Page 77 of The Bargain

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered between frantic kisses.

Byron’s hands shifted to frame my face as he pulled away. “No. No more apologies. I fucked up, too. I panicked at the first sign of things getting difficult and pulled away. My pride got in the way. I’d been supporting my mom and brother for so many years on my own that I thought it was bad if I depended on anyone else. I was scared you’d think I only wanted to be with you for your money.”

“No, baby! Never! You’re not like that.”

“I promise that I’ll be more open and willing to lean on you in the future. I’ll let you support me instead of pushing you away.”

His words made my heart soar. This was all I wanted. To be part of his world, to support him. Not just with a wad of cash, but to be the person who held him as his heart was breaking or the times someone had made him angry.

“I love you.” The words tumbled from my lips and hung trembling in the air between us. “I love you, Byron. With all that I am. I love you.”

“I love you, too. Never let me go again. No matter what stupid things I say.”

I slammed our mouths together. The kiss tasted salty from his tears and sweat, but nothing had ever been sweeter to me. Byron was in my arms, and I was never letting him go. No one had ever fit me so well. No one had ever crawled into my heart and made themselves at home the way Byron did. Losing him for those three weeks had been like my soul had floated free of my body and I’d been nothing more than a husk, going through the motions.

Not anymore.

The kiss slowly ended, and I glanced up to find that the crowd surrounding us had lost interest in our drama and moved on. The jumbo screen had returned to showing local advertisements of businesses and upcoming events. It looked like the world had moved on, but I still had my Byron.

“Baby, not that I’m complaining, but why are you so red-faced and sweaty? Did you run here?”

“Oh fuck,” he moaned. His head dropped forward to rest on my chest. “My car died. It limped down Gilbert Avenue and finally gave out at Seventh and Broadway. I ran here because I was afraid of missing—oh, shit!” His head suddenly popped up, his eyes wide. “Your flight! You’re supposed to be leaving for Paris.”

“Not without you. But first, I need to get you some water and cooled off before you suffer from heat stroke.”

“But—”

“No buts. You promised you would let me take care of you.” I tucked him against me with my arm around his waist as I ushered him across the square to the Courtland Enterprises building. Byron’s smile turned a little smug, but he didn’t argue one bit as we walked together.

His sigh was profound as we entered the air-conditioned building. The cold air swept over us, working to lower his temperature. Normally, I would head straight for the elevators. Today, I made a pit stop at the security desk where two guards sat wearing the company uniform.

“Mr. Courtland!” one greeted as soon as I drew near. Both men jumped to their feet.

“At ease, guys,” I said with a laugh. “I wanted your team to be updated first. This is my boyfriend, Byron Graham. He’s permitted up to see me at any time he wants. No security checks, please.”

Byron huffed a near-silent laugh and waved to them. “Hey, Nate. Charlie. Good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you again, Mr. Graham,” Nate replied.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Courtland. We’ll update our records and make sure that the entire security team receives your news.”

“Thank you.”

I ushered a giggling Byron onto the elevators. We leaned on the wall as it whisked us up to the top floor.

“You enjoyed that, didn’t you?” he asked, breaking the silence after we’d traveled a few floors.

“Sooooo much,” I admitted, rocking my head back and forth on the wall. “You have no idea. Do you know what else I’ve been dying to do?”

“What?”

I swooped in for another kiss, stealing his breath away as the kiss went on and on. We both seemed to revel in the freedom to kiss each other in public without worrying about the horrific consequences. The thrill of possibly being caught had been fun, but this was a thousand times better.

We only broke apart at the sound of a surprised gasp. My head snapped around to find that the doors had opened withoutus noticing on another floor and someone was standing on the other side.

“Oh! Sorry. Um…I’ll just get the next one,” she said, her face bright red while a broad grin stretched across her lips.

“Thanks, Fiona,” Byron called out as the door slid shut.

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