doesn’t fuel me like it should.
I clear my throat. Rake fingers through my hair.
“When I realized how wrong I was…that’s when I came back. And it was wrong. I shouldn’t have pushed you away from them, Trinity. It wasn’t my decision to make.”
She stares up at me, silent, barely blinking. Her chest rises as she takes a deep breath, but she exhales without saying anything.
“And what I’ve been trying to tell you…” I look down, reach for her hands.
I wait for her to pull away so I can turn and leave.
She doesn’t.
Trinity lets me take her hands again. Does nothing as I lace my fingers with hers. As I pull her a little closer.
I clear my throat again.
“I’m waiting,” she says.
I start to growl at her impatience, but I check myself immediately.
Swallow. Fucking breathe.
“I don’t forgive you, Trinity Malone. I don’t think I ever can.”
Her eyes go wide. Her fingers tighten around mine. “What?” she says, but it’s barely a whisper.
“I was broken before I met you. Broken, and selfish. And I was happy not giving a fuck about anyone but myself.” I tug her the last bit, until her body’s pressed against mine. “Then you came along, and you fixed me. You made me feel again. I’d promised myself I’d never be scared again. And then I met you.”
I shake loose one of my hands, then the other. I finally get to peel the strands of wet hair from her throat, and run my thumbs down the side of her neck.
“And now I’m terrified all the fucking time.”
She puts her hands over mine, her lips parting. “Zach, I didn’t—”
“I love you, Trinity. But I don’t think I can ever forgive you.”
Her eyes are limpid, glowing.
I duck my head. Aim for her lips. And they part oh so fucking invitingly.
But then a finger presses against my mouth, hard enough to push my head back. My eyes fly open, and I glare down at her as she puts her head to the side.
“No.”
A most familiar frustration rises inside me. “No?”
“I don’t accept your apology.” She shrugs. “That was a good start,” she says, and then clears her fucking throat. “But it’s not enough.”
“Christ, woman, what the hell—” I start.
She puts her finger back on my mouth. “Nuh-uh.”
I pull away. Bite down on my lip and pretend it’s hers instead.
It doesn’t work.
I want to rip her to shreds…and then plaster her back together with kisses. I’m trembling from the force of stopping myself lunging at her.
She puts that same finger to her own lips, purses them. Cocks her head again. Taps her lips once, twice, three times.
“What?” I growl, when she stays silent.
“You must be tired,” she says.
I shake my head. “Not even a little.”
“You should rest.”
She takes my hands, laces our fingers, and leads us toward the bedroom. And then my heart does that thing I hate so much—twisting in place before thumping around like a tooth in a loose socket.
“Why didn’t you just say you wanted to fuck?” I tell her as I leer at her ass through the silk robe she’s wearing.
She stops dead in her tracks, and turns to frown at me. “Who said that’s what I want?”
I blink, exhale hard. “What?”
She points at the bed. It’s a king-size, covered with pillows and furry blankets. A girl’s bed. “Sit.”
I don’t like the mischievous light in her eyes. “Or what?”
“Or you can leave, Zach.” She quirks an eyebrow. “Forever.”
At first I think she’s dead calm about it, her face not even twitching…but then I see her hands. They’re in fists at her side.
So I go over to the bed.
I sit.
And she smiles at me like I deserve a fucking treat.
Trinity turns her head without taking her eyes off me, and calls out, “Guys? I need a hand.” And then, with a twist of her mouth, adds a reluctant, “Please.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Apollo
“Shut it, would you?” I whisper, waving a hand behind me. “I can’t hear if you two keep yakking like that.”
“You shouldn’t be eavesdropping in the first place,” Rube says.
“Aw, leave the kid alone,” Cass says.
I turn and scowl at Cass over my shoulder. “Kid?” I’m almost two years older than him.
He smirks at me from where he’s lounging in the hot tub. He practically lives in the thing. I’m surprised he hasn’t sprouted scales yet.
I put my ear back to the crack in the sliding door. Rube pulled it closed when he came back a few minutes ago, and then scolded me when I tried to open it.
Zach and