Page 157 of Checkmate
He whispered again.
“Oh shit,” he said, rubbing his eyes with a groan. “Shit.”
“You remembered?”
Her voice was so quiet, fearful.
“I remembered,” He confirmed. Shit, shit, shit!
“It’s okay, Marcus. Forget about it.”
Pulling away, she offered him a smile. One that didn’t reach her eyes. Never in all the time he had known her had he ever seen her so upset. Not when she left Alex, not when she had seen Sophie in what used to be her home.
“Erica?” Pulling her towards him, he brushed his lips over hers. “I’m sorry I’ve upset you, baby. That’s…” He sighed, his heart thumping in his chest.
This was so bad. So, so bad.
“I meant every word,” he said, pressing his forehead against hers. I just have no right to say that to you.”
“I don’t understand,” she said. “What do you mean?”
He sighed, closing his eyes as he prepared himself for the sting of rejection. “I ruined your life. I caused your marriage to end.” He chewed his lip and cleared his throat. “I turned your world upside down. And now I’m drunkenly telling you I love you when you deserve so much more than that.”
“Forget that for a moment,” she said. “You said you meant it?”
“Baby. Of course I meant it. You are the sun, moon and stars to me. I am so unbelievably lucky to even be sharing any part of your life. You’ve brought me so much joy when my world was crumbling apart. How could I not love you?”
With the blood rushing in his ears, he replayed his words. It’s far too much, far too soon. He was an idiot for saying anything. For daring to hope he could have anything more than—
“Marcus?”
He took a breath. And then another for good measure. “Yeah?”
“God help me, I love you too.”
Holy shit.
She loved him, too.
Chapter 46
Alex
For the first time in his relationship with Sophie, she had proven herself useful beyond a hole for him to fuck.
When she had come to him almost a month ago, telling him about her encounter with Erica, he could feel his anger rising. Not only had his plan to ruin Marcus’ business completely backfired, but now he was gaining more success off of the back of Alex’s stunt?
He could have kicked himself.
Had he not stolen that fucking bus, they wouldn’t have had TV time, and no one would have offered them shit. And to add insult to injury, Marcus was now poaching his clients? He wanted to punch something. Well, actually, he wanted to punch Marcus, but he had a feeling even that would backfire.
For days, he had stewed.
A TV show for a shitty fucking ghost tour. Money and exposure for a man he couldn’t stand. And all he could do was support his client as they threw money at his enemy.
It was almost laughable how absurd his life had become.
Almost.
