Chapter 38

Eliza

“You hired me? I’m your entertainment for the afternoon.”

My eyes widen in disbelief at the forwardness in the female voice, but what really has me confused is Coleson’s laughter. It’s carefree, full of humor, even if I can see the confusion all over his face.

“You’ve got the wrong person, lady,” I watch him say, shaking his head. “I haven’t ordered any entertainment in a long time. I’m a married man.”

And he claims not to love me…

“I don’t care what you are. You paid me,” she insists, and Coleson’s laughter falls off.

He looks over at me with a “What the hell is going on?” expression before he sets her with a look. “No. I didn’t. Wrong guy.”

“I don’t know why you’re lying now. It happened when you got in this morning. You paid me in the lobby to be up here at twelve, so it gave you enough time to thoroughly fuck me before you had to leave for the rink.”

Coleson narrows his eyes. “That’s untrue. One, I don’t fuck before a game. And two, I don’t need three hours to get off.”

“I don’t care about any of that. I’m just doing what I was paid for.”

She starts to enter the room, and I step between them. Her eyes widen, and I know she’s a lying piece of shit. “Who sent you?”

Her brows basically touch her hairline as she pins me with a look. “I don’t know what you are?—”

“You do,” I say, holding her gaze, even if it makes my neck ache. “I know my husband. He is fully satisfied and doesn’t need another woman when I am more than enough to handle.”

“Men always?—”

“Not my man,” I say with more confidence than I realized I had. “Plus, I know his routine. He is a creature of habit and doesn’t have sex before games. So, I’ll ask again. Who hired you to put him in a compromising situation?”

The girl looks from me to over my head at Coleson, who I know is standing behind me with his arms crossed, looking ever-so imposing. The only reason I know that is because I can feel the heat coming off him, and his elbows are brushing my shoulders. She looks back at me and then turns on her high-ass heels before rushing away. I roll my eyes. “Coward!” I call after her and then step back to shut the door. “Ridiculous.”

I move past Coleson to where a bottle of water is sitting on the desk, opening it to take a long pull. I feel his gaze on me, and when I glance over at my husband, he looks worried. I hold his gaze until he finally says, “How do you know someone sent her?”

I give him a pointed look. “Are you saying you did hire her?”

“Not at all, but you seem pretty confident I wouldn’t.”

“’Cause I am,” I say simply, leaning my hip on the desk. “You wouldn’t hurt me like that.”

Coleson nods thoughtfully. “But can’t you see that you’re the only one who feels that way?”

“No. We feel that way. And my sisters, they know you’re a good guy.”

He rolls his eyes. “Because of you.”

“I don’t know why we’re arguing. What’s wrong?” I ask incredulously. “I’m not upset or even concerned about her. Why are you upset?”

“Because I don’t deserve you, Eliza!” he roars, but I don’t react to his outburst. I just hold his gaze, glaring that he’s raised his voice for no reason.

“And yelling that at me makes it better?”

“Eliza,” he warns, holding out his hands. “Don’t you see? I’m trash. I have random women who show up because they were hired by someone to make me look bad. You do realize that I would have let her in before.”

“Before,” I say, enunciating each syllable. “Before me. Not now.”

His face is red, his eyes wild as they bore into mine. “How can you be so confident in that?”

“Because you haven’t done anything to make me think otherwise,” I say matter-of-factly.

“But my past, Eliza… I am never going to be able to leave it where it’s supposed to be. Can’t you see that?”

I blink, then inhale before crossing my arms over my chest. “And can’t you see that I don’t give a shit? I don’t care about your past or who is trying to set you up, because I trust you. I love you, Coleson. What don’t you understand!”

“I am not good enough for you.”

“Oh my God, stop with that. Do you know how much of a turn-off it is to see you do this to yourself? Stop channeling the part of you that has been hurt, and channel my strong, alpha, sexy, hockey-playing husband instead. Because while I love both sides of you, the latter part knows the truth.”

Something flashes in his eyes as he watches me, and I feel like time stands still. It’s such a pivotal moment in our relationship. He could close himself off from me or take what I am trying so desperately to give him.

My whole being.

Quietly, I step toward him, taking his waist in my hands and bringing him flush to my body. He towers over me, but he wraps his arms around my neck and leans his head down to rest on top of mine.

“I know you’ve been hurt by the two people who should have loved you unconditionally. I can’t fix what they did. All I can do is love you, unconditionally, and replace the memories of how they never loved you right with the promises of how I will.” I run my hands up his stomach to his chest, pleading with my eyes. “I know my worth, Coleson. I have spent years of my life in one kind of pain or another. I never thought I’d know love because all I knew was abuse and heartache. But getting away from that cult, being surrounded by my family, and now you…I want to live. I want to love. You. Only you. You haven’t given me one lick of pain that I didn’t beg for.”

His lips curve gently before he closes his eyes. “I’m scared, Wife.”

I squeeze his sides. “Let me in.”

Coleson exhales unsteadily and then presses his lips together as a stricken look takes over his features. His jaw is tight, the planes of his face showing the same strain, yet I’ve never seen a more handsome man in all my life.

“She played him—like a fucking puck. At every turn, she used his love to her advantage and to reap the benefits, but she didn’t give him any love back. It was like that with me, too. She’d dangle her love in front of us like a carrot, and we’d both do anything to get it. But she never truly intended to give it to us.”

I know who she was. His mom. That horrible excuse for a woman who gave birth to the man I love.

“We were just pawns in her game. A means to an end. And she broke my dad so thoroughly that he was worthless to me after she was gone. She never wanted me and blamed him for knocking her up. For burdening her with someone like me.”

Can I kill his mom? I don’t think I can, but damn if I don’t want to. “You aren’t a burden, Coleson. You are incredible, smart as a whip, talented, and so damn gorgeous. Anyone would be lucky to be a part of your life.”

“She never thought so.”

“Because I can only assume she was on the type of drugs that make you think you’re a zombie and want to eat people’s faces.” As I wanted, he laughs, even if it is quiet. “I want you—only you, Coleson.”

He tightens his grip on my neck and runs his nose along mine. “I’ve only ever truly wanted you. No one else. Just you.”

“You have me,” I whisper, kissing his jaw.

His eyes are closed as his lips move along my cheek with his husky whisper. “How do I keep you?”

My heart swells as chills run down my spine. “You just ask.”

“I don’t know how,” he admits in a low voice. “How do I just ask you to give up everything for me?”

“It’s easy,” I say softly. “Eliza—or as you like to say, Wife, be mine for real.”

“And you’ll say yes to that crap request?” he asks, the teasing in his voice making me grow hot everywhere.

“For you, I would.”

He shakes his head. “Raise your standards, Wife. Make me work for it.”

I cup his jaw as I giggle. “I know when to make you work for it, Husband. Just ask me when you’re ready, and I’ll give you my answer.”

His lips trail along my cheek, the side of my mouth, before stopping at my lips. He doesn’t kiss me, only breathes me in as he holds me tight. He doesn’t even have to speak for me to know his mind is going a million miles a second. I give him the time he needs, though. Coleson isn’t one to be rushed, and I know my patience will pay off. I know, in the end, this man will be mine.

And I’ll be his.

Forever.