Page 30 of Fall to Me
She wipes her cheeks with the back of her hand. “I really shouldn’t stay here. You don’t know what kind of hell you’re signing up for. I have nightmares that will probably wake you up and?—”
“I don’t need to read the fine print, River. I helped my sister through her trauma. Now let me help you,” I say, cutting her off.
Her bottom lip trembles, and she turns her head.
I gently guide her face back to me. “I know you don’t let people in very easily, but I’m not the bad guy here. Try to stayhere with me. Try to make it through the year. If you can’t, we’ll come clean.”
This is the most vulnerable I’ve ever seen her. The most real conversation we’ve ever had. I know this has to be hard on her. Hell, it’s hard on me too.
Releasing my hand, she huffs a breath and steps back. Maybe the weight of what I’ve said is too much too soon. She tilts her head to look up at the ceiling, her eyes closing tight. Finally, she lowers her chin and stares at me, nibbling on her bottom lip.
“Okay,” she breathes out. “I’ll give this whole new living situation a try, but I’ll warn you now, if you mess up, my daddy will hunt your ass down.”
I chuckle. “He already warned me that he would make my life a living hell.”
“Of course he did.” She sighs.
I slowly pull her into my arms and speak low against her temple. “I promise, Kitten. I won’t be fucking up.”
She nods and wraps her arms around my waist. I don’t know how I was able to talk her down, all I know is that she’s not running this time, and we’ve just crossed over another threshold.
Twelve
River
“Are these the last of the boxes?” Carter asks.
Peeking my head out of the closet, I open my mouth to answer him, but his phone rings, cutting me off. Holding up a finger, he pulls the device from his back pocket.
“Time out. Hold that thought,” he says.
I return to the closet and continue to sort through the clothes to take with me and the ones to donate.
“What do you mean?” he asks.
I peek around the corner again, finding Carter’s back to me. He threads his fingers through his tousled hair and . . . oh my God, those biceps.
He huffs a sigh. “No. Gianna’s great.”
Gianna? Who the hell is Gianna? He starts to turn around, and I quickly duck back into the closet.
“Yeah. Is she coming out here?”
Oh, hell no. My head pops back out again, and . . . fuck . . . I’m busted. The corner of his mouth quirks into a smirk whenhe spots me. Sauntering over, he lifts his hand and rubs up and down on the spot between my brows with a finger.
“Unwrinkle,” he whispers with a chuckle.
I bat his hand away and go back to sorting.
I know. You don’t have to point it out. Yes, I’ve been accidentally married, or whatever you want to call it, for a little over a week, and yes, I’m already acting like a jealous wife. But you know what? I don’t give a shit. If I’m forced to move in with him and make this marriage look like it wasn’t an accident, he most definitely won’t be seeing other women. That’s for damn sure.
I take the dress I plan to donate and hang it on the left side of the closet, then continue sliding the items I want to keep down the rack on my right. Carter wraps up his conversation and makes his way into the closet.
I huff a breath of air, trying my hardest not to be jealous. Part of me thinks I have every right to be, but then part of me doesn’t. God, this entire situation has me flipped inside out.
“Kitten?”
I turn around, looking anywhere but at him. “Yeah?”
