Page 79 of The Disputed Legacy

Uneasiness.

And curiosity.

“I thought you had a headache,” I said.

She shook her head, making the damp waves of her red hair shift over her shoulders. Showered and dressed in pajamas, she looked wide awake and nervous again. “No. I just needed a moment to myself.”

I nodded, taking off my shirt to join her in bed. It didn’t escape my notice how shy and quiet she seemed, and I warred with how to move this conversation forward. Too many questions had to be addressed and I didn’t know where to start.

Instead of strategizing an interrogation, I sat on the side of the bed and stared into her green eyes. Letting myself sink into the abyss of affection I couldn’t turn off between us, I sighed and hung my head.

“Willow?”

I lifted it and stared at her, wishing she wouldn’t still be so nervous.

Taking her hand, I paused to bring it to my lips and press a kiss to the back of it.

“I want you to be mine,” I said quietly, meaning every syllable of it.

She heaved out a long, shaky breath. “I do too. I want to be yours more than anything in the world.”

I held her hand, trapping the air in my lungs as I endured the suspense of waiting for the inevitablebutshe’d left implied at the end.

“But… I’m already owned.”

31

WILLOW

Iswore he could hear my heart with how fast it banged against my ribcage.

I’d said it.

I blurted out the truth, two of them, actually.

I hadn’t lied when I said I wanted to be his. It was my favorite fantasy.

And I was honest when I explained why I couldn’t be his.

“You’re owned?” he asked.

I stayed tense, as if bracing myself for his reaction. To lash out. To be mad. To frown and retreat. Something. But he remained cool, patient, and careful.

“You’reowned?” he asked again.

I nodded.

“How?”

I licked my lips as the time came for me to share my darkest secrets.

“You’re married?” he asked.

I shook my head so fast it dizzied me.

“You have a boyfriend?”

“No.”