Page 80 of Beautiful Sins

“I told you I’m not a perfect man. Sometimes I’m not even a good one. You said you liked that about me.”

“I like that we’re both imperfect and we can figure things out together,” I argue. “Not that you snap your fingers and make decisions regular people don’t get to make.”

He shoves out from under me and I nearly fall onto the concrete patio.

“There was no question about turning down Christian’s offer last summer, just as there was no question about sending Whelan to prison.”

He stalks to the end of the balcony.

“Because you always make the right decisions?” I shout after him.

He turns, the towel falling off his bleeding hand. “Because I fucking love you!” he roars.

Shock reverberates through my body.

He stares down at me, daring me to argue with him.

Harrison King loves me.

This man who buys and sells property, travels the world, pursues vendettas and does it all in a custom suit to hide behind the pain he’s endured and the enormous pressure he’s put on himself, loves me.

I cross to him and pick up the towel. Reaching for his hand, I wrap the clean side of the fabric around his knuckles again.

“I’m glad you didn’t get La Mer from Christian,” I say. “Because then I wouldn’t have you.” My hand slips between the buttons of his shirt, my fingers grazing the scar I know by memory. “People can mark us, but they can’t define us. We can move on and live again and trust again.”You taught me that. “What did Mischa win, really? A pile of concrete built by another man? You’ve taken a warehouse and dreamed it into a place people can be free and feel alive. It’s going to be spectacular. You can make your own legacy as someone who creates, not merely conquers. Tell me you want that.”

Because if he does, he’ll find a way to get it. This man I fell for without wanting to.

His chest heaves, his beautiful blue eyes clouded with pain of his own. He reaches down with his good hand to brush a tear I never noticed from my face.

“I want to want it.”

The cuff on my wrist catches the light, and when he lifts my hand and presses his lips to my wrist right below the bracelet he bought to tell me he wasn’t leaving, I feel a glimmer of hope for him.

Hope for us.

24

Rae

“Shit. We’re supposed to bring a gift,” I call as I fasten my earrings in front of the powder room mirror.

“Only if you want to be invited back.”

“It’s Tyler and Annie’s housewarming. They’re not going to un-friend us, right? And he’s already been living there for ages.”

I duck into the hall to see Harrison stepping into his shoes at the front door. He looks breathtakingly sexy in dark trousers and a button-down shirt. No jacket.

It’s a win.

The past two weeks have been a struggle, but we’re moving forward. I can tell he’s having a difficult time, but he always finds a smile when I’m around. I wish he didn’t try so hard for my sake.

One piece of good news is that Zachary Whelan is in jail and was denied bail. But thanks to the delays in the planning department, some of the most important renovations at the new club are on hold. It’s eating at Harrison.

“I have a gift for you,” I inform him as we step into the elevator and hit the button for the ground floor.

I hold out the notification on my phone.

“The zoning was approved?”

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