Page 232 of Bound By Fire
I laugh a little, but it fades fast when I see the stricken look on his face.
“Give me a chance,” he says in a gruff voice. “I know you’ve been hurt. I know I hurt you, and that fucking kills me. I want a chance to make it up to you. We don’t have to rush anything. We can start small. Let’s have dinner. Let’s get to know each other. Let me prove to you I’m worth taking a chance on.”
“It’s not a good idea,” I say again, even though, holy crap, what he’s saying sounds amazing.
“It’s just dinner, Robyn,” Ridge says.
“We’ll eat, we’ll talk, and then we’ll end up in bed.”
“No, we won’t.” He shakes his head, and the look on his face tells me he means it.
I have to smile at that. “You talk such shit.”
He takes a small step closer. He still doesn’t reach for me, but he’s close enough now that I can smell him. My body reacts because I love the way he smells.
“We won’t,” he says again. “I swear. We can spend the next few weeks getting to know each other.”
“Weeks?” I let out a laugh.
“I want this to work. I really want us. So yeah, I think we can go without sex for a while.”
His eyes are on me. They’re so intense.
“So we hang out,” I say.
“Yes. We go on dates. We do things together.” He swallows. “I’m sorry for what I did. I wish I could go back and change it. If I could, I would.”
“I’ve already heard all of this. And I forgave you. We agreed to move on.” There’s a lump in my throat now, and I hate it. “This isn’t going to work, Ridge.” My voice is thin.
“I sabotaged us. I know that now. I was afraid of love.”
He steps right up to me. He doesn’t touch me.
“I didn’t want love. I didn’t want to take that risk. I can still remember my mother crying herself to sleep. How broken she was after my dad died. I wasn’t willing to risk my heart because I didn’t want to be broken like her if things went wrong. But I was being an idiot. I was remembering all the wrong things. I forgot about them together. I forgot the picture they painted. I forgot how happy they were.”
He licks his lips, like he’s remembering.
“I think if I’d asked her whether she would rather have never met my father, never have suffered when she lost him, she would still choose him. She would choose the time they had together and the pain that came after over never having loved him at all.”
He takes a second, his eyes still holding mine.
“I want to take a chance on you…to take a chance on us. I know I’m asking a lot after I hurt you. But please, Robyn, take a leap with me. Get to know me. Spend time with me. Let’s do the things that couples do. It would all be new for me.” He smiles. “Let’s have the dinners and take long-ass walks on the beach, hand in hand. I want you, Robyn. I choose you. I’m completely in love with you, and I am a shell of who I was before I met you. I know I sound like a complete pussy and that I’m probably doing this all wrong, but…please.”
I’m on the verge of shouting yes.
I am.
I just…
“I won’t hurt you again. I promise,” he repeats.
“You can’t promise that.”
“Actually, I can. My dragon already considers you his. He’s already picked you. I’m fucked.”
I tilt my head at him and try, very hard, to keep the smile off my face. “You’re making it sound bad.”
He gets that sheepish look again. “I don’t mean it like that. I mean, I’m fucked in the best way. But only if you say yes. Otherwise, I’m just plain fucked because I don’t want anyone else. I will never want anyone else. It’s just you for us.”
