and fizzing bath bombs. She loved citrus scents and he’d stocked up on the ones he knew she’d like. He bought her small things because she loved the little things more than extravagant gestures like multimillion-dollar homes. He’d supplied the bathroom with everything he knew she would feel was a luxury and more. Things he wanted to introduce to her.
He watched her put her hair in a high ponytail and then a messy knot on top of her head. Immediately, Steele helped her settle into the large tub. He stepped in behind her, forcing her body forward so she was sitting between his legs. He pulled her in tight to him. He liked her close. She’d always liked being close, but now, she tried to hold herself away from him and he wasn’t having that.
He tightened his arm until it was a bar locking under the soft weight of her breasts and he tugged until her body was right up against his. Until his cock was pressed tightly against the tattoo he’d designed for her. His ink on her. That statement proclaiming to any other man who dared touch her, that she belonged to him.
“I want to talk about the party and the aftermath you walked in on.”
She stiffened, but he refused to release her. Instead, he put his head on her shoulder. She made a single sound, but it pierced his heart like an arrow. Straight through. Fuck. He’d hurt her so much. So, so much.
“Breezy, baby, I know this is difficult for you. I know that, but I swear to you on everything that matters to me, I’m going to tell you the truth and answer any questions, so we have a chance. That’s what I’m asking, one chance. For our son. For me. Especially for me.”
She remained silent and still, holding herself as if one wrong word would make her shatter.
“You saw the pictures on my phone. I didn’t just manufacture those out of thin air. You saw my ink, right over my heart. The lock and key with your name in the barbed wire and roses. Only you, Breezy. That’s what it says. That’s what it means. I belong to Breezy Simmons. I want to belong to Breezy Russak. The things in this house, I bought them for you before you ever showed up. Give me this chance, baby.”
There was a long silence. He heard his heart beating. Hard. Aching. Fear gripped him, turning his stomach to knots.
“You tore me apart, Steele,” she admitted in a small voice. “Completely and utterly apart. I didn’t think I could survive and I didn’t even know if I wanted to. Until Zane. Until I knew I had that little part of you. I don’t think I can go through that again.”
His heart stuttered. She hadn’t known she was pregnant when she left. She might have had a woman’s intuition, but she didn’t know for certain. If she had, she might have told him, and he would have found a better way to keep her safe.
“Hear me out. That’s all I’m asking.”
“I don’t know if I can believe you.”
He knew that wasn’t it. She was afraid she would believe him.
“I’m a damn good liar, baby. And I can con anyone. But this is us. You and me. You’re my world and I want you back. I’m giving you everything if that’s what you want, and trust me, Bree, it’s damned hard to tell you some of the things that need to be said.”
“There’s the club. I don’t want that life. I don’t want it for me or for Zane.”
“You saw Czar’s family. You saw the way they were together. We aren’t the Swords. We’ll never be that club or treat our women and children the way they do.” Before she could protest, he bit her shoulder gently and then tugged at her earlobe. Keeping his voice a husky whisper, he continued. “In any case, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s start with the party.”
Before anything, he had to get those three women he’d partied with out of the way and hope she believed him. If he couldn’t put them to rest, nothing he said after that would matter because she’d always come back to that one moment. He cursed himself for hurting her.
She didn’t reply, but she stopped straining away from him. He felt the little goose bumps on her skin and tasted her excited heartbeat on his tongue when he used his teeth and lips on her. She was