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“Why?” he asked.
“Because I let you down, Sir.”
He sucked in a breath. Shit. Did she really feel that way?
In no way did he want her to think that she’d disappointed him.
“Stand up slowly, baby. Then face me.”
Some of the tension eased at his change in tone. He watched her carefully as she stood, wanting to make sure that she didn’t feel dizzy.
But she seemed all right as she turned to face him. Reuben clasped her face between his hands, tilting her head back so he could gently kiss her.
“You have not disappointed me.” He kept his voice firm so she knew that he was speaking the truth. “You could never disappoint me. I promise you that.”
“I don’t think that you can promise something like that. I’m sure there are many ways I could disappoint you in the future.”
“No. There won’t be.”
Two tears dripped down her cheeks. “I don’t like people being upset with me. It’s why I never protested when Cammie agreed with Eric that I should live in the basement. It was awful. Damp. There were mice down there. The sofa bed was so uncomfortable I could barely sleep. But they opened their house to me, and I didn’t want to complain. When my coworkers complained about working weekends at my last job, I always took their shifts, even though no one would ever swap with me. When Cammie told me I was being babyish and had to grow up, I bit my tongue. And when Matt didn’t fight for me when I broke up with him, well, that was deserved. Because I had ruined things. He’d lost his job.”
He made a noise of disagreement.
“When my family never tried to follow me out here to convince me to come home . . . I knew that I was right to leave because that showed how disappointed they were in me. I don’t want you to ever feel that way. Please.” Her voice broke on the last word.
Fuck.
Fuck Cammie and Eric.
Her former coworkers.
Definitely fuck Matt.
And her family? Fuck them too.
“You listen to me. You didn’t do anything. All of that is on them. Their fault. Their failings. And I will make sure they’re punished for it.”
Nothing would please him more.
Alarm filled her face, though, as she stared up at him.
“Please don’t hurt my family. Or Matt. Or Cammie. I think you’ve dealt with Eric. Or you are dealing with him. But . . . they don’t deserve your wrath.”
But they did.
However, he didn’t like the panic on her face. “I won’t harm them. Yet.”
“Ever.”
“I can’t promise that,” he said. Some things just weren’t adding up and he wanted to make sure he knew what was going on first.
“You don’t need to worry about that. All you need to know is that you will not disappoint me. And if you think you are, you need to talk to me about it. I don’t want you to do things just because you think they please me. Wait . . . no, yes, I do.”
Her lips actually twitched.
He sighed. “Damn it.”
She giggled.
