Chapter Six #3
The woman who’d been haunting me for years, every waking moment of my existence, averted her gaze and cleared her throat.
“No, no. I’m fine. I just…I’d forgotten…
” she trailed off and let out a whisper of a laugh.
She brought her hand out and waved it between us.
I waited, watching as she tried to find the right words.
And after a second attempt at clearing her throat, she found them, and they rocked me to the very bottom of my soul. “I forgot how lovely your voice was.”
Yeah, this was hell on earth.
I tore my eyes away from her, focusing on the painting above her couch. “Margo and Carrie told me you wanted to speak with me.”
“Oh.” She cleared her throat again. I knew she was nervous; I just hoped me being here wasn’t causing her any additional stress. “Yes, I did. Would you like to take a seat?”
“No.”
Angel jerked back. “O-of course. I understand.”
Fuck. “I just—I don’t want to intrude on your life any more than I already have,” I explained. “I also need to apologize.”
“Apologize?”
I nodded once. “I didn’t—I had no idea you were driving the car in front of me, and when your tire blew and spun off into the ditch…I acted on instinct.”
Her arms fell to her sides as she deflated. “You’re—you’re apologizing for saving my life? Again?”
My hand shot up to my hair, my fingers running through it. Shit. “No. Not—I’m not—you just—before I left, you told Margo—”
“About that,” she cut me off, moving toward me.
I stiffened, my jaw clamping.
She didn’t seem to notice, and one step after another, she came closer.
When she stopped, the musk scent hit my nostrils, and I suppressed a groan.
She brought her hand to her chest and propped the other on her hip, her eyes on the table beside me.
“That day, I never thought I would…well, you were the last person I ever expected to see.”
Yeah, gorgeous, and you were a ghost.
“Please don’t do that,” I said, putting my hands in my jacket pockets.
“No, I need to explain.”
The last thing I wanted her to do was relive her trauma. She didn’t need to do that. Not for me. “You don’t owe me anything.”
Her honey brown eyes flicked up to meet mine, her lips parting. “On the contrary. I owe everything.”
I shook my head, holding her eyes. “Don’t do that either.”
“Then what would you have me do?” she asked, her voice changing. She rubbed her chest, her cheeks tinting. “I just—this is the second time you’ve saved my life, and all I’ve done is tell you to fuck off.”
The air around us changed and my lips twitched. “You didn’t tell me to fuck off.”
Tears hit her eyes then, filling them until they overflowed. The sight rocked me. “I ruined your life, and I am so sorry,” she rasped. “I never—I just wanted to start over, and fate brought me to you.”
I felt eyes on us, and slowly, I turned my head, finding Grayson standing on the other side of the door, arms over his chest, a small knowing smile on his face.
Smug bastard.
Inhaling deeply through my nose, I muttered an “excuse me” before crossing the foyer to close the main door. Once it was closed, I turned to her, jerking my head to it. “They’re nosy.”
Those beautiful fucking eyes of hers flicked to the door and then back to me. “I’m only really familiar with Margo and…her boyfriend…Uh, Heath? Is that his name?”
Before I could stop it, a rough chuckle left me and I dropped my head, my shoulders shaking with laughter. “His name is Hayes.”
The pinkish color on her cheeks deepened and spread down to her chest, her eyes widening as her jaw dropped. “Oh my…no it isn’t!”
I could feel my lips trying to curl into a smile, and to avoid it, I scratched my beard.
I was overdue for a trim but hadn’t found the motivation.
I didn’t have the guts to find out whether the man underneath all this scruff was still…
me. “I’ve known him for well over a decade now,” I said, noting her little ticks. “Safe to say I know his name.”
She brought her hand up, running her long fingers through her hair. “Well, yes. Of course. I wasn’t—I wasn’t trying to argue with you. I’m so sorry.”
A small alarm started ringing in the back of my head, and my brow furrowed. “Are you apologizing for not knowing his name or disagreeing with me?”
“Both.”
“You don’t have to apologize to me,” I reassured. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
Then she unknowingly added to my torment by biting the corner of her bottom lip.
Her eyes left mine as she gave me her back.
She walked a few feet away from me before spinning back again.
“Mr. Doss, I would really appreciate it if you took a seat,” she softly said, rushing to me.
She tipped her head back to keep a hold of my gaze but didn’t have to lift her face much.
I was about to tell her no, to leave her life again, but then—
“Please,” she rasped.
That’s when I knew.
Fate had woven us together for the third time, and my Nonna’s voice echoed in the back of my mind.
Each of us has a soulmate, Asher. In some lifetimes, we don’t find them, but in others, they find us. When that happens, don’t you lose them. If you lose your soulmate, the sun inside you will die.