Chase answered the door to my knock. With a quick look over his shoulder, he said under his breath, “What took you so long?”

“I’m an idiot.”

“And an asshole,” he added.

“That too,” I agreed.

“I’m going to hit the gym. If I come back and she’s not good? I will fucking end you. Do you get me?”

Menace radiated from every pore on Chase’s body. I had no doubt that if I didn’t make Violet blissfully happy her brother would be thrilled to grind me into a pulp.

If I didn’t figure out how to make her blissfully happy, I’d let him. First, I had to get her to talk to me. Chase disappeared down the hall. He was back a minute later dressed in gym shorts and a T-shirt with the sleeves cut off.

Just before he opened the door, he called, “Vivi? Can you come out here?” He waited for her answering, “Just a sec,” before he said, “Good luck,” and left.

Violet looked better than me, but not by much. I was guessing she’d skipped the hangover, but the purple smudges under her eyes told me she was sleeping about as well as I was.

She was still in her pajamas, a faded T-shirt embroidered with a sheep jumping over the moon and a pair of paper-thin, cotton, striped pajama pants in the same dusky lavender as her eyes. Her long hair was bundled into a knot, loose strands spilling everywhere.

Her eyes were bruised. Not the smudges beneath, but deeper. How could I have hurt her so badly? The person I wanted to protect the most and instead I’d broken something precious.

“Where’s Chase?”

“He went to the gym. Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“If you have to.” Her eyes were bruised, but her voice was coldly polite. Distant. “I’m going to get a cup of coffee. Would you like one?”

Her good manners were a slap.

That was my girl. Hurt and angry, but she wouldn’t give an inch.

I could play that game. “I’ll take a cup.”

Her nod of acknowledgment was my only answer. I followed her to the kitchen and leaned against the counter, watching her take down two matching mugs, measure beans, prepare the coffee. She pressed the button on the coffee maker and turned around, leaning on the counter opposite me and crossing her arms over her chest. She lifted her chin, and in her unique Violet way, managed to look down her nose at me despite the difference in our heights.

“If you have something to say, you might as well just say it.”

“I have a lot of things to say. Starting with this. I know where I went wrong. It wasn’t in trying to protect you.” Her mouth opened, and I held up a hand to stop her. Her lips pressed together in a tight line, holding back her words. Her glare told me I didn’t have much time before she lost patience.

“I’ll always try to protect you, Violet. That’s who I am. I’m never going to be comfortable with you walking into a situation that might hurt you. And if you try to tell me you don’t feel the same way, I’ll call you a liar. But I know where I went wrong.”

“And?”

“You went anyway. I hid that woman from you because she was cruel. She was greedy, and nasty, and the kind of woman who would have seen everything you are and only tried to tear it apart. I won’t apologize for wanting to shield you from that. But I should have known that you’d go anyway. And I should have realized that by lying to you, I forced you to do it alone.”

“I wasn’t alone. Chase was with me.”

I shook my head. “It’s not the same. I should have been there. Not to control you, not to tell you what to say or what to do, but to be there. At your side. At your back. I should have been with you because I love you, and I never want you to face anything on your own. When I lied to you, I might as well have just walked away. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”

I couldn’t read her face. Her eyes were a wall of ice, everything else about her completely, utterly neutral. Abruptly, she turned to face the coffee maker. When she picked up the pot, her hand shook. The glass of the carafe rattled against the coffee mug, and she set it on the counter without pouring a drop, without turning around.

I couldn’t do it anymore, couldn’t stand the distance between us. I crossed the kitchen and came up behind her, taking her shoulders in my hands and turning her to face me. Her eyes were glued to the center of my chest, her expression a mask except for the almost imperceptible tremble of her lower lip.

Fucking hell, if she cried I was going to lose it. Angry tears were one thing. This, this lost, shattered Violet was more than I could take.

“I told you,” I said, “I don’t know how to do this. I’m so used to being the one in charge of everything. I don’t know how to share the weight, but I want to learn. I can’t promise you I’ll never fuck up again. I’m pretty sure I will. But I’ll never lie to you again. I swear it.”

A single tear gathered on her lashes and rolled down her cheek, gutting me. In a tiny voice, she said, “I don’t know if I can trust you. And I don’t know how we can do this if I can’t trust you.”

I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, breathing in the sweet pea scent of her shampoo and beneath that, Violet, warm and familiar and mine.

“I can promise you that I’ll never lie again. I can promise that I love you, that I respect you, that I’ll listen to you, that I won’t go behind your back ever again. And I do. I promise all of that. But promises are just words. If you give me another shot at this, I swear you won’t regret it.”

Her forehead hit my chest, the wet of her cheek soaking through my shirt. Tentatively, I wrapped my arms around her, holding her as a sob hitched her chest. “I love you so much. And when I saw that paper and I realized…you don’t know how much that hurt. Everyone was lying to me. My parents, Chase, and I thought you were the one person—” Her words choked off.

My voice hoarse, I managed to say, “I am. I made a mistake, Vi. And it was a bad one. But I am the one person who won’t lie to you. Never again. I swear. About anything.”

Her arms crept around me, her fingers curling into the fabric of my shirt, holding on with desperate strength. “I don’t want to be alone. I was fine with it before. And then I had you and it was so good. It was everything. You were everything. Please don’t do that to me again.”

“Never,” I vowed, relief washing through me in a giddy wave. “I’ll put it in our wedding vows. We’ll take out the part about obeying—”

A quick laugh jerked her shoulders. “Like I’m going to promise to obey.”

