Page 41 of A Forbidden Spring
“She made it that way without me even knowing,” I admit. “There’s nothing for me anywhere but where she is.”
“Maybe tell Elora that instead of trying to strong-arm her, hmm? The woman almost lost her only daughter, and some guy she’s never met comes in claiming he’s the boyfriend, like that means a damn thing when you’re going against a family like ours.”
Dipping my head, I let that sink in, the last few days both hazy and crystal clear as they run through my mind.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I whisper, letting myself feel the soul-crushing anguish of pulling up to the accident and finding Wren unconscious in the car.
“Most people haven’t.”
“And your family…” I swallow hard, dropping my head into my hands, the wrapper crinkling as I do. “Mine is nothing like that; we’re cold and distant. Wren was pissed I made her feel, but she cracked my chest wide fucking open. I love her.”
“Does she know?”
“I told her—and apologized—when she woke up, but I should’ve told her when I came back from New York. I was just so fucking scared. You know?”
“Oh, you sweet boy,” Elora Sterling says, her voice drawing my attention to the left where she’d stopped just out of view. My cheeks heat as I meet her gaze, not feeling at all like my thirty-five years. “All we’ve ever wanted for Wren is to be loved and cherished the way she should be. Her heart is so big and she guards it so fiercely. No one has ever broken through those walls.”
“Until now,” Reid says, and I can’t even be mad that he let me spill my guts in front of Elora—that he let me bleed out all over the floor. Because I needed it.
In fact, if the looks on everyone’s faces is any indication, I’m the only one that didn’t know I needed it.
“And you’re staying?” Beau asks, his face blank but his eyes a swirl of emotions as his gaze locks on mine.
“Yes.”
“And your father’s still at your cabin?” he asks.
“Honestly, I have no idea,” I say, my father the furthest thing from my mind.
“Keys,” Beau says, holding his hand out to me. I fish them from my pocket and drop them into his hand without hesitation. “Come on, Harlan. Let’s go for a ride.”
25
WREN
The morning light is soft as it dances across the room. Merrick’s arm is wrapped carefully over my hip, a position that had required a lot of trial and error in the weeks since I’dofficiallymoved into his house.
“You’re up early,” Merrick whispers, his breath on my shoulder sending a delicious shiver down my spine.
“Today feels like a good day,” I tell him, the honesty humming in my chest.
“How are you feeling?”
“I just want this stupid cast off.”
“I know, baby. Soon.”
“Ugh,” I lament, growling when the cast gets in the way of rolling toward him.
“What? Does it hurt? What’s wrong?” he rasps, sleep still lingering as he tries to jump back to give me space.
“You,Merrick Ellis.”
“Me?”
“Yes. You. You don’t even call me Hellcat anymore which is ridiculous to be upset about, but that was our thing. You’ve been tiptoeing around me since the accident, treating me like I’m some fragile little flower when all I want is for you to manhandle me and give me orgasms the way I need them.”
He smirks. “I’ve given youplentyof orgasms since the accident.”
