“You were so different, after the gunshots, I didn’t even recognize you. You scared me,” she admitted.

“I wanted to strangle Drake with my bare hands,” Elijah admitted. “Baby, it’s going to happen. I lose my temper, but not at you. I’m not ever going to come at you that way. I’ll walk away and let loose somewhere else where I know I’m not going to scare the hell out of you.”

She realized that was what he’d done. He’d taken her to the bedroom and he’d removed himself. He didn’t want to scare her. He had no qualms about showing Drake his temper, but he hadn’t wanted her to see him like that.

“This is really about the things I said to you when we first came together, isn’t it?” he asked softly, pushing the hair from her forehead. “You lost confidence in yourself, and I did that to you. I have to find a way to give it back to you, because there is no other woman for me. There never will be. You have to know that in your heart and soul, Siena. You have to feel that so this kind of thing never happens again. You get me? When we fight, it can’t be about whether or not you think I want you. Because, baby, there’s no question. You’re the one. The only. There has never been another woman I let in and there isn’t going to be.”

12

SIENA sucked in her breath. He’d laid it all on the line for her. Everything about his family. His life. Maybe he hadn’t touched on their future, but he told her things he’d never told anyone else. Given that to her. She needed to give him something back.

“I don’t have any confidence in myself as a lover, Elijah. None. And for you, because of the way I feel about you, I want to be able to please you. Sometimes I want to touch you, or explore, and I’m afraid I’ll do something wrong.” Like right at the precise moment. The slow burn that had smoldered had become something hotter. Something scorching her. Driving her. She began to feel the way she had when she’d driven up to Elijah’s home for the first time. Edgy. Needy. Restless.

Elijah groaned softly. “That’s on me, baby, not you. I made you feel that way.”

She shook her head. “It’s more than the things you said. I won’t pretend that didn’t contribute, but honestly, I was already feeling that way. I wasn’t like the other girls in boarding school. I didn’t look at men, not even celebrities, and want them. I didn’t feel anything at all until I saw you.”