Page 251 of By His Rule

She tenses the second I connect with her, but to my surprise, she doesn’t push me off.

“What about you?”

“What about me, Temptress?”

“You want the happily ever after?”

My lips part, but before I can shoot out my standard response of “hell no,” I second-guess myself.

“Honestly?”

“No, Kian. I want you to lie to me,” she mutters. I don’t look over, but I know she rolled her eyes at me.

“I don’t know what I want. I’ve always worked too much to ever really consider anything else. And I’ve certainly never met a woman who’s made me think that it might be worth trying for.”

I pull the car to a stop outside her apartment and gaze up at the building.

Please don’t go in there.

“It must be hard when you're such a workaholic.”

“King’s figured it out,” I counter before turning to look at her.“I guess that’s what happens when you fall in love.”

My eyes bounce between hers, my heart steadily thumping against my ribs.

“Yeah,” she agrees sadly. “Must feel pretty awesome, huh?”

When I don’t respond straight away, she reaches for the door handle.

“Wait,” I demand.

She instantly pauses, but she doesn’t look back at me.

“I need to go home, Kian. Thank you for…for everything. I really appreciate it.”

“But—”

“It’s time to go back to reality. I’ll see you at work in the morning, Boss.”

Before I get a chance to respond, she’s out of the car and rushing around to the trunk to grab her bag.

I reach for the button to open it for her, hating myself for not getting out and being a gentleman.

But if I do, I’m not sure what I’ll say, what I’ll do. And call me a pussy or whatever, but I’m not ready for that, and I know for a fact that she’s not.

I hit the button and the trunk releases, but I’m unable to stay inside.

“Fuck,” I breathe before pushing the door open. I climb to my feet and wait for her to walk toward the entrance of her building.

“Please,” she begs. “Don’t follow me.”

I swallow thickly. “You know I can’t do that.”

“Kian,” she breathes as I step up behind her.

“I can’t leave until I know everything is okay. Humor me.”

She twists around to look back at me, but something down the street catches her eye and she sucks in a sharp breath.

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