Forever Is Not Enough Read online

  I pressed my chest into her back. “Talk to me.”

  She swallowed the lump in her throat. “What is there to say?”

  “Whatever is on your mind.”

  Her voice came out as a whisper. “I hate her…and I don’t feel bad for saying that.”

  My hands glided up her arms and to her shoulders. “I hate her too.”

  “I don’t understand why my parents put up with her.”

  “Because she’s their daughter—they have to.”

  She shook her head. “They shouldn’t let her treat me like that.”

  “They excused her from dinner.”

  “They should excuse her from the house—forever.” Bitterness was in her voice. “I’ll never forget when I walked in on them…” Her voice caught in her throat. “Her legs were around his waist and she was pulling him further into her. He was grunting her name like it was the best sex of his life. I stared at them together for almost a minute and didn’t say anything.”

  Her words pained me. There was such devastation in her voice. It shattered me that I couldn’t fix her broken heart.

  “When Jared cheated, it hurt. But I worked with him on it because I loved him. We were married and I wanted to make it work. I could forgive him for almost anything. If he slept with twenty girls I could have looked past it. But my sister…that’s when there was no going back. That’s when I knew my entire existence meant nothing to him.”

  My hands continued to glide across her skin in the hope it would make her feel better.

  “Macy has always been the pretty sister, the one all the guys went for. I was just Lexie…her unremarkable and ordinary sister. In eighth grade there was a boy I liked. I liked him for a long time. I never told anyone because I didn’t want Macy to know. She would take him from me if she knew. Somehow, she figured it out. And that was the first thing she did—snatched him. She did it just to spite me, to remind me that I will never be as beautiful as she is.”

  I didn’t see the beauty she was referring to. She looked like a trashy whore to me. “You know why she did that, right?”

  Lexie fell silent.

  “Because she’s jealous of you. That’s the only way she knows how to make herself feel better.”

  Lexie stared at the drain below her feet. Then she spoke like she hadn’t heard a word I said. “Jared knew all of this. He knew how insecure I was. He knew how much she hurt me…but he fucked her anyway.”

  I cringed at her final words, feeling the same pain in her heart. Our minds and souls were linked together. Whenever she was broken, I was broken too.

  “I expected that behavior from Macy but not Jared…I thought he had some respect for me—even a smidge. But he never did. That was why I could never take him back. When he told me he was a different person, I actually believed him. I could see the sincerity in his eyes, the remorse. But I will never, ever forgive him for what he did to me.” She took a deep breath and her bottom lip quivered. “Ever.”

  Lexie hadn’t cried in front of me like this. When I told her I loved her for the first time tears fell down her face. But they were happy tears. Tears that told me she was so emotional at our reunion that her brain didn’t know what else to do. But this…this was just tears of devastation.

  “Baby…” I turned her toward me and forced her face into my chest. Then I lifted her from the ground and held her to me, bringing her as close to me as possible. She was feather-light in my arms and I could hold her forever.

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and sobbed.

  I just listened to her, wishing I could make her tears stop. Now I understood just how damaged she was. These wounds went further than I realized. Her decision to tie her tubes made perfect sense to me. She had no faith left in people. She had no faith left in anything. The man she committed her life to had hurt her in the worst way possible. And her own sister caused it just to spite her. How could I comfort Lexie after these terrible things happened to her?

  I intended to tell her about Macy and how she came onto me in the bathroom. But I quickly changed my mind. It would make Lexie paranoid, that her sister didn’t seduce me this time but she would later. I never wanted her to think that.

  Like a bolt of lightning, realization dawned on me in that moment. Now I understood why Lexie didn’t want me to meet her family. It wasn’t just because she was embarrassed that her marriage had ended in such a brutal way. But because she was afraid Macy would take me away too.

  “Baby, it’s okay.” I held her tightly and waited for her sobs to subside.

  She kept crying.

  “Macy will never take me away from you, Lexie. I am yours and only yours.”

  Her cries stopped for a moment and her chest continued to expand against my chest with every breath she took. “But she’s beautiful and sexy and—”

  “She’s a troll, Lexie.”

  “I know you’re lying…”

  I forced her chin up so she had to look at me. “I’m not lying. How can I find her attractive when I know she’s done all these things to you? Inner beauty always triumphs outer beauty. I don’t care if she’s the most beautiful woman in the world—she’s hideous to me.”

  Lexie stared at me with wet eyes.

  “Baby, you’re the only woman I want. You’re the only woman I think about. No one could ever take me away from you. Macy acts this way because she knows—deep down—that you’re better than she is. She can’t handle it so she does this to you to prove herself. But in the end, she just gets rid of all the bad people in your life so the good ones will remain.” I pulled her closer to me. “I’m better for you than Jared ever was. I will always be faithful to you. I will never lie to you. And I will always only have eyes for you. I swear it on everything I care about, Lexie. Please put your faith in one more person—one more time.”

  There was still hesitation in her eyes.

  “You see how much I love you every day,” I whispered. “Is there any doubt in your mind that I’m madly in love with you?”

  She was quiet for so long I didn’t think she would respond. “No…”

  “Then don’t worry about it.”

  Her eyes watered again. “Please don’t hurt me, Conrad. I won’t be able to recover from it. I’m begging you…”

  Her desperation made me feel empty and hollow. My heart stopped beating for a full second because her voice caused me so much pain. “I give you my word, Lexie.”

  Finally, she relaxed into me. She blinked the moisture from her eyes, and her chest started to rise and fall at a lower pace.

  I turned off the shower and let the water drip from our bodies for a moment before I stepped out and carried her to my bed. We were both wet but I didn’t care about getting the sheets wet. I didn’t even care if the water seeped into the mattress. I had to make love to her now. I had to prove how much I loved her.

  Her head hit the pillow and I moved over her, separating her thighs with mine. Then I inserted my hard dick inside her. The second I felt her tightness and wetness, I felt numb. The sex didn’t feel good like it normally did. This was different. Right now, it was just us being together. It wasn’t about pleasure or ecstasy. I wanted to give her my soul, to make her take it and keep it forever. And I wanted to take hers in return.

  I kept my face close to hers as I slowly rocked into her. I inserted my entire length before I pulled out, just leaving my tip inside. Her arms circled my neck and she panted as she felt me stretch her.

  I kissed the corner of her mouth before I kissed the corner of her eye, tasting the salt from her tears. My hand dug into her wet hair then down the back of her neck. I worshipped her body and vowed to love her forever. Our bodies combined together and made an unbreakable bond. My heart ached from the intensity. The emotion was stronger than I ever felt. I was already in love with her but now everything was different. We’d descended to a new level. Her pain and joy was my responsibility. I never felt that way before about another living person.

  Somehow, I fell more in
love with her.

  Hold Me Close

  Book Thirty-One of The Forever and Ever Series

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  E. L. Todd

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