Page 72 of A Forbidden Arrangement
She presses into me as if bracing for what comes next. “Why were you with Elliot?”
“When I finally got word about you, it was that you were being hunted.” The memory tears through me. My hands shake, so I press my palms into her back to steady them. “I lost it tryingto get to you. If I’d been a second later…” The words die in my throat. I drag in a breath that feels like glass.
“The second I hit the alley, Elliot shot the man who was about to hit you. Said he was in town to check on his family’s company.” My voice hardens, low and tight. “I should’ve known he was lying.” I pull her closer, like I can erase that night if I just hold her tighter. “You were on the ground, bleeding, and nothing else mattered. He shot your attacker. He called the ambulance. And I didn’t question a damn thing.”
My teeth grind together, and I look up at the ceiling. I’ve been such an idiot. “You must have fucking hated me.”
She chuckles softly in her breath, tickling my neck. “Not as much as I should have.”
I hum low in my chest. “In fairness, I tried really hard to get you to like me.”
Her shoulders shake as that chuckle slowly turns into a laugh. “Well, it worked. I was going to tell you everything after the ball and make you explain why you were in the alley.” She shrugs. “It didn’t go quite how I planned.”
A shiver runs down my spine, the memory creeping back before I can stop it. I bite back the fear that still clings to that night. “Youshouldbe terrified of me,” I say quietly. “You were scared enough to run after seeing Elliot kill one person, then you witnessed me clear out an entire room.”
She leans back enough to meet my eyes, her thumb brushing the light scar on my face. “I already told you I’m not scared of you.” Her voice shakes, but she doesn’t look away. “I couldn’t move. Elliot kept talking about what he was going to do, how he wanted to make it slow.” She swallows, her fingers tightening against me. “I knew I wasn’t getting out of there. I’d accepted it. I just decided if it was going to happen, I’d fight until the end.”
Her words shred through me. I’d been so close to not getting there in time. If I hadn’t been in the hall to hear her scream…fuck.
“From the second I saw you, I knew everything would be okay. I knew you’d keep me safe.” She squishes my cheeks together. “So stop saying stupid things. Seriously, I’m not afraid of you.”
I hold her gaze, finding nothing but honesty in it. Her fingers trace lightly along my temple, pushing my hair aside. The simple touch quiets something raw inside me, and I lean into it, letting her calm me.
“Promise to be honest from now on?”
“I wasn’t really ‘not honest.’ Telling the guy I thought was trying to murder me wouldn’t have been very smart. You’ve got to admit you looked pretty guilty.”
Standing over her while she was on the ground, talking to Elliot…yeah, I’d probably be pissed at her if she risked telling me. “At least you havesomeself-preservation skills.”
“And Iwasgoing to tell you,” she says quietly. “I just needed a little time to trust you first. That one night was…good.” A soft flush colors her cheeks, and she bites her bottom lip. I’m starting to think she knows exactly what that does to me. “We didn’t really get a chance to talk though.”
My chest expands, heart beating against my ribs, and I can’t help but give her a cocky grin. “But you trust me now?”
“No more secrets?”
“No more secrets.”
She shifts on my lap, wiggling until she finds a more comfortable spot. Then she leans back a little, nose scrunching. “You’re really sweaty.”
I laugh under my breath. “Oh yeah? You don’t like that?” I catch the hem of her shirt and use it to wipe my chest, grinning when she gasps. “You sure you’re not the one who’s sweaty?”
“Gross,” she says, swatting at me, but the corner of her mouth twitches. Then she lifts her shirt higher, revealing smooth, warm skin and the edge of her sports bra.
“You’ve got one second to get off me, pretty girl,” I growl lowly, and she takes it for the warning it is, scrambling backward.
I rise onto my knees, and she tips backward and falls flat on her back. Her shirt’s ridden up as she’s laid out in front of me, looking like a feast.
Her neck bobs with her swallow. “What happens now?”
Every thought I shouldn’t be having bubbles to the surface, sharp and distracting. I dig my fingers into my thighs until the sting brings me back. My eyes flick to the mats beneath us, then back to her. “I’m going to show you what to do if someone ever tries to grab you again. I want you to know how to get free.”
Dahlia glances down at herself, then up at me with a skeptical arch of her brow. “I’m not sure you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly built for fighting.”
“Inertia,” I say, standing and holding out a hand. She hesitates, then takes it, and I pull her up with a steady grip. She stumbles forward, bumping into my chest, and I can’t help the small grin that slips out. “See? That’s momentum. You don’t have to be big to use it.”
Chapter 33
Dahlia
