My words, everything I practiced that morning, got caught in my throat as I stared down at Krystina. She looked exhausted, as if she hadn’t slept in days, but she was still stunning and beautiful. I reached up and pulled the towel from her head. Rich, brown curls tumbled free, damp from her recent shower. I ran my fingers through them, trying to remember the many things I wanted to say to her.

“Angel, I…”

I wanted to pull her close to me. To hold her. To kiss it all away. But I hesitated. After the way I treated her, she may not want me to touch her. I wouldn’t blame her if that were the case. I was a complete asshole. She should make me beg for her forgiveness.

Trying to get a read on what she was thinking, I carefully studied her face. Her eyes were moist with unshed tears. She looked confused, yet relieved at the same time. My hands still held her arms, but she didn’t try to shrug me off. I took that as a good sign at the very least.

“How are you?” she whispered.

I had a thousand answers for her question, but I didn’t voice any of them. Instead, I walked over to retrieve the overnight bag that was sitting on the floor in front of her old dresser. Seeing it there pained me, as I didn’t want to acknowledge that I allowed us to spend the last three nights apart. I didn’t dare glance down at her bed, as images of her being alone under the lily comforter was almost unbearable. I had slept on the couch in my office, unable to even look at the bed we shared, knowing she wouldn’t be in it.

I unzipped the bag and began to rifle through it in search of clothes for her. Pulling out what I needed, I returned to her. She watched me curiously, but didn’t speak.

“I don’t want you to catch a chill while we talk,” I explained. Kneeling in front of her with a pair of lace panties, I tapped her leg. “Step in.”

Still silent, she did as I told her to. I slowly pulled the undergarment up her legs until it was in place. Turning her so that her back was to me, I pulled the towel from her body. As I stared at her naked back, my dick throbbed. Dressing her was extremely odd. I was accustomed to taking her clothes off, not putting them on. It killed me not to touch her, to keep my hands from running over her smooth curves and tight ass, but it was not the right time. She didn’t need seduction or dominance. She needed my humility.

Reaching around her torso, I slipped each of her arms through the straps of her bra and secured the hooks at the back. After sliding a cream-colored wool sweater over her head, I turned her to face me once more so that she could step into a pair of jeans. Once I fastened the button at the waist, I bent to scoop her up behind the knees. Cradling her in my arms, I carried her out to the living room. I set her down on the sofa and went back into the bedroom to get a hairbrush.

When I sat down beside her and began to brush out her hair, she finally spoke.

“Alex, what are you doing?”

“Taking care of you and treating you like the angel you are to me. It’s how I should have been with you the other night when you came to me at the club.”

“You were upset. I understand,” she said, although not very convincingly.

“No. There is no excuse for the way I behaved. I can’t begin to explain how sorry I am, angel. Everything you said to me that night was correct. My behavior was weak.”

She looked down at her hands. She was fidgeting. As if noticing her nervous habit, she clamped her palms together and turned to look at me.

“Why haven’t you returned my calls?” she asked quietly.

I set the brush down on the coffee table and tried to formulate the words that would make her understand.

“You don’t know how bad I wanted to call you. To hear your voice. I took that time away to figure some things out. Dragging you through the gauntlet of hellish emotions I went through just wouldn’t have been fair to you, especially after the way I acted on Saturday night.”

“I could have helped you through it, Alex. I can’t help if you push me away. You don’t have to do this alone.”

“Perhaps, but I felt like it was more important for me to get my head screwed on straight first. I didn’t want to risk hurting you again. It was like something dark triggered inside me. I can’t explain it, but it was very disturbing. The things I said to you…” I trailed off momentarily as a wave of shame and regret rolled through me. “I didn’t mean them. I can’t stand the thought of you not being mine.”

Taking a chance, I wrapped my arms around her and pressed my lips lightly to her forehead. She didn’t push me away, but closed her eyes and seemed to melt into me. Leaning back, we both settled into the deep cushions of the couch.

“I didn’t recognize who you were that night, Alex. It was like a stranger was saying those things to me. You did hurt me, but I know you were hurting more. I know why you went to the club and why you tried to push me away. Everything in your life is out of balance, and that’s the one place where you feel you can have total control. Yet, you failed to recognize one thing – me. All you had to do was talk to me.”