“I know better than to ask. I don’t want that. I want to be a partner, Vi. I don’t want to do this on my own anymore. I don’t want to spend my life working late and missing everything that really matters. I need you. I need you to call me on my bullshit and put me in my place. I need you to remind me what’s important. I want to share my life with you. You’re the only woman I’ll ever love. Come home with me.”

Fear stabbed my heart when she shook her head, rolling her forehead against my chest, still hiding her face from me.

“Violet, do you want me to beg? Tell me what you want, and I’ll do it.”

Her hands uncurled from my shirt, and she stepped back, forcing distance between us. The heat of her body was gone, leaving me cold. I rubbed at the wet cotton of my shirt where her tears had soaked through the fabric.

Using the back of her hands, she wiped beneath her eyes, looking everywhere but at me. I kept my mouth shut and waited, every second that ticked by lasting a million years. She poured the coffee I didn’t want, splashing in half-and-half and stirring, exactly the way I liked it.

I took the mug she handed me and sipped, tasting nothing. Waiting. My head was on the executioner’s block and Violet held the axe. She drank her own coffee and when her eyes finally met mine they were hesitant. Careful.

“I’m not coming home with you,” she said. “We did this all backwards. We’ve only been on one date, and then I was living with you. Chase was right. It was too fast.”

“You want to date?”

“I think so, yes.” At the incredulous look on my face, she said again, “Yes. I want to date. It’s too soon for me to live with you, and it’s way too soon to talk about wedding vows.”

She was wrong, but I wasn’t going to push my luck. I didn’t need to date Violet to know that she was the only woman I’d ever love, but if she needed time, I’d give it to her.

“And while we’re dating, will you be dating anyone else?” If she didn’t give the right answer, my patience would be at an end. I could give her time, but I wouldn’t share.

A ghost of a smile curved her lips. “Don’t be absurd. Why would I waste my time with anyone else if I can have you? I never settle for less than the best.”

“Damn straight. So Vegas doesn’t count as a date?”

Violet sipped her coffee, then shook her head, the shadows finally sliding from her eyes. “Vegas was a serious lapse in judgment.”

“Not on my part.”

“Definitely on mine. I almost wish you’d seen Chase’s face when he realized where I’d been and who I’d been with. I thought his head was going to explode.”

“A lot’s changed.”

“Everything’s changed,” she said.

“Will you come with me to Annalise’s wedding?”

“I’d love to.”

Taking her coffee from her hand, I set both our mugs on the counter and pulled her into my arms again, resting my cheek against her temple, just holding her there, exactly where she belonged.

“Thank God. If I came back without you, Annalise and Charlie would have killed me. Mrs. W hasn’t spoken to me since you walked out.”

Violet’s giggle was the sun sliding from behind the clouds, a shimmering golden light chasing away the dark.

“You think it’s funny? I woke up this morning with the first hangover I’ve had in nearly twenty years and she gave me cold oatmeal and even colder coffee for breakfast.”

“Poor baby.” She patted my chest, but I wasn’t buying it.

“Don’t pretend you feel sorry for me.”

“Not even a little bit,” she agreed. “Are you hungry? We don’t have much but I can probably scramble some eggs.”

“I don’t want food, sweetheart. I just want you.”

Acutely aware that Chase would only be at the gym for so long, I scooped Violet into my arms. She yelped in surprise, throwing an arm around my shoulders and hanging on as I carried her to her bedroom and kicked the door shut behind us.

Since my hands were full I said, “Lock it.” I shifted so she could reach.

“Bossy,” she commented.

“I said I’d never lie to you. I didn’t say anything about bossing you around.”

“Good thing I like you bossy.”

It was because that was one thing that would never change.

I was done with talking. We’d been apart for two days, and it felt like a year. I needed Violet, needed her skin against mine, needed to be inside her, to feel her, and hear her, and smell her, to be a part of her the way she was a part of me.

I lay Violet out across the bed, stripping her clothes, looking down at her body. All I could think was, mine.

Mine.

She’d given me a second chance, and I wasn’t going to waste it. This time, it wasn’t going to be fast and rough and out of control. I wanted it to last forever, to be inside her forever.

I was out of my own clothes and beside her, pulling the covers over us and her body into mine. Rolling to my side, I hooked her leg over my hip, my hands roaming everywhere I could reach.

Her skin was so soft, her rounded curves filling my hands, molding to me. I took my time, memorizing her shape with my fingertips, stroking, kissing, tasting every inch of her, imprinting myself on her body.

When she was ready, I slid inside and held her there, filled with me. Perfect.

“I could stay like this for the rest of my life,” I said against her mouth.

Her answer was a kiss, a graze of her lips, a taste of her tongue. Sweet, and languid, she kissed me like we had all the time in the world. And we did.

After, I carried her to the shower, unwilling to let her out of my sight for even a few minutes. Not yet.

She was pinning up her hair, wearing a strapless black lace bra, matching panties, and a pair of silver spike-heeled sandals when a fist pounded on her bedroom door. Her brother’s voice shouted, “Better get moving. Riley and Lise will kill you if you’re late.”

Violet rolled her eyes in the mirror. She was almost ready. I only had to change when we got to Winters House. Plenty of time. I stared at the curve of her ass, barely covered by sheer black lace, and reminded myself that there was plenty of time, but not that much. Not enough to peel the lace down her legs and… Later.

Later.

“Stay with me tonight.”

“Just tonight,” she agreed.

“For now. Just tonight. We’ll see about the rest tomorrow.”

Wisely, Violet ignored me and finished getting dressed, though she did throw a few things in a small bag to bring with us. I’d take my victories where I could get them.

She wanted time. I’d give her time.

I’d court her and woo her and show her that I could be the man she wanted. The man she deserved. And when she believed, when she really trusted me again, I’d make her mine forever.