The Promise (Darkest Lies Trilogy Book 2), Bethany-Kris [top 50 books to read .txt] 📗

in front of Roman’s bedroom door on the third floor, she had a moment where she wanted to turn away. Not knowing if he was actually inside, not wanting to be wrong ... she almost didn’t knock.

Claire claimed he wouldn’t leave without seeing her, but Karine couldn’t say for sure. Still, she shoved down the fear, knocked on the door, and waited. Before she could consider turning away a second time, the door pulled open and she faced a very tired Roman.

“Karine,” he said, eyes heavy-lidded like he hadn’t slept a wink. “I was starting to think you weren’t going to let me say goodbye, babe.”

Yeah.

Her, too.

She stepped past him into the room, heart thundering the whole way, and he shut the door behind her. Just the sound of the latch closing them in sent a delicious thrill down her spine.

They were alone.

The world was gone.

Everything was perfect again.

She kept her back to him, refusing to look at him while she said the words she had come to say. It just made it easier.

“I shouldn’t have shut you out. I’m sorry if I made you feel like you’re doing something wrong,” she said.

She kept a steady voice, but barely. She had to be strong, get the words out, and go from there. That’s what she kept telling herself, even if it was terrifying.

Roman let out a heavy sigh, and she heard his palm rub against his beard. “I wish I could explain everything to you, Karine, but I don’t have the time or all the answers except to say I don’t really have a choice at the moment. You’re going to have to trust me that I’m doing this to keep you safe, and we can figure out the rest later.”

She spun around to face him. “I know you didn’t ask for this responsibility—of being responsible for me.”

Roman stepped towards her, but kept his twitching hand at his side. She wondered if it did that because he had to keep from reaching out and touching her. God. She wished he would—that made everything better.

“I’m sorry that you’re going through all this because of me,” Karine added, twisting the end of her index finger to make the bone crack because the pain steadied her resolve even more. “I know you and your family wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for me.”

“Karine, stop it.”

She didn’t, twisting another fingertip, cracking it again when she muttered, “And I do understand that you can’t tell me everything, but I don’t like knowing nothing, either, okay? I always know nothing. It doesn’t help.”

“Karine—”

“And, well—”

“Karine.” Before she could twist and crack another bone, that sharp ache getting her from one sentence to the next even though the anxiety had swelled in her throat beyond the point of comfort, he was there. Unfurling her hands, twining her fingers with his to stop the self-harm offering her relief. “Stop it, I said.”

She just stared up at him, unmoving. Roman remained still, too, staring right back.

“And not just this,” he told her, his fingers tightening around her own, “but blaming yourself, too. Stop all of it. I’m not blaming you for any of this. It’s not your fault. They know it, too.”

The breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding came out in a rush, right alongside her words. “I just ... I can’t help that you’re the only one who makes me feel okay, but I won’t when you’re gone, Roman. I won’t be okay at all.”

“Don’t you see what you’re worth to me?”

The question was simple. Her perception was the problem. Knowing so and fixing it was two different things, however. Karine was still working on that.

“I want to,” she admitted. “I want to see it, but it’s hard when I’ve never been worth much to anyone before.”

Did he realize that?

She knew it was hard to understand.

He pulled her to himself, flush against him, and in that second, she melted. Every last hint of doubt she ever had regarding his intentions, about what he wanted from her—was gone. Just like that.

When he held her, nothing mattered.

She was right about him all along.

“I’m not a complete idiot, I know this isn’t easy, Karine,” Roman said, his words muffled into the top of her head while his arms tightened around her. “The reason I’m here—fuck, why I want to be here with you—is because I found something when I found you. And that alone makes you worth all of it. I just need you to believe it, too. I swear it’s true.”

Nothing was simple.

Not for Karine.

It couldn’t be.

For him, she tried, though. Just that once to take what he said exactly as he said it, and see it as truth. She had nothing left to lose. She was worth something to him, he said so—what else mattered?

Karine raised up on her toes, peering up before kissing the underside of his chin. When she did, his arms fell around her waist, pinning them in place. She couldn’t quite reach his kiss without help, but he seemed to know exactly what she wanted. Her mouth on his; his tongue teasing, taking, licking even the breath from her lips.

She missed his kiss.

The way he kissed.

The second his mouth met hers, he whispered, “I don’t want to go, either.”

Reminding her exactly who she belonged to all at once while his kiss pounded the final notes of a new song home. The bass came from the beats of her heart; his words made it all ring. And she was trapped by the melody with every flick of his tongue and graze of his lips.

He kissed her bruisingly hard, a hand tight to her waist and another under her jaw keeping her right there. But yes, she wanted it. Making her whine with the need for breath while the blood rushed wildly in her ears. Even in chaos, he was soothing, she only fell into it.

Into him.

Into more.

“I dreamed of you last night,” she gasped as his mouth kissed a hot path over her trembling