Page 53 of Slow Kind of Love

She blinked rapidly and swallowed more than once. He wasn’t sure if she was taking her time or searching for the right thing to say. When she finally spoke, her words were crystal clear. “We’re over, Link. We have to be over.”

Incredulous, he could only stare at her in disbelief. “After last night, this is how you feel?”

Her bottom lip quivered, and she glanced away.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he barked, angry and tense.

“I told you not to open it,” she whispered. Elise didn’t give him a chance to respond, but sailed past Link and headed for the stairs. Stunned, he didn’t move. He didn’t know how to be or how to act. And he sure as hell didn’t trust himself not to lose his temper and make things worse.

He heard her on the phone, and twenty minutes later, when she ran out to a dark-colored SUV and climbed inside, he watched from his bedroom window, jaw clenched so tight, pain radiated up his skull.

He had no idea what the hell had just happened or why she’d reacted the way she did. This wasn’t about commitment. This wasn’t about love. Those were two things he could deal with because he was all in with this woman, and he knew in his bones she felt the same. No way could they connect the way they had the night before without those feelings in play.

But whatever she was dealing with was something more. Something beyond the two of them.

Link glanced down at the box he still clutched in his hand, then carefully set it on the table beside the bed. He needed to give her some space, he decided. That’s what he’d do. He’s shocked the hell out of her was all. He’d scrap the ring. He didn’t need to make it official if that wasn’t what she wanted. Maybe her first marriage had soured her on the idea.

She’d come back to him.

She had to.

Because Link didn’t want to consider a life without Elise in it.

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