Page 48 of Honey Bun
It was time to tell her my truth. I met her gaze. “You. I’ve fallen in love with you. I might always have been in love with you.”
Her blush grew as she stared at me. I was waiting for a reaction, but her phone beeped with a text. Maddie walked into the bathroom and read her message. “Look, come with me downstairs. Your mom will be there.”
I nodded. “We’ll finish this later.” Then I grabbed my shirt and walked with her to the door. I understood more now and knew she had the power to fix herself.
Chapter Fourteen
Maddie
Arman loves me?
My heart still beat too fast. Seriously, I wasn’t sure how to handle this. Telling him what was in my heart had been hard. I was tired, and it wasn’t from our day together. It was from exposing myself as a fraud with a black heart. I was absolutely not ready for a relationship with him. Or anyone.
Downstairs, my daughter rushed toward me and pulled me into a hug as Roxanne hugged her son. “Mom, can I stay with Grandma Roxanne for the weekend and go to the beach? Ruth Solomon is having her Bat Mitzvah, and she called me because the invitation wasn’t answered.”
The children she befriended at the beach.I said, “I didn’t get anything.”
Aurora smiled to reassure me that I was fine. My daughter thought she took care of me, and sometimes, our roles were reversed. “She sent it to Grandma Catherine, and it’s tomorrow.”
It was important to me that Aurora had friends. I needed her life to be different from mine in every way. “I don’t know. Will you have to miss school on Monday?”
Roxanne added fast, “No. We’ll be home tomorrow night once the party ends, so she can get a full night’s rest. I’ll get her back on the helicopter if the traffic is too bad.”
The Norouzi family took care of each other and looked after us these days, too, so I nodded. “Okay… have fun.”
She hugged me. “Thanks, Mom.”
Then she disappeared into her room and walked out a minute later with a dress I hadn’t seen before, a blue beaded designer dress. She would look stunning in it. She handed it to Roxanne. They’d probably picked it out when they were out earlier.
As Aurora hugged me goodbye, she said to the man behind me who’d taken my breath away earlier, “Arman, watch out for her while I’m gone.”
“Always.”
She hugged him. I was speechless. Her father had never once even held her or hugged her, and now, she was acting like Arman was part of her family. Tears formed in my eyes. She, too, saw the Nourozis as the ideal.
Aurora quipped to Arman, “That’s why I like you for my mom.”
He glanced at me. “We’ll talk more about that later.”
We walked Aurora and Roxanne to the door, and once they left, my apartment fell silent.I have to tell him my truth. Now.
I turned to tell Arman that I would have to stop everything, but my lips quivered. He would think I wanted a kiss, which I did. My gut twisted.
So I waved to him to follow me. “Arman, please sit for tea.”
I then headed into the kitchen and boiled water with my electric kettle. My stomach hurt at the idea I’d never be near Arman again. I’d become addicted to his nearness. Telling him to go was impossible.
The water boiled, and I made the tea and brought it out on a tray. I placed it between our seats, and he took a cup. “Okay, what’s going on?”
I pressed my lips together. I didn’t want to tell him, but I forced myself. He had to know that I wasn’t the one for him. My eyes moistened. “I’m not capable of loving you or anyone right now.”
He didn’t even blink. “I can wait.”
My pulse sped up. This was harder than leaving Bob. “I… I can’t have you wait in hope. I want you physically, but… I don’t know if I can love you or give you a heart I’m not even sure exists inside me anymore.”
My eyes closed as he leaned closer, and my lips opened. A moment later, we kissed, and my heart stirred. I ached for him.
The kiss ended, and he said, “You’re caring and full of… heart. I can wait.”
