“You hated that I was there, but I couldn’t leave you alone,” I say, interrupting him. “I didn’t want you to suffer the way I did after my breakup. I…”
“I know, but that stubbornness of yours? I think that’s what I finally let myself admit I love about you the most.”
My eyes go wide. “You—youloveme?”
The corner of his mouth lifts. “I do, Dilynne Marie Clark.” I open my mouth to speak, but he places his stupid finger over my lips, silencing me the way he always does. I pretend that I hate it, but honestly, it’s growing on me. “Yes, I know I used your middle name again, but I think it’s fitting in this case, so just drop it.”
I clear my throat. “Fine.”
“Good girl.” Those two words travel right between my legs. “Now, as I was saying, do you want more with me after this?”
“Yes,” I whisper. “And I…I love you too, Elliot. It terrifies me, but I—” His mouth cuts me off as he wraps his arm beneath me, rolling me on top of him.
I love him.
Maybe in some twisted way that only he and I can understand, we’ve both always shown our love for each other, just in our own unique way.
“Don’t be scared, Dilynne,” he finally says when we part.
Clearing the emotion from my throat, I whisper, “I can’t let another man break me again. I promised myself that I would never put myself in that position a second time.”
Elliot pushes my hair from my face. “I get it. Trust me, I do. After Tori, I swore I’d never open myself up to the idea of love again. But it’s different with you, Dil. It’s—it’s fucking right.”
“What about my brother?”
Elliot laughs. “I already talked to him.”
Sitting up tall, I stare down at him. “What? You’ve been keeping that from me too?”
“Not vindictively. I just wanted him to know my intentions.”
“Which are?”
“Well, if you hadn’t just yelled at me and admitted that you were falling for me too, I had planned on asking you to continue our relationship anyway, and I thought it was best that I didn’t give your brother a reason to contemplate my murder.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re so dramatic.”
“No, I just knew that no matter what he said, I was willing to risk our friendship for you. I just thought I’d at least give him the courtesy to warm up to the idea before I begged you to be with me.”
I hover back over him. “Beg me, huh? And what if I had said no?”
He thrusts his hips up underneath me, letting me feel how hard he is again already. “I would have fucked you into submission.”
“If you think I’m going to submit to you, you have another thing coming.”
Herolls us over, hovering above me again. “No. I don’t want that type of relationship, except maybe in the bedroom.” He bounces his eyebrows. “What I want is a partner, someone I feel like I can get through anything with, and that person is you.”
“Okay, so now that you’ve admitted that, tell me what’s going on with your dad.”
He sighs, but finally opens up to me, and by the time he’s caught me up to speed, I’m fuming. “God, what a bitch,” I say as he finishes telling me about Tori’s role in all of this.
“I know. But she’s the least of my worries. The plan I need now is how to confront my father.”
“I want to help. Please,” I beg. “If anything, just let me be in the room so I can see the look on his face when he realizes that he’s been caught.”
He chuckles. “I’ll take it into consideration. All I know is, I need to make sure that he doesn’t see this coming.”
An idea comes to me. “I think I just figured out a way to get him to meet with you that will totally throw him off.”