Page 115 of Maid For Each Other

No, this was simply a boy not accepting he wasn’t getting something he foolishly thought he wanted.

“That’s only temporary,” I said, a weird part of me feeling bad for him. “You’ll find someone shiny who makes you forget all about the one that you thought you wanted.”

His eyebrows screwed together. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means,” I said, trying to keep my thoughts in order when his presence was messing with my emotions and making it hard to process anything, “that you live in a world where you get every single thing you’re ever remotely interested in. You might enjoy it for a while, but eventually you end up just giving it away or not caring for it because it no longer matters to you.”

“Careless?” he said, and we both knew he was referring to what I’d written. He stared down at me, his eyes everywhere on my face, and I had to force myself not to fidget.

Then he said, “Tell me why you think that.”

“I mean, youdidoffer me your car multiple times, you didn’t blink over my demand for a small fortune, you didn’t care about the diamond necklace—you have so much that nothing retains its value. You buy things that you ultimately just walk away from because you’re done with them.”

His eyes narrowed and he said, “Those arethings, Abi, possessions with actual price tags. You can’t lump yourself into that.”

“I think I can, actually,” I said.

“No, you can’t,” he growled, dragging a hand through his hair. “Because I’m not Connor. Idon’tgive a shit about possessions—I’m happy to give them away because it’s just stuff. Material bullshit. I work my ass off so Icangive things away. But you aren’t a possession.”

I sucked in a breath when he reached out a hand and pushed my hair behind my ear. “I can’t walk away from you.”

I wanted, so badly, to close my eyes and rub my cheek against his big hand. But instead I said, “You’ll get over it.”

“I won’t. I can’t.” As if reading my mind, he stroked his fingers against my cheekbone and said, “Because I’m in love with you, Mariano.”

44

Chaos

Declan

I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t for her to laugh.

It wasn’t a genuine laugh, but she gave me a sarcastic little cough-laugh as she stepped back from me and said, “No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No, you’re not!” she said loudly, her voice filled with agitation. “You don’t even really know me or my life. You know the version we curated for our show, the version who wore the right clothes and held your hand while you gave speeches and played with you in SoHo as if she belonged in an ten-million-dollar apartment.Thatis not me, Declan.”

“I know that,” I snapped, terrified that I wasn’t going to be able to change her mind.

“Do you?” she asked, her fiery brown eyes on mine.

We heard a noise erupt at the entrance.

“Holy shit,” Roman said as he walked into the apartmentwith boxes piled up to his nose, oblivious to the scene in front of him. “Sorry I’m late but this was a bitch to—”

“Yes,” I said to Abi, ignoring Roman and wondering how it was that we were yelling at each other when I was trying to convince her I was in love with her. “I liked that version of you, but that’s not who I’m in love with. I’m in love with the girl who buys stupid T-shirts because they’re a good deal, whose hair sticks straight up in the morning when she runs around in pajamas with her own face on them, and the idiot who risks her fucking life to run in a 5K because she made a commitment.”

She furrowed her eyebrows, her eyes unreadable.

Roman bumped into the wall and dropped all his boxes.

“I’m in love with the girl who would rather enjoy her job than make a fortune in finance. I’m in love with the girl who only cooks noodles and worries about a scorpion stinging me through my shoe. I’m in love with the girl who creates backstories that have me falling off a treadmill for her, for God’s sake.”

“Oh,” she said, her perfect mouth forming a perfect O.

“Oh is right. I’m in love withyou, damn it, and it’s really pissing me off that you refuse to accept that.” I hadn’t meant to yell at her, but I couldn’t get her to hear me. To understand how badly I wanted her in my life. “I don’t know how to convince you. Tell me what I can do to show you.Please.”

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