Conway’s expression didn’t change, even though I was falling apart right in front of his eyes. “Now that I’ve destroyed your demons, there’s nothing chasing you. You don’t owe anyone anything—and you’re a free woman. And to make up for the horrible things I did to you, I’m also letting you go.”
“What?” He’d paid a fortune to save me from Knuckles, and now he was just going to let me walk away? I’d only been living with him for a few months. That wasn’t enough time for him to get his money back. “You want me to leave? I thought you needed me for inspiration? I don’t understand…”
“No, I don’t want you to leave.” He kept his voice low even though there was no one nearby to hear us. It was just the two of us under the stars in the most romantic city in the world. “I want you to stay with me. But I need it to be different. I need you to stay because you want to stay, Muse. I don’t want you to be my prisoner anymore. You don’t owe me anything.” His hand slid across the table until it rested on mine. “I need you to be my equal. I need to treat you better. I need to be the man you deserve.”
His fingers felt warm the second he touched me. I could feel his slow pulse and the steady confidence in his veins.
“I don’t want anything to change, but it has to be different. I want you to be here because you want to be here, not because you feel obligated to stay. So, if you want to leave, I won’t stop you.”
Conway unbound the shackles around my ankles and wrists. He dropped the debt I owed him. He removed all the obstacles in my way so that I could walk away without tripping. He gave me a gift I never expected him to give.
“But I want you to stay, Muse. More than anything.” He held my gaze, his look deep and intense. “I want you to be the woman in my bed every night. I want you to be the woman who inspires all my pieces. I want you to be a part of me, just as you are right now.” His fingers grasped mine, and he brushed his thumb over my knuckles. “What do you say?”
I didn’t need to think twice about it. Even when a huge pile of money was thrown on the table, I still hesitated. Spending my days with Conway was the most comfortable I’d ever been. He satisfied me during the day as well as at night. He made me feel good in so many ways. I felt my heart aching for him, had felt it for a while now. “Before I answer, I have to ask a few things.”
“Alright.” He didn’t hide his disappointment, obviously hoping I would agree right off the bat.
“You say you want me to stay…but what exactly do you mean by that?”
“I don’t want anything to change. That’s what I mean.”
“So…am I your girlfriend?” Did that mean this was officially a romantic relationship? What were we?
“I said I didn’t want anything to change, so we aren’t really anything. We’re just a man and a woman. We enjoy each other’s company and have good sex. It’s not more complicated than that. We’re still exclusive. I’m the only man between your legs. You’re the only woman in between mine.”
“But is there a chance this will go somewhere?”
All he did was stare.
“You know… Well, will this turn into something serious?” I didn’t want to ask if marriage and kids were on the table because that felt like too much. But was there a possibility that it could happen? That love could happen?
“I don’t know what will happen, Muse.” He suddenly pulled his hand away.
And that left me feeling cold. “I just… I love living with you and being with you. I just hope that it means there’s a possibility of a future. That’s all.”
“I don’t like to think about the future. Life will flash before your eyes in a nanosecond. I like to live in the present. And right now, I want you.”
“So, what exactly do you want, Conway? You want me to live with you for a while, and then when things turn stale, you’ll ask me to move on? But now I can leave whenever I wish?” I spoke with a toneless voice, but I felt the pain deep in my chest. I wasn’t sure why I felt any pain at all. I already knew how this would go.
“I guess,” he answered. “Like I said, I don’t want anything to change. I just want you to be with me because you choose to be with me. The door is always open if you want to move on. So, if you’re ever unhappy, I have no power over what you do. Our relationship can be based on honesty and intimacy, just as it was before.”