Page 136 of Hostile Love
I’m not sure what’s going on with her, but I sense something isn’t quite right.
“Tell me what you’re thinking, Dani. Your head isn’t here with us or me. Where is it?”
She twists the band on her finger and stands frozen, as if hesitant.
Impatient, I crowd her and set my hands on her shoulders.
“When you agreed to marry me, you agreed to full disclosure too. It’s all or nothing. That means telling me what happened in the cabana to make you so?—”
“Scared,” she whispers, interrupting. “I’m scared you want to be a father.”
Her eyes drop and her lip trembles, a rare moment of vulnerability that really fucking slays me.
Tears well in her pretty eyes and she sucks in a shaky breath.
She inches back, but I step into her, not allowing distance between us.
“Dani.” I thread my fingers through her soft hair. “Kids aren’t a priority at the minute. Maybe in a few years, once I’ve enjoyed my wife?—”
“That’s the thing,” she cuts me off. “What if I don’t want to have kids? I can’t marry you if it means your life would be incomplete.”
“Wow.” I shake my head. “Not even twenty-four hours later and you’re pulling the plug, huh?”
Her hands fly to her face, and she hides herself from me.
“Don’t,” I warn, forcing her hands lower and revealing her big teary eyes.
I sigh and thumb her tears away. “Look, do you want to get married?”
She rolls her eyes and grunts. “For such a smart guy, you sure ask stupid questions. I said yes, didn’t I? But I’ve never been in this situation before. It never occurred to me that we should check our life goals.”
“Right, and you know I’ve never been in a serious relationship, either. We’re both learning as we go.”
Dani shrugs. “So, what do we do?”
“We love each other until the day we die.”
She snorts and palms her face. “Ugh, I forgot how cheesy you are.”
I laugh. “Okay, how about we fuck until we can’t fuck no more?”
Dani chuckles too, but then it fades and her nose wrinkles as she thinks.
“Seriously, Mat. I’m not maternal. My life choices involve suppressed handguns, nifty daggers, and living targets.”
“Were they really choices, though? Or were they the only options available to you?”
She frowns. “I—I—I know what you’re trying to say, but…”
I press my forehead to hers and fix my palms on either side of her head.
“Maybe you never had the opportunity to dream. To consider the possibilities of a different life. I’m not saying you should change. I just want you to know you can have whatever you want, Dani.”
“I want to be yours,” she whispers.
I close my eyes and take a deep, heavy breath.
“What if you took some time alone to think about what your future could look like with me…howyou’dlike it to look?”
