Page 145 of The Sweetest Devotion

“I lied,” he admitted. “All I did in the past few weeks was some work around the house. I did some custom work for a guy, and I was lookin’ out for Dominique. That’s it.”

I didn’t understand. “Why would you lie like that?”

“Because it fucking hurts me to hear about your little perfect family, and how you and your boy found the perfect wedding cake,” Keith snapped as he gestured to me. “That pain you feel in your chest right now is how it felt in there listenin’ to you go on about cakes and dresses.”

Relief and anger coalesced into one, and it gripped me fiercely.

“Fuck you and your ego!” I yelled at him before I turned and attempted to leave again.

“I think about you.” Those four simple words halted my desire to leave, turning me around and allowing Keith to walk up on me until the tips of his boots brushed my heels. “When you not here, you’re on my mind. I hate that you’re gearing up to marry another man. I hate that this feels like it should be real and just us. I hate that this is bigger than me fucking you.”

It was a confession, one that didn’t excuse his rudeness, but explained the root of it.

“Don’t treat me like shit because you’re mad I’m stuck.” I folded my arms and started to go back to the dining room. “I’m only staying because I like the food.”

Keith seized me before I could get too far. His hands ran down my arms, setting my skin ablaze. “I’m sorry. I’m an asshole with an ego.”

A smile threatened to disrupt my frown, but I kept my face in line. “You wereactinglike an asshole. You’re not one.”

“Your parents liked that NFL dude because he was a baller no doubt, and this new one is set for life too if he’s got his own business and linkin’ with your dad,” Keith went on. “I can’t compete with that. If I fuck up for some reason, I can’t just hand you a credit card and let you go wild to make it up to you.”

It was like he’d struck me. “Wow, is that how I come off? If I actually marry this guy, that’s going to behissolution to any problem. I don’t want that. I don’t want to be bought. Iwantto be respected. Cain doesn’t likeme, he likes the idea of me.”

Keith came closer until my back met the wall. “I know you’re not like that, but that’s how your parents want you set up.”

He wasn’t wrong. To my parents, my dislike for my marriage was easily dismissed when it came to the pros outweighing the cons.

“I’m sorry,” Keith said gently. “It wasn’t right to lash out.”

It wasn’t, not when the thought left me sick.

The realization of this drove my gaze up to his.

“This feels like more than just sex. The idea of you sleeping with someone elsehurts. You’re not mine, and I’m not yours, but I don’t like the idea of someone else touching you,” I said as I looked into his eyes.

Keith reached out and grabbed my arm, going and placing my hand to his chest, over his beating heart. “Now you see where I’m coming from?”

We’d crossed the line and hadn’t looked back. Emotions were involved and there was no escaping this without being hurt. Hearts were going to break, whether we planned it or not.

“You want me,” I said.

Keith nodded and caressed my face. “I do.”

“Then why don’t you kiss me?” I had to know.

He came forward, resting his forehead to mine. “Because at least when you walk away, I can’t say I had every piece of you.”

It was settled. Keith Avery would be my undoing.

I went with him back to the table, where we had lunch, and then when I was too full to eat any more, we settled on the couch where I fell asleep in his arms. I had spent the night and next day with Keith, and we hadn’t had sex, and yet I’d never felt more content.

28

I stopped by my parents’house Wednesday to see my father after he made a request to speak to me.

I had hoped it was good news. That he was summoning me over to tell me that the engagement was off, but there was no such luck.

In the doorway to his bedroom my hopes were crushed by the ever-present sight of Cain. My father had his reading glasses on and was skimming a stack of papers as Cain stood back waiting patiently.

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