Page 70 of Savage Temptation

The screen goes blank.

“I…I don’t understand.”

Lance gets up from his beanie chair and opens the front door, allowing Atticus Savage into my apartment.

I struggle to get up from my beanie, which is more difficult than it looks.

“What are you doing here?” I finally gasp, exhausted from the emotional strain of what I just saw and the cardio required to remove myself from my seat.

“I would very much like to apologize for everything that happened. For the leaked footage, for my distance, for everything.”

“And what was that?” I gesture toward the screen.

“It was recorded last night, when you wouldn’t accept my text. I didn’t want you to think you were nothing to me, so I played a clip I run each night before I go to bed, and now, I’ve played it for the world.”

I scrunch my brow. “You play that before bed?”

“Every single night, or at least the ones I wasn’t with you. It damn near gave me a heart attack when I caught you in my room playing it, but you didn’t get very far in.”

“So I wasn’t just an itch you needed to scratch?”

“I love you, Tessa. You were never the itch. You were the air I breathed. The only thing that made me feel alive. Without you, I’m hollow. Incomplete.”

Oh, gosh…I’m crying. Shit, shit, shit…

I frantically try to dry my tears, but Atticus closes the distance between us too quickly. He cradles my face in his hands, his thumbs wiping away my tears.

“Lance told me about your big, bold move to…where was it…Poughkeepsie?”

“It’s a change is what it is. A new start.”

“Why don’t you have your new start at my penthouse?”

I snort out a laugh. “But we haven’t even dated?”

“Dated? I’d marry you this very second, if I could.”

It’s then that I realize we have an audience. Ashley’s face is skewed as she struggles to hold back tears, and Cindy…

“Why are you hugging my brother?” I ask, confused.

Cindy and Lance blink back at me, mouths ajar.

“Don’t be alarmed,” Atticus says. “This is a very good thing, because now your brother has no reason to murder me for what I’m about to do to you.”

“Do to me?”

Atticus’s arms wrap around me, pulling me to him. He leans down, sealing his mouth over mine.

And I melt. There’s no other word for it. I fucking melt.

Not just because he’s such a good kisser, andboyis he agreatkisser, but because I’ve finally found my happily ever after. This isn’t a flash in the pan, scratch an inch, wham bam, thank you, ma’am affair.

This is love.

CHAPTER21

TESSA