Page 78 of King of Desire

I know that look and I know it means something is wrong. I lean down, kissing along her jaw. “What are you thinking?” I whisper close to her ear.

“You’ve done too much already.”

I slide my hand from her belly to grasp her waist. “I haven’t done nearly enough.”

She turns to me then, her face so close to mine, her breath fans over my cheeks. “Triston.”

There is a warning to her tone I don’t understand. I brush her hair back, sliding my fingers along her neck and into the back of her hair. “Why do I sense a lecture coming?”

She winces, pain stretching her features, and I tense. “Try to understand, if it were just me, I’d let you in as far as you wanted to go.”

What the fuck is she saying? Irritation, and if I’m honest, hurt, slithers through my limbs. I’ve broken up with a hundred women. I know every variation. My hand tightens in her hair. “Are you breaking up with me?”

She shakes her head. “No. Not that. But I think…” She lets out a slow breath. “I think Darius and I should go back to our apartment.”

My jaw clenches as I try to land on the problem. “You think I’m bad for your brother?”

Her lip trembles as she draws in a tremulous breath. “Our dad left. Our mom died.”

“So?”

“If Darius gets too attached to you and then I end up like Veronica…”

Suddenly I get it. I’m the thirty-day guy. For fuck’s sake, I bought her virginity. Though to be fair, I was protecting her. “You are not like the rest of them, Honeyeh.”

Her mouth twitches into a frown. “Maybe. But also, the man I let into my life, give access to Darius, I have to trust to stay. If not for me, then for him.”

Fuck. Me. I’ve always known that Honeyeh was a woman who would do anything to protect the people she loved.Apparently, that also includes breaking it off with me. “So you don’t want to what?”

I pull my hand from her hair, sitting up straighter. She follows, moving with me as usual.

“Darius can’t depend on you, only to have us break up?—”

“We’ve known each other a week. I’m not promising forever.” The truth is, before this conversation I was close. But my pride won’t admit that. Not now.

I see her wince as she draws her knees up. Christ, she’s so fragile even now, my irritation deflates, and I want to wrap her in my arms.

And that’s when it hits me. Just like always, she needs protection. But the person she’s afraid of most…is me. How I might break her or her brother.

Making my decision, I reach my arms around her, plucking her into my lap. She comes easily, wrapping her arms around my neck and sinking into my body.

She needs me so much, she’s just afraid to trust in that feeling.

I get it. She was hurt by the one man who was supposed to keep her safe, her father. It’s something I deeply understand, and I know, I can’t play with her feelings. Not with her. It’s all or nothing and I already know which way I’m going with this. With us.

“Honeyeh,” I kiss her then, slow and soft. “You can trust me, sweetheart.”

“I want to,” she breathes into my mouth. “So much.”

Those words make me relax. “You’ve turned this house into a home for me. I need you to understand that.”

“Really?” she cries, her arms tightening around my neck.

It hasn’t been long enough to make the big promises like forever and marriage, and she has every right to pump the brakes until I prove that I’m for real despite my dating history.

But I can remind her that there are promises I’ve already made. “What did I tell you? No matter what happens between us, I will leave you better. Remember?”

“I know. And I’m so grateful for that. But our hearts, me and Darius’s, they’re fragile. It’s why I haven’t dated, even though I’m not that strong on my own. I have to put his needs first. Not mine.”

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