Page 46 of We Own Tonight
He releases a deep breath through his nose. “I won’t lie. I had no intention of ever having more with a woman, which is probably where all the rumors about my being a player come from. I don’t fuck around and play games, but I’m not known for having relationships. It’s been easier to keep my distance, and I’m always honest with the girls I’ve been involvedwith.”
I’ve heard all of that, which is what leads me to wonder what we’re doing here. Not that I need the promise of something magical, but I don’t need a guy who has a girl in another city,either.
My heart races as I prepare to ask my next question. “Then what do you want withme?”
His eyes are open, allowing me to see all his emotions. “More. I wantmore.”
“And what if you realize I’m not worthmore?”
He shakes his head. “What if you’re worth itall?”
“You’ve spent a few hours with me, Eli. Youcan’t—”
“I’m giving you my truth,” he interjects softly. “All I’m asking for is a little ofyours.”
The fear of falling for him is real. My mother and father left me, my husband left me, my sister will leave, and the last thing I want is to love someone else who will do the same. Eli doesn’t know anything about me at this point. Nothing past the superficial things. If I give him my truth, I’ll be giving him a part ofme.
Fuck it. Not like he can go anywhere while we are still in the middle of the ocean. Plus, if I’m going to do this, if he wants to try, he shouldknow.
“My sister is dying. She’s twenty-six and has Huntington’s disease, it’s a rare degenerativedisease.”
His eyes widen as he sucks in a breath. “I don’t even know what to say. Is there anything that can bedone?”
I shake my head. “No, it’s terminal. Stephanie’s disease has become my whole life.She’smy wholelife.”
Eli takes my hand in his. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how hard it is foryou.”
“Ha!” I laugh sardonically. “It’s excruciating. She was diagnosed at nineteen and since then, we’ve been on a downhill slope. My husband left me because Stephanie needed full-time care. I guess I wasn’t enough of a wife to him because I was too busy taking care of my dyingsister.”
“That’s why he left?” Eli asks with disgust dripping from hiswords.
I look in his emerald eyes and sigh. “He couldn’t handleit.”
“He sounds like a fuckingprick.”
That’s a nice way to putit.
“I’m telling you this now because whatever this is that we’re doing here can’t interfere with what I have to do for mysister.”
Eli’s hand tightens, and his head jerks back. “Interfere?”
“Yes, I won’t be able to follow you around to New York, and I can’t afford to spend time away from her. I can’t get caught up in this...thing with you and miss spending what little time I have with Stephanie. It’s what scares me. Well, that and the fact that you’re . . . you, and I’m not in your universe. I can’t allow myself to have regrets when it comes to mysister.”
“I would never want you to. I’m not asking you to give anything up. And as for your ex, he’s a piece of shit for making you think you should choose between your sister and a man. That’s ridiculous. I have a brother, and if it were him, I’d be at hisside.”
A part of my bruised heart heals a little. I look in his eyes and wait for some kind of change in his thoughts. Anything to tell me that he’s lying, but it never comes. “You can’t be this perfect,Eli.”
He laughs. “I’m far from perfect,baby.”
“You’re kind, funny, and unbelievablyhot.”
“Don’t forget a God in thebedroom.”
I shake my head. “Egotistical.”
“Keep going with all my stellar qualities,” henudges.
Instead, I lean forward and touch my lips to his. “Don’t make me think you’re great and then break myheart.”
