Page 15

I looked at her, really looked at her: tired eyes, hair loose, a crease between her brows that hadn’t been there years ago. I basked in her radiance. “No Sloane… they’re lucky to have you.”

I took a timid step closer, afraid to ruin the moment of connection I felt we were building.

I opened my arms, the unspoken invitation between us.

She didn’t move at first as she stared at me.

But then, cautiously, she leaned into me, her body soft against mine.

She fit into all of my hard lines as her warmth seeped into my soul.

Her body molded to mine as if we were built to fit.

All the hollow places within me had been waiting for her to fill them.

I wrapped my arms around her and pressed my cheek to her hair. Her scent and heat drove the air from my lungs and I trembled as I held her. To feel her against me for the first time in what felt like years?

Fuck, for me it had been years.

Her breath was shaky and stuttering against my chest, and I felt her trying to hold herself together, trying to stay strong. Those earlier moments of heat dissipated… faded like steam.

“Thank you,” I whispered. "For letting me back in. For the chance, no matter how small, to show you that I can still be the man you need. For allowing me to be near you again, after everything… this is more than I deserve."

Her voice cracked as she said, "I know you probably think I'll let you come back for the kids. But honestly, Levi, you don’t get to decide that." She let me hold her, even as her tears soaked through my shirt. "This wound... it’s still so fresh. Most days, I feel like I can’t breathe. I barely eat. I put on a smile for Violet and Liam, but inside I’m unraveling.

" Her fingers clutched at my shirt and she trembled. "I know our marriage wasn’t perfect. We both did things, said things, we shouldn’t have.

But what you did, Levi… there was no justification for that. "

"Sloane," my voice was hoarse as I struggled to not break down, “I know I destroyed everything. I know a lifetime of apologies cannot erase what I've done. I think about it every day,” I whispered. “What I did to you. What I threw away. I hate myself for it. ”

She pulled back enough to look at me, her angelic face furious and fragile all at once. “Then why did you do it, Levi? Why her? Why Angie?”

The name scythed through the air and I flinched. “I was selfish. I was self-centered and entitled. I had lied to myself for so long about who I was and what I deserved, I thought she was something that I needed… but all I ever needed was you.”

“You didn’t just hurt me,” she said with a shaking voice. “You made me question everything. My worth. My sanity. The way I looked at myself in the mirror. Do you understand that? Can you ever understand that?”

I nodded, but it wasn't enough. It could never be enough to understand the true pain she endured, the suffering Old Me had dragged her through. Her trauma would twist how she looked at herself and force her to question her self worth.

She was a wife, a mother, an advocate for animals; constantly on the front lines for those that needed her, even when she didn’t have the strength to give.

I saw it in the lines under her eyes, in the way she sprinted from one responsibility to the next without pause.

Always giving, always being there for everyone else, while no one was there for her. Not the way she needed.

She stepped away from me and folded her arms. “I’m not saying I don’t still love you. That’s the worst part… I wish I didn’t. I wish I could hate you and move on. But loving you doesn’t mean trusting you. And I don’t know if I can ever trust you again.”

“I’ll earn it back,” I said without thinking. “Whatever it takes, Sloane. I'll earn your trust back. I’ll stay. I’ll show up. For you, for the kids, for- ”

“Don’t promise me things, Levi. You’ve already broken too many promises.

” She wiped her cheeks, straightened her shoulders, and looked up at the ceiling.

I knew she was thinking of the kids asleep upstairs.

“I’m not making any decisions tonight,” she said.

“But don’t confuse this, us, standing in this room, crying in the dark…

with a second chance. This is not that.”

If only she knew what I knew. If only she knew how wrong she was. “I understand. For as long as you’ll let me, I’ll do whatever it takes and I’ll let you lead. You call the shots now.”

That earned the tiniest lift of her lips. “Well! That’s a rare sight. Levi Shaw surrendering control?”

I let out a low groan as I caught the edge in her tone. “Is that a jab at my bedroom habits?”

She arched a brow, but said nothing. Still, the challenge was there in her startling eyes and in the sharp pull of her mouth that I desperately wished to kiss.

I lowered myself to my knees in front of her, deliberate and slow, never breaking eye contact as I kneeled before her.

“A man can change, Sloane. Hell, especially for the woman he’s spent seventeen years failing to deserve…

just like I have. If you’ll let me,” I whispered, “I’ll bend the knee every damn day.

.. not in apology but in worship.” My breath caught as I watched heat fill her eyes and my voice was gravel as I continued my confession, “I would offer love with tongue and adept devotion, until your doubts forget how to breathe.”

Her breath hitched as the air between us shifted back to what it was earlier: thick, electric, and laden with the raging inferno of desire we shared. I watched her eyes as her gaze trailed down my body, then my mouth went dry when I saw her nipples grow taunt underneath her cotton jersey .

But as quickly as the feeling swelled between us, she stepped back. She tightened her jaw and swallowed hard. “I still want you,” she admitted. “God help me, I do despite everything.”

My heart thudded painfully against my ribs. Hope flared, uninvited and reckless. She needed time. I can't forget what the doctor said about hysterical bonding.

She looked away, distancing herself from the heat that crackled between us. “Don’t mistake my body’s betrayal for permission to come home.” The ache in her words cut deeper than any rejection.

I nodded again as I stood. “I won’t. You need to make that decision without me here.” I wanted to touch her. I wanted to apologize all over again. I wanted to gather her into my arms and convince her that I can still be the man she once believed in.

Instead, I took a small step back, the space between us stretching wider. Because wanting her had never been the problem. It’s what I did when I had her that tore us apart. And now? All I could do is prove I wouldn't make the same mistakes again.

“Good boy,” she said.