Page 13 of Surrender Your Heart
“She would’ve liked you too.”
I paused mid-bite. “Oh… I’m sorry. I... lost my grandmother years back. Auntie too.”
“Death is a part of life, sweetheart.”
We talked lightly after that about music, a funny story from his childhood, and a moment from my store when I cursed out a supplier on Zoom. Then I leaned back and looked at him.
“So… Devyn.”
He met my gaze, his smirk slipping just a little. “What about her?”
“What’s her deal? Is she an ex?”
He exhaled through his nose. “We met years ago at a gala in Atlanta. Same setup—a business weekend. I gave her an opportunity, and she fumbled it.”
“Fumbled how?”
“Let’s just say she didn’t live up to the expectation. She wasn’t you.”
I tilted my head. And suddenly, I was back in that villa last year, tension wrapped tight around our words.
“Why aren’t you taken?” I asked.
“Because I don’t belong to anyone.”
“That’s a cop-out answer.”
“Is it?” he challenged, eyes dancing with amusement, like he knew shit I hadn’t even started unpacking yet.
I narrowed my gaze. “You don’t believe in love?”
“I believe in control,” Legend said, cool and deliberate. “And love, the way most people define it, is uncontrollable.”
I frowned, unsettled in a way I couldn’t name. “So you’ve never been in love?”
“Not in the way you’re thinking,” he admitted.
“That’s sad.”
He chuckled. “That’s survival.”
Even now, it echoed. Hit a little different. Especially after everything we’d done, said, and become. I was seeing him in a new light, but that same shadow from before still lingered. Was he capable of giving more… or just more control?
“You in your head again?” His voice pulled me out of the memory, rough and close. He was already beside me, hands gripping my waist, mouth warm and wet against my neck, his breath skating across my skin like it belonged there.
“Mmhmm,” I murmured, tilting slightly as his tongue traced the curve of my throat.
“Come back to me,” he said lowly, sucking lightly until I shivered.
“I’m here,” I whispered, trying to mask the swirl in my chest.
He pulled back just enough to look at me. “Nobody’s ever gotten this version of me, Honey,” he said, voice velvet with just the right edge of warning. “Enjoy it.”
The air thickened as my breath stalled. This wasn’t some cute, flirty reassurance. It was a fact. A declaration. Legend pulled me in slowly, his lips grazing mine before claiming them deep, firm. One hand slid up my back, anchoring me. The other gripped my thigh, fingers brushing just where the silk ended and skin began. I melted into him, and when he walked away after, leaving me there breathless and tingly like he hadn’t just said what he said.
I sat for another minute, touching my lips, body still sore in the best way, then finally stood and went back into the bedroom to get myself together. I ran my fingers over the hangers in the closet until I found the perfect swimsuit. Grown, sexy, and soft but bold. Just like me.
After showering and moisturizing, I slipped into a yellow bikini and cover-up with Fendi sandals and heard his voice through the cracked bedroom door. He was on the phone.
