Page 84 of Flirting With Forever
“I knew I smelled you.”
Her eyes widened at the statement. “Oh. Okay…”
A rough groan left him, and he shook his head, dropping the pieces of costume to cradle her face in his hands.
“Vanilla and raspberry. I thought it was the cookies for the kids or—that I missed you so much I was imagining things.”
“So you’re…not mad?”
“Oh, baby girl, I am furious,” he growled, lowering his head to press his lips to hers again. “Disappearing like that and letting me worry. For making me go down that road where I believed all love means is loss. My parents and then you.”
“Oh, Gage. That’s not— Wait, love?” Had he really said love?
“No, no, no. Don’t try to sidetrack me. You put yourself in danger, disappeared, then left me hanging, wondering whether you’d come back. We are a long way away from talking about the love part.”
She slid her fingertips through his hair and stroked gently. “I love you, too,” she said without one iota of hesitation. “And I’m sorry I scared you. That I made you think what we had was so…leave-able. I know you wanted to help me deal with my family, but I had to stand up to my father—and I had to do it on my own.”
“What does that mean, Sloane? And don’t say it’s complicated or some other BS.”
He deserved more. The truth. Especially now. “I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything. Let’s just say I knew you’d want to help me, and—you really couldn’t. You’d have been something—someone—he’d use to hurt me and bring me to heel, and I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t live with myself if my plan backfired and something happened to you because of me.”
Gage’s gaze narrowed even more at that statement, and his nostrils flared as he took a breath.
“That’s how they got you to go? They threatened me? Tell me the truth.”
She inhaled, unable to stop her frown of anger as she nodded. “You. Your family, your businesses. I couldn’t take that risk. I couldn’t let them hurt you or them.”
“It hurt more that you left like that.”
“I am so sorry.” She shook her head, a wry smile on her lips. “Gage… Love isn’t loss. Love is helping someone be brave enough to fight the demons in our lives, and you did that for me. My father wouldn’t have given up. He wanted to force me to marry a business associate to make some sort of alliance. If I wanted to stay here and start a life—I had to stand up for myself and beat my father at his own game.”
“He was going to force you to— Force you how? Through me?”
She winced at the renewed anger blazing in his gaze. “Yes. You would’ve been the tool to manipulate me. If we were going to be together, I had to shut that down once and for all.”
“Do I want to know how you did whatever it is you did to stand up to him?”
Sloane slid her arms around his neck and leaned her head back to look up at him. “Probably not since I had to delve into the dark side and play by his rules. But the important thing is, I won. That’s all that matters.”
“You need to give me more information here, Sloane.”
She closed her eyes when his fingers slid through her hair to her neck and gently rubbed the tight muscles. “I’m free. We won’t hear from my family again. I told my father to never contact me and took measures to make sure he follows the order.” Gage looked concerned at that, and she managed another smile. “It’s okay. This showdown has been a long time coming, and I’m not…sad about it. It’s a huge relief, and I’d never have been brave enough to do it without you.”
Silence followed her words, but Gage recovered fast.
“Losing your family, even a bad one, is a big deal, sweetheart. There are a lot of nooks and crannies of pain in there you’re ignoring. Are you sure you’re okay?”
Only a man who knew pain would realize how intricate and mind warping pain and loss could be. She searched herself, her heart. “I am. I’ll miss my brothers, but we haven’t been close for years.”
“I could strangle your brothers. They should have protected you.”
“I don’t think they knew how far into the darkness our father had delved. But they do now, and I actually do believe they’ll do whatever they can to protect all of us.”
“You’re going to have to explain all the riddles, sweetheart.”
She stroked his hair and then ran her fingertips over his jaw, loving the rasp of his whiskers against her skin. “I will. If you’ll forgive me for that text and leaving. If I’ve learned anything from this, it’s to tell someone how you feel. So this is me telling you— I’m in love with you and all your control-freak, disorganized ways.”
All the tension seemed to drain from him at her words, and he leaned against her and pulled her more tightly against his body.
