Page 26 of Between Never and Forever

“Time for what?”

He frowned at me and then pulled his phone from his pants. “Time for me to stop trying to get you out of my system without having you here to actually do it.”

I scoffed. “It’s not happening, Dex. I’m not marrying you.”

“You either marry me, heartbreaker, or you don’t get married at all.” Without another word, he spun around and put his phone to his ear. “Yeah, hi, Seanna. You make it home?”

I narrowed my eyes on him. He was calling his girlfriend after just proposing that sort of deal to me?

“Yes, I’m still here with her.” He nodded and then looked directly in my eyes. “I wanted to let you know, I intend to marry her…if she’ll have me.”

The galloping of my heart stopped. Everything did. Dex was here in front of me, promising himself for six months, and suddenly all my anxieties and worries ceased. This was a disaster waiting to happen, but it was also the place I knew I wanted to break apart. Beside him. For him. Because of him.

If I couldn’t find myself with the one man I’d always loved, I could destroy myself at the very least. And I’d still be me.

He paused again. “Seanna, I don’t know, and it won’t matter. I don’t expect or want you to wait.” He sighed. “Sure. Friends.” Then he clicked off his phone and slid it back into his pocket before his gaze caught mine, determined now. “Your turn.” His tone was commanding and authoritative. “Call your fiancé.” He sneered the word, grating on my every nerve.

“Just…” I took a deep breath. “Stop calling him that.”

“Why? That’s what he is.” Now he was goading me. “You gonna marry another man when you belong to me?”

“I don’t belong to you. I never did!” I scoffed. “Even when I wanted to, the label owned me. I… My life is more complicated than you think.”

“Try me.”

“Have you been home lately, Dex?” I whispered.

“My home is here.” His jaw flexed, and I saw the haunted look in his eyes. “I don’t go back there unless it’s for family.”

I wanted to ask him to elaborate and share everything he’d been through. But it wasn’t my place. “Right. Well, things are different for me now. I have responsibilities there.”

“We all have responsibilities,” he corrected, and he was right, so I just shrugged.

“Well, I’m sorry for how things—”

“It doesn’t matter,” he cut me off. “Especially when we can make all that go away with you following through with my plan.”

“Does everyone do what you want around here, Dex?”

“It’s my resort. Of course they do.”

“You think me being with you is going to fix everything?”

“It’ll be a start.” He crossed his arms and stared down at me with disgust.

“If you think that, you’re living in a fantasy land.”

“A fantasy?” He lifted a brow and then leaned in close. “You’re real, Kee. Maybe the all-AmericanKeelaniHaleisn’t real, but you here in front of me is. I still feel you next me. I still hear your laugh. I still smell how sweet you taste—”

“Stop.” Too late. He already saw the goose bumps rise on my skin.

He slid his finger across them on my arm, and we both watched how my body immediately reacted to him. I licked my lips and met his eyes right as he looked at me. “I won’t stop until I have you. You know that, Kee. I won’t stop till I get you out of my fucking system.”

“Out of your system while you infect mine?” I shook my head at him. To anyone else, this conversation may have been dramatic, but I knew how Dex could ruin me. I’d never love another man like I loved him. Leaving him had broken not only my heart, but my soul and my spirit.

“Tit for tat, heartbreaker. You ruined my whole life when you left.”

“And if I don’t?”