Page 116 of Forbidden Romeo

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Getting Jack into the car and back to the mansion was an ordeal in itself. Between insisting he could walk on his own, then promptly getting too dizzy to stand straight, we only just managed to stumble back to his room in one piece.

“Lie down,” I instruct, and Jack promptly falls into bed with a groan.

I wander into the bathroom to find some aspirin, but when I return, Jack is looking at me expectantly.

“You’re not sleeping on the couch tonight,” he states, determination and stubbornness written over his face.

I walk over and hand him the pills, but back away when he tries to reach for my hand. “I’ll stay in Kate’s room.”

“Please, Aimee…” His hazel eyes bore into mine. “Let’s not fight anymore.”

There is so much I should say, confess, and apologize for. But tonight, he needs to recover.Ineed to recover.

I back away.

“Don’t leave me again,” he whispers. The vulnerability in his voice almost shatters my resolve, but I stride forward and flick off the lights, grabbing the door handle determinedly.

This is the right thing to do. It’s too complicated to sort through everything right now. I’m being smart and careful. I’m looking afterme.

“I…” I hesitate in the doorway. “I missed you too.”

My words hang in the air, and my heart starts to beat faster and faster.

“Come here,” Jack whispers into the darkness.

My feet move before I have a chance to process his words. He reaches for me as I approach the bed, and I meet his embrace, easily slotting into the crook of his arm as I lie next to him. Then carefully, avoiding his side, his jaw, we wrap around each other so tightly, it’s impossible to say where he starts and I begin.

His hand strokes the back of my head, and my fingers scrunch into his shirt. My mouth gasps in his scent as he nuzzles into my shoulder. Our intertwined legs tangle and detangle, then tangle again.

We cling to each other like a lifeline.

All the anger, all the doubt, and all the denial melt away in the intensity of the embrace. Everything suddenly feels so stupid. Why were we avoiding each other? Why were we fighting? Why were we denying ourselvesthis?

“What can I do to help you trust me again?” he whispers against my skin.

Nothing. Everything.

“I don’t know,” I answer truthfully. “I want to.”

Jack squeezes impossibly tighter, “I want you more than I want to play Padraic’s stupid games. I want you more than the fighting between our families. I want youmorethan I want revenge for my brother. Aimee… please. Please believe me. This last week without you—I’ve barely slept. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life. I know it’s fucking complicated; I know I should have told you so many things; I know I’ve fucked up. But I’ve missed this. So fucking much.”

The sting of tears fills my eyes at his confession. I’ve never heard him sound so broken, so desperate.

“I thought I was going to lose you today. When you went down that first time, I thought… People die in that ring, Jack. I couldn’t bear it. There was nothing I could do except watch helplessly from the sidelines.” I breathe in and out. “I don’t want to sit on the sidelines anymore.”

“I won’t ask you to pick a side,” Jack replies. “But maybe we could… be our own team? Not Duffys, not Maguires, just us.”

“Just us?”

“Just us.”

I give in. Every muscle in my body relaxes into him. There’s no fight left, only us. We’re exhausted, overly anxious, and in an awful situation. But at least at this moment, we have each other.

“I think I’d like that,” I whisper back.

Chapter Thirty-One

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