Even though I didn’t say it, we both knew I couldn’t go. Not if I wanted to take my place at the head of the Riscoff empire. Gable was where we’d been based for over 170 years, and this was where my family would always reign.
“We’ll figure something out.”
She shook her head. “There’s nothing to figure out. This is impossible. We tried. We failed.”
I held her tighter because I refused to let her go. I refused to quit.
“Do you love me?” I wasn’t going to ask the question. I didn’t want to hear the answer if it was no, but I’d run out of time. I had to know.
Whitney turned her face toward the window instead of toward me. My heart clenched in my chest, like it was preparing to be shredded.
“Look at me, Blue. Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t love me.”
With tears streaming down her face, she lifted her gaze to mine.
Fuck. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe ...
Finally, she spoke, her voice hoarse from crying. “I shouldn’t love you. It would be so much easier if I didn’t.”
I pulled her tighter against me and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Thank God,” I whispered. “Because I fucking love you more than I knew was possible. We’ll figure this out. We can make it work.”
Even as I said the words, with this beautiful girl in my arms, I wondered if I was lying about that last part.
32
Whitney
Present day
Someone knockson the door of the cabin, and I snuffle back my tears in the shower.
Fucking Karma. She just can’t leave me be.
“I already know you want me to leave! I get it. You don’t have to tell me again!”
The door opens, and I curse the fact that it doesn’t have a lock. I shut the water off and grab for my towel ... which I left on the futon. I poke my head around the shower curtain, expecting to see my cousin’s gloating face. But I’m absolutely and completely wrong.
“That’s not what I want. Not at all.”
Lincoln.
The shock of seeing him standing there sends a jolt through my system. I stumble backward and my feet slide out from under me. I grab the shower curtain, and it tears off the clips as I fall. Before I hit the floor, strong arms wrap around my body.
“I got you, Blue.”
For the space of two heartbeats, I can’t make myself struggle free. Just hearing my nickname on his lips again brings back more memories than I can handle. I forgot what it’s like to be this close to him. The kiss earlier wasn’t enough.
The kiss that happened after I gave his mother a heart attack.
I stumble out of his arms, the shower curtain wrapped around me. “What are you doing here?” It comes out as a demand.
“Where else would I go?”
“To your family. Your mother. Is she ...” I brace for the answer, expecting the worst.
“She’s fine. Panic attack.”