Page 47 of Against All Odds

Her eyes move back to me, and there’s so much regret in them it makes my heart ache. “But I do. I hurt you, and I didn’t give you the courtesy of a conversation, and now look at me.”

“Violet, we talked about this. We were kids, and I don’t hate you or think this is some penance you owe. Fucking hell, I’d kill him if he were here, but I don’t have to do that, karma will. He’s going to wake up one day and know you moved on, that’s his fucking karma. Trust me, I know how it feels to wake up one day and know you let the woman you love go. I’ve lived it and he will regret it, just like I did.”

Making this woman feel small and insignificant pisses me off beyond words.

He’s a coward, and I would do anything to show her what a real man would do for her.

A real man would risk his heart, his soul, his very breath to just be with her.

I would know.

I’m that man.

“Thank you for saying that.”

“I mean it,” I tell her, hoping she believes it.

She sighs and looks at the door. “I should go inside.”

I wish she’d stay.

“Yes,” I say, knowing she shouldn’t. I want her too much and she’s too vulnerable.

She doesn’t move. “It’s getting late.”

The air is thick, and each breath is a little harder than the last. If she doesn’t go now, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop myself from kissing her.

I use the last threads of decency I have, keeping my voice steady amid the chaos of my mind. “It is. I have to be up early.”

Although I doubt I’m going to sleep. No, I’m going to remember her lying on that bed, smiling and looking at me like all she wanted in the world was for me to kiss her.

I wanted it more than I’ve wanted anything else, but not like that. Not when she already felt indebted to me.

“Do you want to come in? I have baked goods. Lots of them.”

I learned my lesson the last time I came over here, thinking things could be different, but I’ll go inside.

Because it’s her.

Because I’ve never been able to say no to her and even if all I get is now, I’ll take it.

“Do you want that?”

She looks to her door and back to me. “Yes.”

This is one of those times that will define a lot of things in my life. I can either let her walk out, go into that house alone, and have a chance of my heart remaining intact, or I can decide to go in, no matter the consequences.

Although it’s not really a choice.

It’s Violet, and there is nothing I won’t do to make her happy. She’s always been the girl that I’d split myself apart for.

Then her voice is small as she looks up at me. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Well, fuck me. No way I’m saying no now.

I open the car door and come around, meeting her at the front.

We walk inside, and she stops at the kitchen. “I’ll bring a plate into the living room.”

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