Page 109 of No Apologies
“You do?”
“You’re already on my body, Sky. You know that. But if you want your name, you can have that too. You can have anything you want. Anything. Ask me for the world and I’m gonna do my damndest to get it for you.”
She softened at the emotional words, “I don’t want the world. I just want you.”
“You’ve got me and if you really want me forever, I’ll put my name on your skin tomorrow. Say the word and as much as I’ll hate leaving this bed we’ll go down to the shop and do it right fuckin’ now.”
A giggle escaped her, “We can’t do it right now. That’d be crazy. Besides, you’ll need time to draw it out.”
That patented Bomar smirk pulled at his lips, “Who says I don’t have it already drawn up and hidden away just like I did your garter drawing?”
She gasped, “You do not.”
“Mmm, maybe I have an entire notebook full of beautiful roses and other ideas I drew just for you.”
He pulled back a little and she shook her head in astonishment. He was serious. She could see it in his eyes. He had an entire book of tattoo ideas that he had drawn out specifically for her. And if her heart hadn’t already been his for a good long while, it would have been right then and there.
Which only left her with one question about her tattoos that she’d never had the courage to ask, “Why roses?”
“Hmm?” He was tracing the one on her shoulder distractedly.
“Why did you choose roses? Even that first drawing you did, the crown that I tore up, it had roses in the design. Why?”
“Because they fit you. Beautiful, strong, dangerous. I couldn’t get the sky blue color of your eyes just right no matter how many times I mixed it but that… if I couldn’t give Skylar Rose a rose I wouldn’t have been much of an artist.”
She grinned at the admission, “So you did know it was my middle name?”
“Of course I did.”
“How?”
“You might’ve ignored me for years after what Cash did to Jemma but you, my beautiful, sexy angel, are impossible to ignore.” He traced the tattoo again and sighed, “I wanted you, even back then, and knowing I didn’t deserve you didn’t mean I couldn’t keep an eye on you from a distance.”
Skylar gaped up at him. He’d wanted her that long? He’d kept tabs on her even before they were friends? Her heart ached a little more at every layer he peeled back with honesty. And though she hadn’t thought it was possible she fell in love with him even more.
“You do deserve me though.”
Colt sighed and collapsed to his back beside her in the bed, “No, I don’t but I’m going to try harder to be the kind of man that does. I promise.”
She bit her lip, hating that the pleasure of their afterglow was fading even if she knew they needed to talk about this and settle it once and for all. He’d apologized. He’d said he loved her. But he hadn’t said anything about the situation that had nearly torn them apart in the first place.
“Does that mean you’re not going to fix the deal I made with Lincoln?”
Colt was still beside her for a long time and she turned on her side and watched him. He was staring at the ceiling, one arm behind his head, the other still clutching her tightly. He might have looked relaxed to someone else but she knew better. His lips were thin when he shuddered out a rough breath.
“There’s nothing to fix.” He finally said, “It’s done and we can’t undo it even if I wanted to.”
“And do you still want to?”
Colt groaned, “Yes and no.”
“Care to explain?”
“I want to undo it because I never wanted you to get involved in my family bullshit. Everything I did, all the time I spent pushing you away, it was all designed to keep you safe from them. What was all of that for if you ended up making a deal with Lincoln anyways huh?”
With a little explanation, she understood what he meant. She got why he’d been so upset now. He’d wasted so much time keeping her at arm’s length in hopes of keeping the dark part of his life away from her and then she’d all but jumped in at the first chance. Looking at it from that perspective, all their time apart had been wasted.
“But then I think about what you gave up for me and why you did it, and I know that I can’t throw it back in your face.” His grip on her tightened, “That was a lot of money, Skylar. Money I might not have come up with in another year or two and you just wrote a check. It dinged my pride a little.”
