Page 117 of Make Her Mine

Good. Because I’m not sure I’ve got that in me.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” she asks.

“About beating the hell out of him?” I shrug. “You didn’t need to know. It was between me and Zach.”

“I did need to know.” She moves closer. “You were in love with me. Why didn’t you tell me that?”

Oh, that. I smile. “Because it wasn’t time.”

Her brows pull together. “But you felt it. I should have known. It would have changed…so many things.”

I shake my head. “I was leaving to go to school. It would have actually been unfair to tell you. Definitely harder on me. Besides…you weren’t ready yet. You weren’t in love with me. You needed more time.”

She seems very bothered by this. “But maybe if I’d known what you did and how you felt…” She frowns, looking up at me. “Fuck, you’re right.”

I lift a brow. “I will never get tired of hearing those words from you.”

She rolls her eyes, but then gives me a little smile. “If you’d told me you were in love with me and then still left, I would have been hurt and angry. The leaving thing…that would have been hard.”

I nod. “Yeah. I know.” I lift my hand and cup her face. “And it would have made leaving harder. And if I hadn’t…”

“You would have missed out on a lot,” she fills in quietly. She reaches up and wraps her hand around my wrist, holding my hand against her cheek. “You would have missed out on things that made you who you are today. The man I really do love now.”

I swallow hard, my throat suddenly tight. “Do you really believe that? That me leaving was a good thing?”

She nods slowly. “Yes. There’s a big world out there full of people and experiences—good and bad—that make people into who they turn out to be. It happened for you. It’s happening for Graham, and Ginny, and Alex. It even happened for Zach. He’s not quite the same person he used to be.”

I feel relief washing through me. “I’m glad you feel that way.”

“Yeah, I guess I have to be glad that you left.” The corner of her mouth tips up. “I mean glad for reasons other than the reasons I was glad at the time.”

I crowd close. “You thought you were getting rid of me.”

“I did.” Now her smile is full. “Then you came home to torture me.”

I slide my hand back into her hair, the other around to her ass, bringing her up against me. “Yes, yes I did.”

Her pupils dilate and she watches me with true love in her eyes. I will never get over that.

“I shouldn’t say this, but it’s really hot that you beat Zach up for me,” she says, her voice husky.

“Yeah? How hot?”

“Really, really hot.”

I lean in and brush my mouth over hers. “Are you wet for me, Harlow?”

She sucks in a little breath. “Yes,” she says against my lips.

“Prove it.”

She pulls back, her lips pressed together. She studies me for a moment. Then those lips I intend to be kissing for the next eighty years of my life curl up into a mischievous smile. She reaches behind her, unzips her dress, and lets it fall.

I step back, leaning against the door, and cross my arms over my chest.

She thinks I’ve tortured her in the past? She hasn’t seen anything yet.

“Take off the rest,” I tell her.

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