Page 55 of Won't Back Down

“I wish you could see yourself the way that I see you. The way you helped me see myself through your eyes. We’re better together, Sawyer. And maybe I’m just a foolish inexperienced little girl to you?—”

I shook my head, curling my fingers into fists to keep from reaching for her. “No, you’re not that. You’ve never been that.”

Her throat worked, and her fingers against my cheeks trembled, but she didn’t look away. “I know this was supposed to be temporary. I know it wasn’t supposed to be real. But it is real for me. A part of me knew it would be when I agreed to this, because I love you. I’ve always loved you. I know you care for me or you wouldn’t have offered yourself up for this lunatic scheme. I think you agreed, not only to protect me, but because it allowed us to both get out of our own way. There’s something between us. Always has been. It’s shifted and changed over the years, but it’s here. And I don’t want to watch you walk away out of some misguided sense of nobility because you don’t think you’re worthy. Because you’re everything to me.”

This was everything I’d never imagined hearing from her. Everything I’d never even let myself dream about. But even as my heart yearned to leap in with both feet, my brain argued with me. She was attracted. We’d been playing at being married for the better part of a month. It wasn’t unexpected that she’d slid into that fantasy, too. But that didn’t make it real. Not beyond the undeniable chemistry. Because how could someone like her love someone like me?

I opened my mouth.

Willa narrowed her eyes. “I swear to God, if you’re about to try to mansplain my own emotions to me, you can stop right there. I’m not going to hear it. I will never again allow anyone to tell me I don’t know my own mind. Not even you.”

Shit. Was that what I was trying to do? I never wanted to make her feel like I was trying to control or diminish her. I just didn’t know how to trust this, because I was too afraid of having the dream of it yanked away from me.

“I’m going to make this really simple for you, Sawyer. I’m not asking for a declaration of forever here. I’m asking you to give us a chance. Do you want me?”

I couldn’t give her anything but honesty in this moment. Because this was as raw and vulnerable as we’d ever been. “More than my next breath.”

She rose up, pressing her body against mine, lifting her mouth close enough that I felt the warmth of her breath as she spoke. “I’m your wife. So why don’t you finally take me?”

CHAPTER 25

WILLA

Icouldn’t believe I’d just issued that challenge. Couldn’t believe I’d spilled out everything I felt like that. I hardly dared breathe, pressing myself close enough that he had to feel my pounding heart and the way I trembled as I waited for him to choose. Because it was a choice. In this moment, he decided whether he wanted this marriage to be real or not.

I knew he cared for me. I knew he was attracted to me. But I was still absolutely terrified he’d choose not. He carried so much guilt and an unworthiness I’d sensed in him all our lives. I hated everyone who’d ever made him feel like less, and I hated even more that even the tiniest part of him believed it. Maybe that was why I’d been so bold. Temper and righteous outrage giving me the courage to speak the truth he needed to hear.

Even if it meant he could shatter me.

“Willa.” My name wrenched out of him on a pained groan, and my heart seized.

He was going to say no. He was going to be foolishly noble and find a way to try to gently reject me for my own good. I didn’t know how the hell I’d survive it, because it had taken every last shred of courage I possessed to admit how I felt.

Squeezing my eyes shut—because I absolutely couldn’t look at him right now—I took a step back. “I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what the hell I was apologizing for, but I didn’t know what else to say. “I?—”

He yanked me forward so fast I lost my balance. Then his mouth crashed down on mine, and I lost my breath, because this was different from the other kisses we’d shared. They’d been playful, flirty, sweet. There’d even been that hot, sexy orgasm by the fire during the hurricane. But this kiss held an edge of something that might have been desperation, and I was so here for it. It wasn’t a declaration of undying love, but I hadn’t asked for that, hadn’t expected it. I’d take reciprocated passion and be grateful.

So. Damned. Grateful.

His hands skated down, cupping my backside, pressing me against the bulge in his shorts. I wanted to feel those hands everywhere, and I definitely wanted a chance to explore that bulge for myself. Relieved, aroused, I rocked against him, delighting in the growl that elicited. He set me back just far enough to strip off my shirt, then his own, before we dove at each other again. His fingers were at the clasp of my bra when I heard the rumble—part growl, part confusion.

My lust-addled brain took far too long to understand the sound.

Roy.

I broke the kiss, searching for my dog. He stood at attention a few feet away, my tank top having landed in such a way that it looped over his head. His tail wagged in a jerky, hesitant rhythm, as if he was pretty sure this was a game, but he wasn’t quite clear what was happening.

Right, well, he wouldn’t know what was happening, would he? It wasn’t like I’d ever brought a guy around him.

I laid a hand on Sawyer’s chest and stepped back. “Thirty seconds.”

Racing across the kitchen, I retrieved one of the chew bones I’d bought. “Here you go, buddy. Here’s a nice, tasty bone. You just focus on that, okay?”

I tugged the shirt off his head, and Roy took the bone from me, sending Sawyer a long look before he trotted over to the dog bed in the corner—one of several I’d scattered around the house.

“Now, where were we?” I flicked the clasp of my bra myself and let it slide down my arms, falling to the floor.

Sawyer swore, long and low, his eyes darkening like storm clouds. “Not here.”