Page 126 of The Bad Wedding Date

“Because it’s fucking important, Charlotte, that’s why.”

“More important than me?”

His eyes searched mine for what felt like a lifetime before he rose to his feet, pushed a hand through his hair, and paced the room. “Jesus, that’s manipulative. You and what I do are two very different and very separate things.”

“Really, Fraser? Because from where I’m sitting, it seems like my life and what you do are very much entwined right now.”

He stopped in his tracks to look at me, his hand falling to his thigh with a slap.

I raised my brows at him. “For someone so adamant on getting me to speak the truth, you sure do seem to want to hide your own.”

He tilted his head to one side, his eyes turning sad. “Don’t you think I’ve thought about how shit it was of me to drag you into this mess? I know what I did, Charlotte, but I can’t regret it because it led me to you, and you are…” He closed his eyes before he opened them and turned his hand over in the air. “Fuck, you’re…”

“What, Fraser?”

“You’re suddenly everything to me.”

His sincerity winded me. That truth he’d set free floated through the air only to smack me straight in the chest and steal all my breaths. Something so simple. Something so pure. Something that made everything else drift away until all I could see was him.

Making my way across the room, I stopped in front of him, not touching any part of his body but needing to be close.

“I need you to promise me something.”

He didn’t respond. That silence lingered, holding the weight of the room above us.

“Whatever happens with Penn, you involve me every step of the way.”

Fraser scowled. “Charlotte, that’s—”

“Non-negotiable,” I finished. “It’s me he’s gone after. I have the right to find out why and be a part of deciding what happens to him.”

“And if I say no?”

“I’ll walk out of this room and find a way to get to him and figure it out for myself.”

Fraser reached up to tuck my hair behind my ear, shaking his head. “Is this how you get your own way? Forcing my hand so I have no choice but to go along with what you say?”

“I’m not forcing your hand. You can let me go anytime you like.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Never,” I breathed. “But I’ve been around people who have told me what to do and tried to silence me my whole life. If you and I are going to be a part of each other’s futures, you need to know who I am from the start, and I’m not the kind of woman to sit back and be told what to do when the shit hits the fan.”

“A part of each other’s futures, huh?”

“Yes.”

Dropping his hand to my waist, he tugged me closer until my body was flushed with his, and I stared up at his towering form. Fraser was a giant with a small damsel in his grip, yet he looked at me like I held all the power, and he was at my mercy.

“It’s hard to argue with anything you say when you look at me like that,” he said.

“Like what?”

“Like I’m the only thing you see in the world that’s worth fighting for.”

“You are,” I answered honestly.

Lowering his head to rest against mine, he flexed his fingers into the small of my back. “Okay. I promise to involve you every step of the way with Penn… but you have to promise me something, too.”

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