Page 116 of The Bad Wedding Date

She swallowed discreetly, the image I’d planted in her mind drawing goosebumps on the exposed parts of her arms.

“I’m not telling you to do this to be a controlling arsehole, Charlotte. I’m doing it to keep you safe because the idea of someone hurting you because of me makes me want to lose control and kill the first person I can get my hands on.”

Her expression flinched as soon as the word ‘kill’ passed my lips, but she soon composed herself, hoping I hadn’t seen it. I hated that reaction, but I couldn’t blame her for it. I never wanted her to be scared in my company, no matter where we were, who we were with, or what we were discussing.

If Charlotte was going to end up with me, she’d eventually need to know everything I was capable of, including the things that would no doubt make her think about running.

“I’m sorry.” I held my hands up. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s just… I care.”

With a soft nod, as though those four words hadn’t surprised her half as much as they’d surprised me, she whispered, “I know,” and something about her acquiescence made my chest lighter. Her cheeks flushed again, and those words hung in the air, the admittance something I couldn’t and wouldn’t want to take back.

The trust she gave to me so soon into our time together didn’t go unappreciated. All I could do was hope that, over time, I proved worthy of it… wherever this thing between us ended up.

Or if it ended altogether.

Charlotte made the call to the care home in front of me, her arse perched on the back of the sofa while she explained to someone called Jean that she’d been feeling a little rough for a few days, which had led to her fainting earlier that day—a lie we figured would buy us enough time to get our shit sorted out. It didn’t take much to convince Jean. Apparently, Charlotte never phoned in sick and was always on hand to cover everyone else’s shifts, which put her in a good light with the management.

I didn’t expect anything less from the selfless Charlotte Grant, who was proving that not everyone with the same DNA had the same outlook on life. Her family were dark souls made of greed. She was bright white, bringing nothing but light wherever she roamed.

When the call ended, she dropped her phone behind her onto the sofa cushion, her hands falling beside her as she looked at me, as though she couldn’t take her sad eyes away.

Fuck, I hated that look.

It was the first time I saw her staring at me as though defeated, and it took me a second to realise how different all of this would be for her in her usual routine since she decided to make a life for herself away from her family.

Walking over, I held her gaze, pulling a hand free from my trouser pocket to reach up and hold her delicate chin between my finger and thumb. It was becoming a habit, holding her this way. She felt like a fragile china doll in my rough, oversized hands. It was the perfect reminder of how different we were and how careful I had to be.

“I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I know,” she whispered, but I saw a flicker of uncertainty there. I couldn’t blame her. She had no idea of my past or the lengths I was willing to go to protect the ones I loved.

Loved.

That word floated around my head, bouncing off the walls of my mind until my heart started to race with excitement. I pushed it all away, silencing it with thoughts of the shower still running behind us and how I had Charlotte to myself now.

“Take a shower with me.”

Her slow smile made my chest ache. “Say please.”

Before she could get any sassier, I kissed her because if I hadn’t, words would have started tumbling out of my mouth. Words I couldn’t take back. Those eyes of hers I loved so much closed, and that little moan of satisfaction bubbled in her throat.

Pulling back after leaving her unsteady on her feet, I pressed my forehead to hers. “Please?”

“Okay, but only because you used your manners.”

“So charitable of you.” I picked her up, forcing her to wrap her legs around my waist as I walked her back towards the bathroom, which was now covered in clouds of steam.

It didn’t take me long to undress the two of us. Charlotte’s eyes never wandered from mine, not even when I dragged her clothes down her legs, including her underwear. Something about this moment seemed more intimate than all the others we’d had before it, and I was grateful for the sound of the shower behind her. It drowned out the rapid thumping of my heart as I walked Charlotte back into the water, holding her carefully until it rained down over her head, making her blink rapidly and suck in a breath when the heat of it hit her pebbled skin.

She never looked away from me, though. Not once.

Whatever she was feeling, wondering, or questioning, she was searching my eyes to look for the answers she needed, or maybe even a mutual understanding there somehow. I had no idea if I was able to give her what she looked for; my thoughts were a jumbled mess of my own. But the moment I picked her back up and let her wrap her wet legs around my hips, and I pushed inside of her slower than ever before, we both hitched in an unexpected breath and stilled.

And something about that single moment told me that things weren’t just changing for me anymore.

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