“Are you ashamed of me? Ashamed to tell your fancy friends who I am?” He wrenched himself away from her. “I never thought it would ever matter to me what other people think, only your opinion mattered. But now I see the truth. I’m not good enough for you, I never was,” he spat. “I’m just poor bayou trash. My own parents didn’t want—”
“Stop.” His words made her ache. Ache for him, for what had happened to him. And what she had done to him. It was time to lay things out in the open. “I don’t see you that way, please. How can you think I do?”
“Then why won’t you let me in?”
“Because … because.” Her throat was burning, but she pushed on. “Because it feels like if I do, I’m betraying him!” The words shocked her, but it was what she needed to admit. Moving on felt like a betrayal to Joe.
His brows furrowed in confusion. “Who?”
She had practiced this so many times in her head. What she would say to him, how to explain. But really, how else could she tell him? “Joe. He was my husband.”
“Was?” He looked shocked. “You were …”
She nodded. “He’s … gone.”
“I …” He raked his hands through his hair. “How did he …?”
“It was a car accident. We were on our way home, and a drunk driver crashed into us. I s-s-survived because of my Lycan healing. He was killed on impact. I—” She drew in a deep breath as he embraced her and the tears began to flow. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”
“Shh … cher.” He loosened his grip on her. “Was that couple you were talking to—”
“His parents. I was just as surprised to see them as they were to run into me. After the funeral, we said we’d keep in touch and never did. I know they were shocked when they saw I was pregnant. They said they were happy for me, and I know they were because that’s the kind of people they are. But I just didn’t want to rub it in their faces that I … we …” she sobbed. “That I had moved on and was having my own child while they had lost theirs.”
“Mika.” He soothed her back with his hand. “It’s all right, cher. You don’t have to explain. And you don’t have to be sorry for not telling me earlier. It’s a difficult subject for you to talk about.”
“It is, but it was wrong of me to keep that from you. I just … I wasn’t ready.” She took a deep breath. “It was just sex in the beginning. But it’s so much more now. You’re so much more. You’re my True Mate.” His hand stopped mid stroke. She wanted to say so many things to him, reassure him too. But she couldn’t say it, not yet. So instead, she decided to show him. “Kiss me,” she whispered.
His head bent down to her neck, but before his mouth could make contact with her skin, she cupped his face and stopped him. “No. Kiss me.”
Dark eyes flashed with emotion before he bent down to press his lips to her. It was just the gentlest pressure, like he was afraid that she would disappear or shatter into pieces if he kissed her too hard. When she arched up against him, he deepened the kiss, and his arms wound around her to hold her close, her bump cradled between them.
His tongue slid past her lips and teeth, tasting her mouth, coaxing her to open up to him. Before long he was ravaging her mouth, his kisses hungry like he’d been starved for days.
She didn’t know how long they’d been kissing, but when they both finally pulled back, she had to brace herself against him. She’d never been kissed like that, and from the look on his face, this was probably a first for him too. He still held her, one hand around her and the other protectively covering her belly. “Let’s go back to my apartment.”
“No,” she said, placing her hands over his. “Let’s go back to our place.”
He let out a low, pleased growl and nodded.
Chapter Fourteen
Moving Mika into his apartment took less time and effort that actually convincing her to do it. Though Delacroix had seen some glimpses of her place here and there in the last few weeks, he’d never actually been inside. So, he was surprised to find the place practically bare, with only the furniture the management provided and no personal knickknacks or decorations. They only had to pack her clothes and bathroom toiletries, which took most of an afternoon. When he asked where the rest of her things were, she shrugged.
“I have personal items in those”—she pointed her chin at the boxes in the living room—“and some stuff from when I was in school are with my parents, in my childhood bedroom. And the rest, well … I gave to Goodwill or sold along with the Brooklyn house.”
The house she had shared with her husband.
It still sometimes floored him to know that she had been married, but not in a bad way. There was a twinge of jealousy there, but there would always be that emotion when it came to her and anyone she’d been involved with. However, it was the idea someone had loved her first that would always make him feel uneasy.
But truly, what amazed him was her strength and courage, and her ability to get up every day and live her life after her husband died. Frankly, he didn’t think he could do the same. Losing Mika would destroy him, because he loved her so much, he couldn’t bear the thought of taking a breath without her.
The thought that he loved her had come so easy to him, and yet he hadn’t said anything to her. There was still some fear, that she wouldn’t feel the same way. But surely, she must at least feel strongly for
