Page 113 of The Redemption of Remy St. Claire

Well, that wasn’t strictly true. He could get his ass out of the bathroom and back to her bed—their bed—before he caused irreparable harm. Splashing some cold water on his face, he finally looked at his reflection in the mirror. Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself for whatever he’d find.

Remy sat cross-legged on the bed, wearing her ratty pajamas. One step forward, two steps back.

She glanced up when she saw him, and he took a punch to the gut. She didn’t look angry. She looked wounded. Guilt swirled in his belly because he’d caused this.

“I—”

“I—”

They continued to hold each other’s gaze.

“I’m sorry, Remy.”

“But I’m the one who should be apologizing. I said some hurtful things.” She pulled her lower lip through her teeth. “I don’t want to fight with you, Rusty. What we had was so beautiful…”

As quickly as he could, he moved to the bed and pulled her into his arms. “You’re absolutely right. We needn’t fight.”

“We don’t.”

She said the words as reassurance, but they felt hollow to him.

“All I need is you.”

Chapter forty-six

AllIneedisyou.

As Remy reread the same sentence for the third time in as many minutes, she remembered the words she’d uttered last night.

She’d sworn she’d never need anyone—that she’d never put herself in a place where someone could hurt her. Why would she ever put herself in a position where someone had the power to wound her? But, in all her careful planning, she hadn’t foreseen Russell Stevens and his beautiful daughter Mira.

Glancing out the window, she watched as the trio engaged in a snowball fight. Of course, snowball was relative.

The girls were more interested in scooping up handfuls of fresh snow and throwing it in the air than actually making a snowball.

Rusty looked up and caught her gazing at him. He waved enthusiastically and she waved back as best she could.

After their fight last night, he’d held her for what felt like forever. They hadn’t spoken, just clung to each other. She wasn’t even sure who’d fallen asleep first. All she knew was that this morning she’d awoken to a cold bed. The girls weren’t even up, but he’d already extricated himself from her grasp. And why not? She’d acted like a shrew last night. But she didn’t like thinking about her new husband’s ex-wife.

Then the cramps had begun. She’d never had an easy time with her period. She was on the pill to regulate and control the darn thing, but that only worked so well. Her hormones were always out of whack, and she relied on muscle relaxants for the first few days of her cycle. On the bright side, there was no point in putting on sexy lingerie tonight.

She did, however, have one lingering thought. Her husband’d said orgasms helped cramps. Judging by how much pain she was in—she’d be willing to try just about anything.

Just about.

Birth control.

Condoms.

They hadn’t used a condom last night. Her pills were in the bathroom, so he’d have known birth control wasn’t an issue. In all the headiness of actually having sex, though, safe sex had never entered her mind. Years ago, she’d gone to an anonymous clinic and gotten herself tested. No sense living with the specter of some dreaded disease after having been raped.

But Rusty? He’d never been with anyone except Sissy, and if she hadn’t strayed, then he’d be safe as well. He had to be. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell he would’ve done anything to risk her health. Her safety. So there’d be no diseases.

No pregnancy either.

Remy glanced at the folder on her desk.

STEVENS.

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