There was something in the tone of her voice. I couldn’t place it, but it made my heart hammer in my chest.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that you feel like you have to deal with this mess all by yourself. You never let me in. In fact, you never really have. It makes me wonder if we can be a real husband and wife someday. It’s more than sex. Obsession. Desire. We have to be able to be friends too.”

It would have hurt less if she stabbed me in the chest with a knife. The pain on her face damn near destroyed me. I reached up to cup her cheek, my chest so tight it was hard to breathe.

“I know that and I’m sorry, angel – so very sorry. I don’t know how to make this right. I love you and I need you. In fact, that’s the only thing I’ve been sure of these past few days. I’m nothing without you.”

She stared back at me for a long while, her expression distant and untouchable, as if she were trying to hide the feelings she was trying to sort out.

“Where have you been for the past two and a half days?” she finally asked.

I exhaled the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

“A lot of the time was spent with my mother and her doctors. I wanted to learn more about her and her condition, the prognosis and long-term care options. The rest of the time was spent with Hale and Justine. I’m pissed about what Hale did, about what Justine did. But I can understand it to an extent. This is my grandfather’s doing more than anything. Hale was stuck. His only mistake was that he didn’t tell me after my grandfather passed.”

“So, are you and Hale okay then?”

“Samuel is going to be picking up some of Hale’s duties for a while. I need some distance from Hale right now. My relationship with him needs time to heal, angel. It’s not going to happen overnight and he understands that. At the very least, I didn’t fire him completely. He’s still in my employment. In fact, the ribbon cutting for Stone Arena is tomorrow. Hale and Justine are going to handle it. I’m not going to it.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know how to explain it, but I’m having a hard time with the idea of celebrating an arena that I only pushed for because of my grandfather. I don’t know what I think about him at the moment. It’s going to take a while to sort out my feelings about what he did.”

She nodded her understanding.

“What about any legal trouble for Hale?

“I’ve spoken with Thomas Green. The situation is sticky. He needs to look more into the statute of limitations, but even if it falls within, any investigation is going to be tough. As of right now, it’s basically just a story. There’s little to no evidence to support it. I suspect that it will be dismissed and the case will finally be closed after more than twenty years. Only time will tell. And, as a result, Mac Owens no longer has an article to publish.”

She sat up straight and turned to face me.

“Really? No PR mess? How did you manage that?”

“I spoke to Owens, too. Off the record, of course. You can imagine his surprise when I called,” I smirked. “I gave him the truth, or at least a very loose variation of it. Once I did that, there were too many holes in Charlie’s interview. I suspect that Mac Owens will be back eventually once he looks into the info I gave him, but it is what it is. He knows that publishing Charlie’s version would be career suicide for him. Plus, there’s no proof or anyone to corroborate it.”

“Not even Suzanne?”

“Justine assured me that she doesn’t know anything of real importance. The only thing she knows is that our name used to be Russo. I’m not too worried about it anymore.”

“What about Justine? How are things with you and her?”

I felt my jaw clench and had to force myself to relax.

“They’re okay,” I offered as a response.

“Okay? She makes me so angry,” Krystina spat out and her eyes flashed. “I’m not happy about what Hale did, but she knew that she was the one who killed your father for years and she never said a word. It was selfish and cowardly.”

I sighed, knowing that every word Krystina spoke was the truth. But, Justine was still my sister. And just like Hale, I could never turn my back on her completely. My relationship with her also needed time to heal.

“She did act selfish, but there’s no changing it. I suspect that things might never be the same between us again. I don’t know. Only time will tell. Hanging on to anger in the meantime won’t help matters.”

Krystina softened at my words and settled back into the crook of my arm.

“You’re right, Alex. It’s time to let go of the anger. All the hurt,” she murmured. “Considering the chaos of the past week, it now looks like everything is all tied up in a neat and tidy bow.

While she had openly participated in the conversation and asked questions, she now seemed far away in thought. So far away. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to reach her. My gut knotted, knowing what she was thinking. She had been through so much because of me. I was afraid she was questioning whether or not it was all worth it.

“Not everything is all tied up neat and tidy, angel.”

She looked up at me, her eyes wide and full of so many emotions. Anger. Sadness. Confusion. And love. I still saw love.

“What about us, Alex? Where do we go from here?”