Page 204 of Bound By Her

His eyes met hers, steady. Sure.

She smiled, soft. “I’m starting to think we all will. We just have to get through the next few days. Keep our heads down and hope?—”

“—we don’t get hurt,” Bryson finished.

He pulled her closer by the wrist, and for a second, she was sure he would kiss her.

Spoon still in her hand, she leaned in. “Promise?”

The word sat between them like a dare.

Promise.

Her gaze raked along his chest and moved upward. Adria followed the lines of his lips, remembering the salt of his tears.

The chilly night air simmered around them, and Adria watched as his posture and body language changed. In an instant the warm open version of him vanished. His eyes shuttered, and he let go of her wrist.

“I can’t do this,” he said, moving off the counter.

The cold air hit her as he created space between them.

Then he was gone, practically fleeing into the dim hallway.

Adria sat frozen, spoon aloft, the silence pressing in.

Promise.

But there was no one left to say it.

When Adria finally made it to her room, she saw a missed call from the hospital.

Miss Federov, we are sorry to inform you that Loretta Welker passed away at 2:45a.m.

Adria’s knees came out from under her, and she sank into the carpet. She wanted to cry, but the pain was so suffocating she couldn’t catch her breath.

CHAPTER 48

NORTH CAROLINA

Bryson paced in his bedroom.

He couldn’t get Adria’s face out of his head—her expression frozen in that single moment. Lips parted. Spoon aloft. Hope shining in her eyes like it hadn’t been beaten out of her yet.

Promise.

He should’ve told her everything. About his father. About Elena. But how was he supposed to?

Loretta was in the hospital, and she had just shared some of the worst pieces of her past. Offering them to him like tiny shards of broken glass—and then she looked at him with those perfect fucking eyes.

He’d seen it.

The trust.

The faith.

All the things she never should have given him.

She’d believed—really believed—that he wouldn’t hurt her. That he could make things better. She was begging him with that word, asking him to be the man he wasn’t sure he knew how to be.

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