Page 173 of Plus Size Player

With each step he took, my heart broke a little more. I couldn’t stand the idea of him being upset with me—or worse, resentful. Because he was giving up his dream for me to live mine.

My heart swelled as it was cracking in half.

“I didn’t want this,” I told him when he was about fifteen feet away. I couldn’t read his expression and I was scared to let him talk first, so I kept going. “I didn’t want you to lose anything—especially not your company. I don’t want to walk away from you or RLF. But I don’t want you to resent me. I don’t want you to regret us—”

Grabbing my face, he crashed his lips into mine. He kissed me hard, forcing me back against my car. His muscular body pinned me in place as our mouths expressed our feelings for one another. His kiss quieted the noise in my head, the despair in my heart, and the churning in my belly. His kiss was a temporary balm covering the guilt I felt from his loss. And for a full minute, I was given a reprieve.

Russ pulled away fractionally and searched my face. “I would never regret us. I would never resent you.” His thumbs stroked my cheeks. “You are my escape… my fantasy… the woman of my fucking dreams.”

My eyes started to water. “But RLF is also your dream and I can’t let you give it up for me.”

“It’s the only way for us to be together.”

“I didn’t want you to give up everything for me, Russ. Knowing that you did this…” My lashes fluttered closed. “I’m sorry if Imade you feel like you had to do something this drastic for us to be together. Because you didn’t. I’d sneak around with you for the next seven, eight months if that’s what I had to do.”

“Baby, look at me. Look at me,” he insisted. When I opened my eyes and stared into his, there was so much emotion in his expression. “You’d sneak around with me for months even though you hated it?”

“I hate the idea of you losing your dream as much as I hate the idea of losing you. I can survive a few months of us having to sneak around. I cannot survive you giving up everything for me. Let’s go to HR and fix this.”

Looking at me worshipfully, he stirred something within me. He brought his face to mine and planted a soft kiss against my lips. “I love that you’d do that for me.”

“I’d do anything for you,” I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper.

“And I’d do anything for you.” He stared into my eyes, and I was filled with so much love. “Which is why I stepped down as CEO.”

“Russ—”

“It’smycompany. It’ll always be my company.”

“I don’t understand.”

His hands coasted from my face down my neck and over my shoulders. When he ran them down my bare arms, his fingertips left goose bumps in their wake. When he got to my hands, he intertwined our fingers and then brought them to his mouth.

“I wasn’t just the CEO. I’m also the majority stakeholder.” He took a step back and swept his gaze up and down my body. “And what I want is you and to design. Remedy’s been the face of RLF for years so having her replace me as CEO made the most sense. Because as CEO, I can’t be with you the way I want to be with you. But as head of design, I can.”

My eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“My lawyer tried, but there was no way around us being in violation. Even if I wasn’t your direct supervisor, you were still my subordinate. I was at the top of the organizational chart. So the paperwork we signed was strictly legal. It was to protect thecompany’s assets. But from a public standpoint, we would’ve taken a hit. Every move I made would’ve been open to critique. Every opportunity you earned would’ve been open to speculation. So, my lawyer concluded that our relationship wouldn’t have gotten board approval with me as CEO because me taking a hit would be the same as the company taking the hit. But as head of design…” He let his new title trail off and hang in the air between us.

I’d heard what he’d said the first time, but it didn’t really hit me until he explained it.

I was at a loss for words.

Launching myself at him, I threw my arms around his neck, and he enveloped me. The heat of his hands seared through the chiffon shirt as he held me tight. I buried my face in his neck. His sandalwood and leather scent infiltrated my nostrils and filled my lungs. “Oh my God,” I murmured. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” He paused momentarily. “I remembered when you told me that life was too short for me not to be doing what makes me happy. And when I realized that as the majority stakeholder I could get everything I wanted, I did what needed to be done.” He kissed the top of my head, my temple, my cheek, and then he pulled back so he could see my face. “I get to retain ownership of my company. I get to design more. And I get you. So, no, you didn’t encourage me to do anything that I didn’t want to do.”

He leaned in, kissing me softly.

The stress, anxiety, dread, and guilt melted away with each brush of his lips. Pushing up on the tips of my toes, I deepened the kiss to express everything I couldn’t verbally. His tongue gently caressed mine in a way that punctuated everything he’d just said.

He groaned sexily and a chill ran down my spine.

My lips curled into a smile before I pulled out of the kiss.

Our faces were still close, and I placed the palm of my hand on his chest. Feeling his heart beating as strongly and intensely as my own made me emotional.

“I’ve spent the last couple weeks trying to figure out how to fix this,” I told him. “I was worried that you were going to resent me.”

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