Page 86 of Forever Theirs

Hands back on my hips, holding on tight to keep from wrapping them around his throat, I met his glare and arched a challenging brow. “Stop what, exactly?”

Back pressed to the wall, Charles inched his way around the room. Miles’s alert gaze tracked his every move until he turned and bolted out the door. A fraction of the tension in my shoulders eased when he disappeared from view. The man made me uncomfortable in a way I couldn’t describe, and I hoped it was the last time I saw him—which was probably wishful thinking, considering how small Anchor Bay was.

“Aspen,” James snapped, grabbing my attention away from the open doorway.

“Don’t you fucking raise your voice at her,” Miles barked, taking a challenging step toward James. My heart squeezed at the steel in Miles’s tone.

“Why don’t you leave like I told you to,” James retorted, crossing his arms defensively over his chest.

Like a thousand-pound weighted blanket wrapped around me, exhaustion from the last twenty-four hours had me stumbling to the couch on trembling legs. Falling onto the stiff cushions, I leaned forward, elbows pressed to the top of my thighs, resting my face in both palms.

“Stop acting like you have any authority here. Just say what you came to say, James.” My weary voice carried through the silent cabin.

When no one responded, I peered through my fingers. Across the room, Aiden leaned against the front door, concern lining his features as he studied me. Miles still stood across from James, but his gun was now lowered, though not holstered, and James had covered his earlier anger and annoyance with the fake mask he wore so well.

“Sweetie—”

I tossed up a hand, slicing it through the air. “Don’t call me that.Everagain.”

With a quick, assessing glance at the tense Miles, James took a hesitant step toward the couch, hands raised as if approaching an upset animal. “I came here for you, sweet—” I leveled him with a scathing, narrowed-eyed glare, stopping him before he could finish. He nervously cleared his throat. “I came here for you, Aspen.”

“Why would you do that?” I groused.

His perfectly shaped brows rose a fraction, as much as all that Botox would allow. “I know why you left.” Gaze flicking between me and the guys, James inched around the narrow coffee table to sit on the couch next to me. I immediately leaned the opposite way to put distance between us. “I came to tell you in person that I understand what you’re doing and to bring you back to Seattle, where you belong.”

I gaped at him. “What exactly do you understand I’m doing?”

His gentle laugh and pat on my knee were all kinds of patronizing. “Leaving without notice, flying to Alaska—it was all to regain my attention.” Somehow, my jaw dropped even lower in utter disgusted astonishment.What the what?“Listen, I know I’ve been hyper-focused on my career as of late, but I did that for you, for us. Don’t you see? I was building a life where you didn’t have to work or go out on-site with me and the others. Everything I’ve done was for you. I never lost sight of what was really important, but after this disappearing stunt of yours, I realized you did.”

“What you never lost sight of was how my pictures and research elevated your career to what it is today. I wasn’t important to you. You needed me. There is a huge fucking difference.”

“You, Aspen,” he emphasized. I snorted and rolled my eyes. “I never lost sight of you, though it would appear I didn’t make that clear. Which is why I’m willing to overlook all this when we get back home, and I’ve talked with HR?—”

“What will you overlook?”

Aiden winced, rubbing a shoulder at his ear to ease the pain from my high-pitched shriek.

James sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in obvious exasperation. “You leaving with no warning or note. You could’ve talked to me and told me you felt ignored. I would’ve corrected your assumption that I was focused on us and redirected your frustrations to the actual cause.”

“Which is?”

“You’re jealous, and that’s okay. But I don’t care about my fans. I only have eyes for you.”

“I was jealous,” I repeated, voice flat.

“But you left with no notice, leaving me fucking worried out of my mind and without a photographer this past week.” Ding, ding, ding. There it was. The real reason for his frustration and coming here. “This irresponsible and drama-type behavior isn’t like you, Aspen. Don’t let your emotions ruin the great thing we have going.”

My mouth opened and closed like a fish, unable to speak, my mind having gone blank.

“I’m willing to move past all this,” he continued. “Forget the last few days ever happened because I love you that much. And I have something that will help you feel more secure in our relationship. Help settle your neediness a little.”

What’s the prison time for murder these days?

At my nonresponse, James’s worried features shifted into a wide smile. Tilting to the side, he dug something out of the back pocket of his too-tight jeans. My stomach dropped when his fingers unfolded, exposing the small velvet bag resting in the center of his palm. I wrapped both hands around the tops of my knees to hide how badly my entire body shook. “I know you’ve wanted this commitment for a while, and I think it’s time to make us official.” Pulling the ties he tipped the bag depositing an enormous diamond ring into his hand. “We make a great team, you and me, and now the world will know you’re mine. I’ve already scheduled a press release to announce?—”

That was it. Finally, my frozen brain fired back to life. “What the fuck did you just call me?” I shoved up from the couch, backing away from the ring like it held a venomous snake instead of a huge fucking diamond ring.

James’s smug expression shifted to confusion. “Mine? Why are you shocked? You are mine, always have been.”

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