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He raised his brows in a question "And this is what he’s been saying to you? He’s trying to solicit your help to kill me?"
I inclined my head "He wants your head on a platter, and he has no scruples about how he gets it You can’t fight someone who’s fully armed, with your hands tied behind your back You think because your’e stronger than hiet that position by being a pushover What he lacks in power, he s that you aren’t even aware of You need to wake up and realize that the world is not going to follow your set of rules for decency It’s pure ignorance to believe that Declan will!"
He ran a hand through his dark hair, his face showing his obvious weariness for a subject we had beaten to death "It’s beco to settle any of this in the short time I have before I need to leave And I don’t want to spend our last hours together arguing Can you just promise me that you will at least try to stay clear of Declan and Siobhan while I’one? You don’t need any more bad press with e control"
I nodded,he’d just said, but I knew none of it wouldmy teacup in the sink My head fell forward as I leaned heavily against the sink, feeling ith in behind ed for him to do His ar in deeply Strands of our long hair ht of of it, his blue-black, anddeep withinabout him that I wouldn’t miss all the way to my core "I’ll miss you," he said intothe fever take ed
Later, we lay entwined, lingering together until the last possibleintently into s have been bad lately, but I need you to trust me And I want you to swear to me that you won’t run" He knew est instinct Years ago, e’d reconnected after decades apart, I’d sworn his were a bitch to break
It was because he knew ly, looking straight into those beloved eyes "I swear it"
He stroked my cheek "You know you’re the world toI wouldn’t do for you" His voice held a tenderness that was rare for him, a softness in his character that only I had ever been witness to, because it was a softness for me
I never looked away from his beautiful eyes as I responded "I feel the same"
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Sun’s Orbit
BACK TO PRESENT DAY
"Hey there, Darlin’," I said into the phone It just kind of slipped out
"Hand Aeas that had bound me slip from my wrist It turned to dust as it hit the floor Apparently, speaking to hih to break it The realization started a debate in my head Perhaps I could just slip away I was a pro at running I quickly decided against it In for a penny, in for a pound And he was so close He was the sun, and I was in his orbit now
I handed A, "Yes, sir," and hanging up She turned and spoke to the nearest guard "Rufus, Dom has asked that you escort Jillian to his office iuard didn’t say a word to me as the elevator sailed it’s way to the top floor of the hotel Vaguely, I felt his power and hostility at my back, but it was an abstract sort of observation I didn’t even get a clear look at his face I couldn’t have picked him out of a lineup Usually I tried to take in details, but I was too distracted just then to care
It was one of those elevators that faced a spectacular view of the city I tried to enjoy the beautiful skyline on the long ride to the top, grasping at anything so as not to let ht away I was more than a little surprised that he hadn’t ht of him in seven years nearly stopped ed His raven hair was cropped much shorter than before, shaved very close to his head, as though he cut it often The last time I’d seen him, it had been a black waterfall down his back It broke my heart a little to see that he had cut it
The first tih it It had hung longish then, just past his jaw "I love your hair," I’d told hih of it If you loveat the ti the ends of it for the decade that ere together I’d grown my own hair down to my knees, because he’d loved it so much It only reached my mid-back now I’d cut it very short in a temper, after we had ended
His pale, otten colder and harder, but they were still just as beautiful They seemed to be lit with some inner fire that the years hadn’t dierous e to him now I could read clearly a bitterness, and perhaps even a touch of cruelty, that the last years had given him Or maybe it had been me