The Arrangement Anthology 2(155)

Sean turns quickly, making it so I can’t see his eyes. “Let me run a bath for you.”

That was an unexpected response. Not the typical Sean reply. I step in front of him, and place my hand on his chest. There’s a sheen on his eyes and I know he’s choked up. I don’t know what else to say and I want to see him smile. Looking up into his eyes I whisper, “There’s no mention of baths in that contract.”

“There’s no point stipulating that we had to sell our souls and yet here we are. Somehow we both went down the same road.” He looks down at me with a soft expression on his face. It’s as if he wants to tell me something but doesn’t know how to put it into words. Sean places his hand on my cheek and runs it down my face, feeling the smoothness of my skin.

I hesitate, and look up at him. I wonder where this softness is coming from and how long it will last. There have been too many times when a side of Sean has come out, only to be driven back into the darkness faster than I can blink. I try to remember that that’s who he is. He’s a man that darts in and out of the shadows. Sean Ferro wants to be unseen, unheard, and unknown. The problem is that he’s stolen my heart, and every time he recedes into the shadows, it goes with him.

Clearing my throat, I ask, “What about you? Do you wish you’d driven on, and ignored me like everyone else?” It’s a question that I always wanted to ask, but never have. That night changed both our lives. He could’ve driven on, he could’ve ignored me. If he had, things would’ve been so much simpler for him. Stopping could’ve been one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

Sean leans in close and presses his lips to my cheek, and then slowly moves to the other side of my face, repeating the motion. The touch is so tender, I want to cry. I steel myself for whatever is coming next, for whatever words come out of his mouth.

Sean’s lips part and his crystal blue gaze locks with mine. The corners of his mouth lift and he says, “A woman that determined to get back something of questionable value—on her own—is a force to be reckoned with. There’s no way I was passing you by.”

He smiles as he says it, as if it were a secret that no one knew. He runs his hands over my face again, cupping my cheek, and sweeping his thumb over my skin. I think he's going to stop, I don’t expect him to reveal more, he never does. But this time Sean surprises me. He continues in this surreal confession of the night we met.

Continuing, he says, “You amazed me, which is something rare. I wanted to know everything about you as soon as I saw you sprint down the road. You’re a fighter, brave and beautiful, and there is nothing I would have changed about that day. In fact, I thank God for it every time I close my eyes. You’ve changed my nightmares to dreams, taming my fears with your boldness. You’ve made yourself vulnerable for me, to me—trusted me when you had no reason to—and it’s not quite what I want, we’re not there yet, and it’s my fault.”

Before I can ask him what he means, Sean leans in slowly, leaving the slightest separation between us. The warmth of his lips slip over my mouth and I want to lean in and kiss him. Sean continues, “I’m vulnerable now. They all know, every single one of them, except you.”

“Are you going to make me ask a question in my dumb guy voice?” I smile softly.

Sean laughs and shakes his head. His dark hair falls into his eyes. “I love you. I won’t hide it anymore. Being apart from you is killing me. The secrets between us, the fact that you ran to my mother instead of me isn’t right. I want you. I want your trust, and your love. I want to be the one who protects you and I want you to trust me in every sense of the word. You’re my weakness, my addiction, and I’m not willing to give you up.” He grins at me for a moment. “And obviously we’ll need to make amendments to that contract, although I thought bathing was assumed, dirty girl.” He presses his finger to my nose, copying my prior booping.

The corners of my lips tug up, suddenly feeling playful. “Ass.”

“Beautiful.” He says it with that sexy smirk.

“Deviant.”

“Goddess,” he breathes this as if I am life itself, as if he believes it’s true.

The sincerity of his words, the intensity of them, throws me off balance. I laugh and shove his chest. “Jerkface.”

Sean chortles and grabs my hands gently. “Get in the tub and I’ll explain why you’re marrying another man.”





CHAPTER 5




I make a face showing just how much I detest this idea. “You were serious about that?”