Читать книгу Forbidden Lovers - Kimberley Troutte - Страница 15
Оглавление“The music’s getting loud downstairs.” RW poured champagne into a crystal flute and handed it to Angel. “To you, my darling.”
She clinked her glass with his water bottle. “To second chances.”
He’d toast to that. She was his second chance, even if she didn’t want to be. Couldn’t be because she was his therapist. He’d never known what it felt like for someone to understand him, to see his inner demons and not run away.
Angel had saved his life, plain and simple, and now she pushed him toward the final phase of his therapy. Together they had hatched up an intricate plan designed to heal all the wounds created by his illness. He didn’t think the plan would work, but for her, he would try.
After her first sip she asked, “Did they all come?”
“Chloe and Jeffrey arrived this morning. I haven’t seen Matthew yet, but the staff tells me he’s around. I’m waiting for him to make his presence known.” RW tried to relax his fist. He was holding his bottle too tightly. The veins in his neck were pounding. “I’m sure however he chooses to arrive, it will be a showstopper.”
“Give him time. He’ll come around.”
“Maybe. He’s a Harper, after all. We’re all a bit bullheaded.”
“Don’t I know it.” She winked at him. Playful and sweet. He’d be lost without this woman.
“You’ve changed me. You see that now, don’t you?”
She eyed him. “Well, you do look as handsome as a pirate.”
Not what he meant. He wanted to press her, ask if she’d thought about his offer again. But his instincts said to wait and give her time to consider it. Consider them.
She drank the last of her champagne and put the glass on the marble table. “All right, pirate. Go down to your party. Just remember the plan. It’ll work.”
“What if it happens again?” He swallowed hard, not wanting to remember how he used to be, unable to stop.
She put a cool hand on his. “It won’t.”
When she smiled up at him, the gnawing, twisting thing in his gut eased. She was the only one who could calm him. With her by his side, he dared to believe he was ready to put the plan in motion and call his children home. He touched her bare shoulder with the back of his knuckle. God, she was so soft, so perfect. “Will you stay?”
“I shouldn’t.”
“Why? I invited the whole town. No one will put two and two together. Plus, I bought the pirate costume for you. You’ll be unrecognizable.”
She rose up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “Can’t take the chance.”
The darkness swirled inside, yanking on him, trying to drag him under. His voice came out broken and raw. “I can’t do this without you, Angel. Please.”
RW Harper didn’t beg but everything had changed when Angel came into his life.
Her gaze met his. He could only assume she saw his demons, the ones that had nearly killed him and all he loved. The ones she was fighting to destroy. That had to be the reason she dipped her head in affirmation. Because she didn’t love him, couldn’t love him. And soon, after the plan was complete, she’d leave.
If he didn’t get stronger, that thought alone would end him.
