the pictures on the phone. I see this house. Everything in it. I choose to believe that you weren’t inside those women, that your cock always has belonged to me. I’m willing to give us another chance, but you have to give me your full commitment this time.”
“Do you have any idea how fucked up I am, Breezy? How difficult your life is going to be with me? I can give you the world. I can show you in a million ways what you mean to me. I can do that. But you have to live with a control freak. I don’t want you out of my sight. Do you know how many cameras there are in this house? I have an app on my phone so I can look to see where you are and what you’re doing at any time. I’ll smother you. I’ll make you crazy. You have no idea how crazy I can get.”
“I lived with you for a year. You kept me with you every moment and I knew it was for my protection.”
“That was nothing. Nothing.” He spat the word at her because he knew, the more she became aware of the real man she was choosing, the more she’d want to run. Her thumb was moving along his jaw, a soothing gesture because that was Breezy’s way. She soothed him no matter what was happening.
“What do you think I’m going to be like with Zane?” he demanded. “With our children?”
“I think you’ll protect them, because that’s what you do.”
“Damn it, woman. You persist in seeing what you want to see. I want you to be realistic.”
“Then tell me, Steele. Let me decide what I can or can’t live with. Then you won’t have to worry, and you can jump in with both feet or let me leave.”
He shook his head. “That’s the problem right there, baby. You don’t know me. You don’t know that I’m not capable of letting you walk away. I’m willing to put my life on the line so you can live happily with our son if that’s what it takes, but I know as long as you’re somewhere in this world, I’m going to be with you. That’s fucking stalker mentality and if another man did that to you or another woman, I’d kill him.”
Breezy should have been horrified, but instead she smiled serenely, that too-old Breezy smile that made him think she was older and wiser than most. “Honey, you’re so far off the mark about yourself you don’t even know. If I didn’t love you, if I truly wanted out, you wouldn’t want anything to do with me. You can protest all you want, but just as you watched and studied me, I did you. I spent nearly two years watching you. Talk about being a stalker.”
“Bree …” He tried to protest but she shook her head, that smile never faltering—as if she knew absolutely what she was talking about.
“Steele, you might spend time trying to get me to fall back in love, but in the end, if I didn’t love you, you wouldn’t want me. We didn’t have fights …”
“Because every single thing went my way. You never opposed me.”
She smiled at him. Sweet. Breezy. Setting his heart on fire. Sometimes looking at her hurt. Really hurt. How had he ever sent her away from him?
“That isn’t true, honey. Think back. Whenever I wanted something, you moved heaven and earth to get it for me. When I didn’t like something, it wasn’t done. I didn’t have to fight with you because you gave me anything I wanted. I’m not a pushover, Steele. I loved belonging to you. I’ll admit I don’t know the first thing about relationships, and maybe ours wouldn’t have suited every woman, but it suited us. I was happy, and I thought you were as well.” She tilted her chin at him. “What are you so afraid of? What are you holding back?”
She was too damned intelligent. She had always asked the hard questions. She did know him more than he thought she did, to be able to guess he was hiding something big from her. Hell. “I don’t want you to give me everything and then take it away from me when the going gets tough. And it will.” That was all true.
“I don’t give up, Steele.” She rubbed her hand down her leg. “It’s surprisingly hot out here this afternoon.”
“I don’t want you to get burned, baby. Let’s head into the