Page 96 of The Ring Thief
“I know.” My lips twitch at his strident tone, because he’s been going out of his way to remind me that this is nothing like thefirsttime. “It feels like we’re better this time around. Doesn’t it?”
He watches me solemnly before grabbing my left hand in his and strokes his thumb over my rings, his eyes drifting to watch the movement.
“I’ll always regret hurting you, Lily… but I’ll never regret that it gave me you. It makes me sound like such an asshole, but I don’t think we’d be standing here right now if it hadn’t played out the way it did.” He swallows thickly, glancing up at me through his lashes like he’s worried about my reaction.
“I don’t think we would be, either,” I say honestly. “I still…” My shoulders lift with the force of my breath, knowing we need to be honest with each other, but this feels especially vulnerable to admit. “Sometimes,” I stress, “I get stuck in my head, and I wonder… What if there was no history between our families? Would you even have noticed me if we’d met naturally, or would you just have kept on walking? I know you love me. I know that right to my bones. But there’s a voice that wonders what if you’d never agreed to his plan?”
He watches for a long moment, thumb still tracing over my rings, like he’s reassuring himself they’re there. The silence stretches between us until I feel heat bloom in my cheeks, and I’m fighting the urge to run and hide.
The corners of his mouth tug up into a small smile, both his handscupping my face and his forehead pressing into mine. Our faces are so close that our breath mingles, misty in the cool air.
“I was a coldhearted bastard,” he admits quietly. “I was… I wanted to prove Donald wrong. He was so sure that I was going to drive Nexus into the ground, but was never confident enough to let it happen naturally. Instead, he worked behind the scenes, whispering into the ears of the board, sabotaging deals and misappropriating funds. He was setting me up to fail, destroying his own legacy, because he couldn’t stand the idea that the son would surpass the father.”
He blinks rapidly, like he’s clearing the past from his vision, his dark brown eyes locking with mine. “When he put the plan to me, I agreed to his face, but I was on the fence about it. I knew he wasn’t a good man, and I didn’t believe for a second that Grant had been the one to do him wrong, not with what I knew of Donald.”
“What changed your mind?” I ask, my voice a whisper between us.
He shakes his head, forehead rolling against mine. “It was all you, Lily. Always. From that first moment, when the coffee went everywhere.” He rolls his eyes, voice dry. “Also something that wasn’t planned. But from then on, I saw a clear path to the future I wanted, and it didn’t involve Donald, his name, his company oranythingof his.” He smiles, brushing his nose against mine. “It was always you. I can’t tell you the moment I fell in love, because it was a gradual fall, starting from that first moment. There was no blinding moment where I justknew, because you nestled your way in and by the time I realized… it was too late.”
“You make me sound like a parasite,” I complain good-naturedly.
“But you’re such a pretty parasite,” he coos back, and I snap my teeth, pretending to bite him. “You wanna play, baby? I can play.”
Without any other warning, he’s throwing me over his shoulder, forcing a squeal of laughter out of me. He claps a hand against my ass, fingers lingering in a rough caress.
“But I gotta warn you,” he tells me, dipping his hand between my thighs teasingly. “I bite back.”
Epilogue - Declan
THREE YEARS LATER
Blue eyes stare up at me, full bottom lip pushed out into a pout.
I shake my head. “I said no, baby.” Those eyes overflow with tears, making them sparkle like crystals, and my heart clenches painfully in my chest. “Okay, one more, but that’s it.”
Maisie throws her fists into the air with a spine-chilling victory yell and then she’s running from the room, her socked feet sliding on the floors as she races for the kitchen. “Daddy said more!”
A minute later, Lily rounds the corner with an accusatory expression on her face, and our two-year-old in her arms, munching on a cookie. “Declan,” she starts, shaking her head. “You have to learn to say no to her.”
“She was gonna cry,” I protest half-heartedly. “It’d be like saying no to you whenyoucry.”
“That’s different,” she sniffs. “You shouldn’t be saying no to me, ever.”
“No say no to my momma,” Maisie adds shrewdly, eyeing me with a squint. “Momma right.”
My brows climb my forehead, watching as color blooms in Lily’s cheeks. “Oh, really?”
“I didn’t teach her that.” She clears her throat. “Sasha did.”
“Maze love Shashwa!” Maisie declares feelingly.
Lily brushes her nose against Maise’s, her eyes bright. “That’s right, buttercup. We love Sasha.”
“I could do without her,” I grumble. “Especially if she’s filling our baby’s head with lies.”
Lily’s eyes narrow. “What lies?” she asks dangerously, and I step back.
“Adam agreed to be my executive assistant," I announce, hoping to distract her. “It only took four months of convincing.” I frown. “And several additions to his contract, but seeing as I haven’t found anyone quite as efficient as him in over three years, I won’t complain.” I shrug.
