Hostile Territory - Marie James Page 0,91

who I’d expect to cause that sort of reaction from her is Nikolay Petrovich, and I’m terrified for my life even before I spin to see who has shocked her.

Only when I turn, I don’t find an angry Russian. If it weren’t for the sparkling blue eyes pinned to mine, I wouldn’t even recognize the bearded man dressed in a solid black tuxedo.

Chapter 39

Deacon

Bright honey-colored eyes follow me as I make my way across the room. I don’t even hesitate after seeing that Dani is standing beside the girl I’m after. If anything, my ex witnessing this makes it even more perfect.

My hands are trembling, fear of rejection swimming in my gut, but I have years of practice at not letting my feelings show. I drop every one of those walls when I reach her. I had a speech planned, a long diatribe of reasons she should let me love her, but words fail me when she’s within reach.

Instinctively, my hand caresses her cheek, and even though it’s clear she’s shocked, she leans into the touch like she’s been drowning without it.

Instead of words, I use my lips to speak my truth. Her chin is quivering with emotions, but this beautiful woman kisses me back. The slow glide of our tongues says a million things. They confess the things I’ll make sure she’s certain of before we close our eyes tonight.

“Anna,” I whisper against her mouth, and she responds by twisting her fingers in the front of my shirt.

Dani gasps beside the two of us, but I don’t spare a single second on my past. I’m looking forward, looking to the future, and if I somehow get lucky enough, that’s going to include the woman in my arms.

“How are you here?” Anna asks when I inch my face back just enough to look into her beautiful eyes.

“Wren synced our calendars,” I confess.

This party is what Flynn was talking about last night when he was trying to convince me to make my move. The image of her bringing a different man tonight ate away at me all fucking night, and I’ll examine why it took jealousy for me to take this step at a later point.

“I’ve missed you.”

“Baby,” I whisper, pressing my mouth to hers one more time. “I’ve been miserable. I wanted to do what was right. I didn’t want to interfere with your life, but I’ve been regretting every single second since I walked away from you. I regret the time we’ve lost, the things we could’ve been doing. I miss having you in my arms. I miss your sass, and the way your eyes sparkle after too much whiskey. Everything. I miss fucking everything.”

Her eyes search mine, darting back and forth as if she can’t believe I’m real. Hell, I’m terrified this is another dream because there’s no way she’s clinging to me right now. There’s no way all it was going to take was to come to her and tell her how I felt. Could I have ended this misery months ago? Will she ever be able to forgive me for not being man enough to admit how much I need her?

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

Anna keeps her eyes on me, ignoring the angry woman at her side. Dani no longer exists to her, and that fact is clear in her eyes.

“You haven’t been sleeping well,” I observe, running a thumb softly under her eye. She’s glowing, don’t get me wrong, but even makeup can’t cover the slight bruising.

“You either,” she whispers looking at my own face.

“Is that going to change?” It’s an indirect question, and I hope she understands the significance of it.

“I want it to.”

I kiss her again because how could I not? I hate that we’re in public. I hate that there are too many layers of clothing between our bodies right now. I hate that I didn’t go to her last night at Flynn’s insistence, but being here is a statement of its own. I hate these kinds of things. I hate the restriction the tie is causing around my neck. I hate shiny shoes and fake-ass people with more money than sense. But I’m here, proving a point. If this is part of her life, then it’s going to be part of mine as well, if she allows it.

“I love you,” I confess.

Dani gasps again, but Anna doesn’t seem as surprised as a gorgeous smile curves her wicked mouth.

“That so?”

“I’ve never loved someone as much as I love you.”

Her throat