Protecting the Boundary (LA Wolves #8)

Chapter 48

FORTY-EIGHT

It’s fucking cold in Boston. It’s early December, so I shouldn’t have expected any less, but holy smokes it’s freezing.

I grab my to-go container from the Chinese restaurant the hotel recommended and then head back to the hotel. If I’m going to move here, I’m going to need to get a much better coat—and gloves, and insulated boots, or whatever people wear in this weather.

My phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket, stopping in my tracks when I see Romel’s name flashing on the screen. My chest instantly aches, and my finger hovers over the green accept button before I shake my head and hit decline. I can’t talk to him right now, not if I’m going to go through with this interview tomorrow.

I go to shove my phone back in my pocket when it rings again. With exasperation, I look at the screen only to see my dad’s calling me this time. What are the odds that he would call me right after Romel does?

Instantly I start to panic and wonder if something happened with Kaylee.

“Hello?” I answer, a tinge of worry in my voice .

“Are you at your hotel?”

“I’m just heading back there now. I was out grabbing dinner. Is everything okay?”

He hesitates before he says, “Yeah, everything’s fine.”

“Dad,” I say, dragging out the word. “Are you sure? Why’d you call?”

“Can’t I call my daughter?”

“Yes, but not when you sound like you’re up to something.”

He huffs a breath. “How far away from the hotel are you? I’ll stay on the phone until you get there, just so I know you get there safe.”

I smile and shake my head. “Dad, the restaurant was just around the corner. I’m safe, I promise.”

“You can never be too careful. You know that.”

Growing up in a big city, my dad drilled the importance of being aware of your surroundings at all times. “I know, Dad.”

I turn the corner and dash up the hotel steps. “Okay, I’m back at the hotel. I’m gonna go.”

He hesitates. “Meredith?”

I slow my steps as I reach the elevator. “Yeah?”

“I love you. Don’t be mad at me.”

“Mad at you for what?”

“Call me tomorrow after your interview,” he says, not answering my question.

“Dad, mad at you for what?”

“Have a good night, Sweetie.”

“Dad!”

The line goes silent and I realize he hung up. What the hell was that about?

It doesn’t take long to figure out, especially when I get off the elevator and turn the corner to find Romel leaning against the wall outside my room.

He watches me as I get closer, my steps slowing and my heart racing. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s where you are, and I had to tell you something.”

I frown. “It couldn’t wait until I got back to LA?”

He shakes his head.

Deciding it’s better to be mad at him than find it endearing that he traveled all this way for me, I open my door without looking at him again and walk into my hotel room. He’s right on my heels as I head to the small desk on the other side of the room and set down my Chinese takeout. Then I remember what day it is.

I spin around to face him. “Wait, don’t you have a game tonight?”

“I told my coach I had a family emergency.”

“Romel, that’s insane. The guys need you.”

He steps closer, and I hate that my breath catches the closer he gets to me. “I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”

I cross my arms in one last lame attempt to keep myself from caving to this man who’s already broken my heart once.

“What do you want to say? Just say it and then you can leave.”

He winces and grips the back of his neck—a sign that he’s nervous. But then his gaze gets determined, and he closes the distance between us until we’re toe to toe and I’m looking up into those deep brown eyes that I so easily—and stupidly—fell in love with.

“I was a shell of a man before I met you. I thought I’d put myself together enough that I was convinced I was whole, but I wasn’t. I was lying to myself. Turns out I’ve done quite a bit of that over the last several years. And then you came in and brought all your light and liveliness with you. I thought romantic love could only feel one way, and I couldn’t wrap my head around what you were trying to tell me that it could be different. That I could love you completely and it wouldn’t mean loving Sydney any less.”

He cups my face, his thumb brushing away a tear I hadn’t even realized was there. “I’m so sorry it took you leaving for me to see how empty my life—my heart—is without you. I love you, Meredith. I love you so much, this last week hurt to breathe without you. I don’t want a life without you in it, and I’ll do whatever it takes to prove I can love you the way you deserve—wholly and completely.”

My gaze meets his, wanting to believe him with my whole heart, but still hesitant after getting my heart broken by him so recently. “I want to believe you,” I say, my voice hoarse from the tears threatening to fall in abundance.

“Then believe me,” he whispers back desperately, resting his forehead on mine.

“Romel…”

“I love you, Mere. I love you, and I’m sorry it took me so long to say the words, to understand the true depth of my feelings for you, but I promise it’s real. I love you .”

I don’t think I’ll get used to him saying it so freely. “And Sydney?”

I don’t want him to think I’m asking him to stop loving her. I know that’s not how love works.

He pulls back just enough to stare down at me. “I love her too, but it’s different.”

My heart feels like it expands in my chest, filled with a dangerous hope.

He goes on. “I love you with everything I am now . All the lessons and pain and loss I’ve experienced created a different version of me when I was still holding on to the idea of the old one—the man I was when Sydney was alive. But I’m not that man. That version of me will always love Sydney. But this version of me can finally let her go enough to know I can love someone else— you . It’s only you, Meredith. I don’t want anyone else. I’m not doing this because I’m lonely. I’m doing this because you’re the other half of my soul, and I don’t want to live any more days without you.”

Tears stream down my face relentlessly as I give in because there’s nothing I want more than his love.

“I love you too,” I cry and then he seals his lips over mine, and everything in my world seems to right itself with his kiss.