“Why?”
* * *
The haunted look in her eyes would haunt him.
She wanted to know why.
It was now or never, he realized. Either what they had was strong enough, or it wasn’t.
He closed the distance between them and didn’t know if it was a good sign or not when she didn’t move. She looked trapped, frozen in place.
Wrapping her in his arms, he pulled her up against him.
“The why is easy.” There, he pressed his brow to hers, held her gaze. “I love you. It started months ago . . . seeing you with Clayton, watching you act like you weren’t trying to watch me even while I was doing the same. I think I was already half in love with you the first night we were together.”
“You . . . What . . .”
She twisted away and he had no choice but to let her.
“You can’t be serious.”
“Why not?” He kept his voice level, stayed where he was, although what he wanted was to grab her, hold her.
She spun back around and stared at him, eyes half wild. “Don’t do that—don’t sound all reasonable right now. I’m terrified. I’m confused . . . and I’m mad at her all over again. Don’t sound . . .”
She blinked and shook her head. “You make it sound like that’s all that matters.”
“It is.” He reached out, traced his fingers along the bow of her upper lip. “I love you. For me, that is what matters. And I don’t know about you, but if the two of us can work through this? I’d say we can handle just about anything else life throws at us.”
Chapter Thirty
Ressa stared at him, her eyes wide and he thought he almost saw a flicker of hope in them. A flicker of . . . everything.
“So . . . can we work through this?”
She sucked in a deep breath and looked away, but he caught her chin and guided her face back to his. “I’m not asking for a declaration of undying love, but if you care—”
“If I care?” she interrupted. Her voice cracked. “You stupid idiot. I love you—if I didn’t care—”
I love you—that was all he heard. All he needed to hear. Pulling her up against him, he slanted his mouth across hers. When she didn’t open right away, he nibbled on her lower lip and whispered her name.
Her lips parted as she curled one arm around his neck.
A fist banged on the door.
“Not now!” Trey was going to hurt whoever was at the door. That was all there was to it.
The knock came again. “I said, not now!”
“Yes, now.” Travis’s voice sounded grim. “Your agent has been calling half the morning. Your editor just started calling. A hell of a lot of other people who shouldn’t even have your number are calling, too.”
“Tell them to go to hell.” Trey didn’t looked away from Ressa’s face. He cupped her chin and angled her head back. “Tell my agent to call back in two hours. Unless the world is ending. Then call back in one.”
“Unless the world is ending?” she asked, laughing weakly.
“I figure if the world is ending, there’s not much I can do to help anyway.” He shrugged, and then he hooked his arms over her shoulders. “We can’t undo the past. Any of it. And hell, the past—your past, Kiara’s past—all of that gave you Neeci. Would you undo that?”
Ressa closed her eyes and then buried her face against his neck. “No.” It was a soft, barely audible whisper. “And I feel awful for saying that. I mean . . . Hannah . . .”
“Don’t.” He pressed his lips to her temple. “You didn’t cause her death, baby. You didn’t.”
“Trey!” Travis. Again. “Two seconds warning! I’m coming in.”
That two-second warning was literally all they got because the door opened and Travis filled the doorway. He looked at the two of them standing there half-dressed and cocked a brow. “Damn. I was hoping that two-second warning wouldn’t be enough.”
“Travis.” Trey kept his voice level. “Didn’t I just tell you to come back? Do you want to die?”
“It’s going to happen sooner or later.” Travis shrugged and then held out the phone in his hand. “You need to talk to your damn agent and don’t give me this shit about the world ending. He’s already tried to rip me a new one and I was in a bad mood to begin with.”
“Shit.” Frustrated, he looked at Ressa and then snatched the phone from his twin’s hand.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Ressa duck into the bathroom.
“What the hell is so important that I had to be dragged out of bed?” He almost sagged in relief when Ressa appeared back in the doorway a moment later, tying his robe around her waist.
“It’s almost noon, son. I take it you haven’t been online.” Reuben’s voice had that brusque, clipped tone—a sure sign that his temper was edging near the boiling point.
“No. It’s Sunday. I kind of take that day off—also, if I want to stay in bed until almost noon, well, bully for me.”
He slid Ressa a look then glanced at his brother, saw that Travis was slouched in the doorway. Travis had his own phone out and there was a muscle pulsing in his twin’s jaw.
Shit.
“What is going on?”
Reuben said, “You’d be better off seeing for yourself.” He named a popular publishing blog and said, “Pull it up. I’ll wait.”
Trey sighed. “I’m not in front of my computer right now, man.”
Travis just held out his phone.
Trepidation filled Trey as he took it. “Never mind . . . I got it.”
“Are you reading?” Reuben asked.
“I am now.” Something that started out as fury brewed in his gut. Only to give away to disbelief and then settle down into something cold and tight.
He kind of hates to talk about his writing in any way.
He did it for his wife, you see . . . Started them on the anniversary of the day she died.
He still loves her. It’s going to take a long time before he gets over her.
Each book is written for her.
Every sentence made that knot of cold fury draw tighter. And every time he saw the name the so-called article was attributed to, he wanted to hit something.
Sebastian appeared in the doorway and either the youngest Barnes was too tired or too senseless to realize the stupidity of it, because he stood there for a long moment, just staring at Ressa, gaze roaming over her with a little too much leisure.
Travis smacked him across the head.
“Fu . . .” He rubbed his head and then looked down the hall with a grimace. “Ah, sorry. Sorry. Ah, Ressa? Your phone has been vibrating non-stop for the past ten minutes. Clayton almost answered it, too. The kids are getting restless downstairs, too.”
“The kids?”
“Yeah.” Sebastian gave them both a look. “Angeline brought Neeci over not that long ago.”
Sebastian’s gaze drifted once more to Ressa, his eyes lingering on legs left bare by the robe she’d tied around her waist. Trey bared his teeth at his younger brother. Sebastian held out her phone and when she accepted, Sebastian gave Trey an unabashed grin.
“Trey, damn it, son, are you even awake?” an irate voice bellowed from the phone.
He lowered the phone he still held to his ear, glanced at it. Then sighed an answered, “I’m here, Reuben.”
“Who is this Bliss woman? Did you pick up some crazed stalker?”
Trey managed to keep his voice neutral through sheer will. “No, Reuben. She’s my girlfriend.”
There was a faint pause and then Reuben said, “Part of me is glad to hear that. The other part is wondering what the hell?”
“Stick with the first part. Somebody is messing with me.”
Then he hung up.