Page 220 of Heartless Sinner

I placed my trembling hand over his, feeling the damp chill of his skin. “I absolutely promise. I swear it.”

“I want to believe you. I really fucking do, Daphne, but …”

“Why can’t you?”

“Because if you knew they were going to try to kill him … then I feel like everything was a lie. All of us.” He raised his thumb, gently wiping away a fresh tear sliding down my cheek. “I’m fucking terrified that the woman I fell in love with was okay with destroying me.”

“Fell in love with or are in love with?” I asked softly.

“Answering that question will fucking kill me.”

“We’ve let all our secrets out.” I stared up at him. “Might as well keep going.”

“I loved you before my father was shot. I still loved you while I was pretending to hate you.” He swallowed. “My heart still fucking breaks because I can’t stop loving you.”

“Same,” I said, that one word catching in my throat.

“Say it.”

The two words sounded almost desperate.

There was no reason to protect myself from him anymore.

It’s now or fucking never.

“I’ve been in love with you for years, Brooks.” I drew in a deep, trembling breath. “I swear to you, I never wanted to hurt you. I regret what I did every single damn day and wanted to tell you so many times but was too terrified of what the truth would do. I convinced myself being quiet was the least hurtful way to go.”

“You’re fucking killing me, Daphne.”

“I’m so sorry.”

There were a million things we needed to say, but tonight, we were just pouring out our hurt. We were bruised by everything that had happened and too exhausted to fight anymore.

I dropped my hand from his cheek. “I’m not going to your rental. But you can sleep here tonight.”

He nodded like I’d offered him a lifeline.

I went to the dresser and dug through it for something dry he could wear. The move made me remember when he’d said my shorts wouldn’t fit around his cock.

There was nothing for him to change into.

Turning my back to him, I sighed. “Take off your clothes and give me your boxers.”

He gave me a look, his brows drawing together in confusion.

“I’m going to blow-dry them,” I explained.

He nodded, following me into the bathroom, and handed them over before grabbing a towel and tying it around his waist.

I stood there blow-drying a pair of Ralph Lauren boxers while Brooks watched in silence.

When they were dry, I dried both of our hair before returning to my bedroom to change into my pajamas.

“Can you untie me?” I asked, knowing it’d be too much of a struggle to undo my corset.

“Yeah.” He stepped behind me and gathered my damp hair, sweeping it over one shoulder. His knuckles grazed the back of my neck.

The corset loosened one pull at a time, each tug making me more aware of how close he was.