Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
ROWAN
Seeing Hannah cry at the best of times makes me murderous, but watching as she’s berated by her good-for-nothing family has me ready to throw all our carefully curated plans out the window, drive my ass over to the Malone estate, and put a bullet between his eyes.
How dare he speak to my girl like that?
I’d be fucking furious regardless, but the fact that Hannah wasn’t even surprised tells me this has happened before.
She sobs into Asher’s chest, and he manages to keep his touches gentle despite the same anger that beats in my chest staring back at me.
Jeffrey Malone has never given a fuck about anyone else’s happiness. Hell, I don’t think he’s ever cared about his own. He cares about one thing, and one thing alone.
Money.
Asher presses his eyes closed, forcing steadying breaths into his lungs as Hannah finds solace in his arms. Part of me is jealous, wanting to be the one to give her that, but the other part knows this is how it has to be for right now.
We’re still building trust between us, whereas Asher has had months to prove himself to her. Even if she’s mad that he lied to her, it’s more natural for her to lean on him, and that’s something I have to deal with.
My time will come.
“It’s okay, Little Doe,” he murmurs, pressing a soft kiss to her temple. “You’re safe. We’re not going to let anything happen to you.”
His reassuring words only seem to make her cry harder, the emotions she’s been holding inside finally releasing.
As much as I hate to see her cry, she needs this. She needs to let everything go before we can build her back up again.
“What if he makes me marry someone like Trent?” She chokes on the words.
“That’s not going to happen,” Asher growls. “There are only two people on earth you’ll be walking toward in a white dress, and that fucking loser doesn’t make the cut.”
Her body tenses slightly, but when Asher holds her head in place, she allows her body to relax back into him.
“But you might not have a choice. I might not have a choice.”
“You don’t have to shoulder this by yourself,” I murmur. I shift her hair over one of her shoulders and bury my face in the crook of her neck, reveling in her scent. We haven’t allowed her to shower yet, which means the evidence of our morning still clings to her skin.
“It’s not your problem,” she argues weakly.
“Your problems are our problem,” Asher tells her. “You just have to let us help, and we’ll move heaven and earth to give you the world.”
She sighs. “I’m scared.”
“Of what?” I ask.
“Of letting myself want this, just for you to leave again.”
I meet Asher’s eyes over her shoulder.
I’ve fed into her abandonment issues the same way her family has, and it’s my responsibility to make her believe I’m not going to leave her.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m here for the long haul, or did you miss the part about chasing you if you ever tried to leave?”
She huffs out a choked laugh, tugging a smile to my own lips. “Just because you’re all in right now doesn’t mean you will be forever.”
“You’re wrong.”
“You don’t know that. You can’t know how you’re going to feel in a month, or a year, or ten. This could just be a temporary thing for you, a forbidden tryst with your stepdaughter, and now that you have it, the appeal could be lost.”
Asher chuckles, because he knows more than anyone how all in I am with this woman, and my need to reassure her clashes with my attempts not to frighten her with the intensity of my feelings toward her.
“Hannah, I need you to listen to me right now, and I need you to listen well. You are it for me. I’ve known it for a long time, and I’m trying my hardest not to scare you off with my crazy, but I’m more than happy to lay it all out on the table right here and now.”
“Rowan,” Asher warns.
“Tell me,” Hannah says.
“If I thought you’d agree to it, I’d have a marriage officiant here in an hour and a doctor an hour after that to have your IUD removed. If I had it my way, you’d be wearing our rings and full of our baby before the sun goes down tonight.”
Asher sighs, dropping his head to her shoulder and holding her to him tightly, as if he thinks she might disappear.
Her breath stutters in her chest at the words, but it’s long moments before she can finally find the words to respond. “That’s…a lot.”
I chuckle. “It is. But I need you to stop doubting me. I get why. Believe me, I understand. But this isn’t a passing fling.
It’s not a forbidden tryst. It’s the thing I’ve waited my whole life for and gave up on.
Then I met you and knew that you would be my wife, you would carry my babies.
I just had to wait to make it happen. But I don’t want to wait anymore.
” I press a kiss to her throat. “As soon as you’re ready, I’ll make all of that happen. ”
Silence follows, and Asher’s glare gets more intense by the second. He doesn’t need to voice the words for me to know he’s going to kick my ass if she tries to run again because I dumped all that shit on her.
But then she reaches back and takes my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m willing to give this a go if you promise there are no more lies between us. No more secrets. No more secret crushes. No more running.”
“Unless it’s through a forest so we can chase you,” Asher adds helpfully, dragging a giggle from our girl.
“Exactly.” She shakes her head. “Is that enough for now? If we just…try?”
I nod against her back. “More than enough, Hannah.”
For the first time in my life, the need for more no longer beats inside my chest, because I have everything I need right here.
Now I just have to make sure I can keep it forever.