understand. You don’t know what it was like for me after I left. I was a mess,” I continued, words running out of my mouth like a runaway freight train. “I couldn’t breathe or function. I couldn’t get out of bed. I can’t go back to that place.”

“You won’t have to,” he stated. “You’ll never have to go to that place again. Not because of me.”

I wanted to believe him. If I didn’t have Corwin to consider, I might have even allowed myself to try again with Baxter.

I still loved him.

Seeing the gentle man he’d become, I loved him more.

And it terrified me.

I trembled. “Can we please just be friends?”

“Whatever you need.”

I searched his eyes. “That’s it?”

He nodded shortly. “That’s it? That’s everything. My entire mandate, purpose, goal, however you want to explain it. Whatever you need, I will deliver.”

My shoulders fell, in disappointment or relief, I couldn’t tell.

“On one condition.”

My eyes snapped back up to his.

He smoothed his big hands over my hair and gathered it into a ponytail at the back of my head.

My eyes fluttered shut as desire rolled through me.

My head fell back in his hands as he gripped my hair in his fist and cupped his other hand around my face.

When his thumb stroked my bottom lip, I trembled.

“One day, you let me explain.”

Lost in a haze of sensuality, it took a moment for his words to sink in.

I straightened and swallowed tightly.

Did I owe him that?

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