Page 95 of The Bonds We Break
“No, because it’s an avoidance strategy you are really successful at deploying. As tempting as you are, we need to talk first.”
“Then why are we getting naked?”
34
KING
Rae smiles. And fuck me if it doesn’t knock me over. She’s here. And she’s not a ghost. I think about the gift I have for her. I think about her standing in the middle of the club with the audacity to shout me down. To set my boys straight.
And all I can think about is how much I want her with me, now and for the rest of our lives.
“We’re getting naked so we can have an honest conversation,” she replies.
“We get naked and the only honest conversation you’ll be having is with my cock.”
She shimmies her leggings and panties down her legs. “Then you should be swift by being honest with me and not making me work you through it.”
I strip, then stroke my cock. It’s harder than the fucking skillet I bashed her father’s head with. That’s why she’s here. She knows it was me. Like I intended. I didn’t know it would lead us here though. I thought of it more as a parting gift. I’d thought about what Gwen had said, that I should ask Rae what she wanted, but I was still convinced that once I’d properly explained my world to her, she’d see I was right. That this world wasn’t for her. Punishing her father was simply to show her that even though we couldn’t be together, I’d always be there for her. I’d protect her with every part of me, even my life.
“You beat my father up,” she says as I slide in bed next to her.
I pull her to me. We’re on our sides. All the good bits are pressed up where they should be. I sigh with how incredible it feels to be wrapped around her. “You smell good.”
“You need to focus.”
“I did beat your father up. With a hot skillet. Like you imagined. I wanted to give you that peace because I love you—which, for the record, you didn’t say back yet.”
She smiles. “I’m still deciding. I need a little more information before I come to any conclusions.”
“That ten-hour drive wasn’t enough time to figure it out?”
“What was it about that day that made you leave? I went and got the wine. We made love on the table. We had a wonderful day. And then I woke up and you were gone.”
There’s hurt in her voice. “You were wet.”
Her eyes go wide. “What?”
I kiss her softly, taking a moment to nibble on her lip and slide my hands down her back to squeeze her ass. “You were wet. You came in, all windswept and smiling, and literally took my breath away. You took the wine I poured you, showed me how fucking brave you were. How committed you were to getting past all these triggers that you have from your dad. Alcohol. Food. I was in awe of your strength. And then I stepped back to strip as you pulled your legs up onto the table, and I saw you were wet.”
“I was?” Lines crease between her eyes. “I still don’t get why that made you leave.”
I take a deep breath. “You didn’t need all those lists of accelerators and brakes. You needed to trust someone wholeheartedly. Not an intellectual trust, like ‘I don’t think this person will hurt me.’ But a soul-deep, gut-wrenching, heartbreaking level of trust. You trusted me with every piece of you, Rae. You gave every part of yourself to me. A deal I should never have forced you to make. And you did it anyway. And I just looked at you, lying there on the table, so beautiful and perfect, letting me make love to you, and I just knew I couldn’t bring you anything good.”
She threads her fingers through my hair, and I shiver down my spine at how good it feels. “It wasn’t about me, that I wasn’t enough?” Her voice is so small, I want to smash a skillet against my own skull for being so careless with my actions.
“No,” I say, almost shouting before I rein it in. “God, no. It was that you deserved so much more out of life than me and my club.”
She nods in understanding. “I kinda like your club. Not all of them. But most of them.”
“I meant what I said, duchess. I love you. I hope you’re here because that’s enough for you. I want you to move here. Be with me. Build a life with me. I get it if the club is too much for you. I’ll try to keep you separate from it if you want, but I hope you’ll give them a chance. Even Niro.”
She chuckles at that.
“I’m serious, Rae. Be the queen to my king. I don’t think I can do it if you aren’t by my side doing it with me.”
Rae screws up her nose a little as she thinks. “Here’s the deal.”
“Ah, yes. The unwieldy deal. Hit me with your best terms.”
