Milah spun around, and he saw tears running down her face. Ever since she’d gotten pregnant, she’d been more emotional, and he knew he was the one to blame.
“Talk to you?” She stepped up toward him. “How can I talk to you when you clearly don’t listen?” She stomped her foot on the ground and then growled. “I’m not doing this. We’re not doing this.”
“Milah, you’re the fucking mother of my child.”
“That is all I’m ever going to be. I told you once, and I will tell you again, I am not marrying you. You’re not going to take away the one thing that even my father hadn’t been able to take from me.”
“Oh, yeah, and what is that?” he asked.
“Why should I tell you?”
He grabbed her arm as she tried to walk away.
“Get your hands off me.” She tried to pull away. He didn’t have a hard grip on her, but it was enough to stop her in her tracks.
“Tell me what you want,” he said. “Name your fucking price. Tell me what it will take for me to get what I want.”
“Is that all you care about? Getting what you want?” Milah asked. “You know what, I don’t even know why I bothered to ask. Of course, that is all you care about, because that is all you know.” She shook her head. “I’m not doing this here with you.”
She spun on her heel, and Damon couldn’t help but admire the curves of her ass. He wanted her.
Some men would find the constant fighting, the passion, too much to handle, but not him. No, he found this banter between them a turn-on. He looked forward to being with her. The women he’d been with in the past had all tripped all over themselves to be the woman he wanted, rather than be themselves. They wanted him to like them, to love them, but he’d found them so fucking boring.
Not Milah.
Never fucking Milah.
She never bored him.
“What is it with you women?” he asked, raising his voice. There was no one else around. It was just the two of them, as well as his men, keeping guard. “Why can’t you just tell me straight exactly what you want? Why do you have to keep me guessing? I’m not a fucking genius. I can’t read your fucking mind.”
“Love!” Milah screamed the word, turning back to face him.
Her cheeks were red. Her hands clenched.
“That’s the big secret. You can mock me if you want. Have a big old laugh about it because that’s what the Russo woman wants.”
Damon didn’t know what to say.
“You’ve got nothing to come back at me? How I’m such a horrible person that no one will ever love me? How my name drives people away? Tell me, Damon, is that what you wanted to hear? I bet I look pathetic to you.” She shook her head, and he saw a new trail of tears running down her face.
“Milah, stop.”
“Just leave me alone, Damon.”
“No, I can’t do that.”
“Why not?” she asked. “Because you love me?”
He gritted his teeth.
“Let’s face it, Damon, I’d be dead right now if it wasn’t for this baby.”
“I never had any plans to kill you.”
She laughed, but the sound was hollow. “Yeah, right. Of course, I’m going to believe that.”
“You can believe what you want to. It’s not going to change anything. I’m not going to tell you that I love you, Milah, because I don’t. I care about you, and for now, that is going to be enough.”
“And that’s why I won’t marry you.” She put her hands on her stomach. She had moved toward the curb. There were no cars coming or going.
He glanced back at his men to see they were still guarding, keeping a distance to allow them some semblance of privacy but not too far that they couldn’t protect them if it was needed.
“Milah, do you think that is the only child we’re going to have?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He took a step toward her, but she stepped off the curb, and he had no choice but to stand perfectly still.
“I’m not like your dad,” he said. “I’m not going to sleep with other women. Unlike yours, my parents loved each other. I was raised in a happy family. Full of love and support. I don’t have half-siblings running around the globe. There is only me,” Damon said. “And like it or not, it is only you and me, and that is not going to change. You’re my woman, Milah.”
“You can’t stand me.”
“Not true. It was your father I couldn’t stand. You’re your own person, and I see that. I see that you and me, we can make this work. It didn’t start out as love, but it sure as hell doesn’t mean it might not end like it.”
He took a chance and stepped toward her. Milah didn’t move.
“I never took you as a coward or someone who would take the easy way out,” he said, moving a little closer. He didn’t like this distance between them. He wanted her in his arms.
“Damon?”
“I’m not saying this is going to be easy. Fuck, is it going to be easy? You’re a giant pain in the ass and that was before you even got pregnant.” When he was close enough, he reached out and brushed some of her hair off her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. He grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her against him. She stumbled, but like so many times before, he was there to capture her.
He had no intention of letting her go.
Staring into her gorgeous blue eyes, Damon had a feeling he could look at them for a lifetime and that still wouldn’t be enough.
“I can’t promise that every single day will be easy. I doubt it will. This is you and me. We’re going to set fire to this world, and we’re going to get the chance to see it burn, and I know it is going to be one mighty fucking flame. What I do know is that there is no one else I want to do it with.”