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Or is he?
“What’s gotten into you?”
He doesn’t move, his hard body and piercing gaze trapping me in place.
“I…I don’t know,” he answers, and I can see the fissures in the walls around him getting a little wider.
Under the cool exterior is the boy I fell in love with all those years ago. The one who kicked down a door and rescued me. Who sat with me on a gravel driveway until I felt safe enough to get in his car. He spent hours waiting for me at the hospital, even though I’d already run in terror of what came next. And…he killed his father two days later. All because of what that monster did to me.
He leans into my touch when I bring my hands up to his cheeks, but then he slams the door in my face. Alden’s mask is back, and not the sexy one. He steps away, but it feels so much farther.
No, not ready yet.
“I’m sorry, it’s been a strange day. Do you still want to go to dinner?”
I nibble my bottom lip, then nod.
“I need to change out of my work clothes.”
I head for the stairwell, then stop and turn back.
“Whatever it is that’s bothering you, I’m here for you.”
With that, I walk away, but I can feel his eyes on me until I’m out of sight.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
ALDEN
I keep looking over at Emily on the drive to the restaurant. For maybe the first time ever, I’m at a loss for words.
“I’m sorry,” I finally blurt out.
Emily looks over.
“There’s no excuse for the way I treated you back there.”
“I’m not like one of my flowers, Alden. I won’t wilt that easily.”
I reach out and grab her hand.
“That’s not the point. Let me make it up to you?”
She smiles, and it lights up the entire car.
“I thought you were…with dinner.”
“No, I asked you to dinner before I was an asshole. This coming weekend, what are you doing?”
Emily shakes her head.
“Nothing special. We don’t have any events, so I was planning on doing some paperwork.”
“I want to take you away.”
Her eyes go wide as I pull into the restaurant driveway and right up to the valet.
“Are you serious?”
