Page 147

“Did you want to stay?”

She looks over my shoulder, avoiding my heated gaze. “You didn’t get to talk to Clifton.”

“I don’t care about Clifton. I care about you.”

“But—”

“But nothing. I’ll figure something else out with him. What matters most to me right now is you.” I run my thumb over her cheek. “You think I’m going to make you stay there when some asshole made you cry?”

She reflexively reaches up to dab her eyes.

“I’m so embarrassed.”

“Don’t be.”

She gnaws her bottom lip. “Do I text too much?”

God. Fuck that guy for making her feel insecure.

“No.”

“Really? Because I know I sometimes send a few in a row, and I’m not trying to be annoying. I just—”

“Verity, you could send me a thousand texts, and I would read every single one of them. They could be utter nonsense, and I would hang on to every word. When I see a message from you, it makes my day. You are not an annoyance; you never could be.”

“How did I get so lucky with you?”

“I’m the lucky one who gets to be your boyfriend. Don’t forget that for even a minute, Verity. You took the chance on me.”

I don’t give her a chance to refute me, silencing her with a kiss. I pour all my earlier words into it, flooding her with all the love I can possibly give.

Her hands slowly snake over my shoulders, the distance between us closing completely. We don’t care about anything else at this moment. There is just us and our connection.

There’s Verity and there’s me.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

CULLEN

“She’s going to sign.” Halston’s words send a shock wave through my body.

I stop spinning in my office chair, feet dragging the motion to a halt.

“Seriously?”

“They called this morning, wanted to set up a time to get everything sorted.”

I have a showing this afternoon and three scheduled for tomorrow, but I could easily cancel all of them if it means getting this shit with Celine finally over and done with.

“Just tell me when. I’ll make it work.”

Halston chuckles. “I figured.”

“Did anything seem off?”

“Not really. I’ll admit, I didn’t think she was ever going to sign. I thought I’d have to take this to a judge soon.”

That makes two of us. With the way Celine kept stalemating everything, it seemed like I was going to be legally stuck with her unless I actually went through on my threat to bring this into court. That would have been a messy, public battle—something neither of us wants.