A SECRET SIN

20

Never in a

million years had I considered it might lead to something more. What were the chances?” I peered up

at him, imploring him to understand. “I never meant to hurt you. I was just scared. Everything you

wanted was the opposite of what I’d told myself for years that I needed. You showing up at dinner and

the nightclub? That freaked me out. I hope you can understand that.”

He moved closer, taking my face in his hands. “This is my fault, Pip. I know that I’ve come on too

strong, and that’s not normally like me. You somehow make me do crazy things I never would have

done before. Feel crazy s**t I never would have felt before.” He paused, his earnest stare piercing me

through. “All I wanted was for you to give me a chance. You can still experience the world with me—

anything out there, I’ll give it to you. All you have to do is ask,” he said fervently.

“I think I can do that,” I whispered.

Instead of the warmth I’d expected at my answer, Bishop’s gaze dropped, and his brows drew

together. “I should have come talk to you sooner, and I’m embarrassed to admit that something in

particular brought me here.” His eyes returned to mine as his jaw clenched tightly shut. “I was with

Callum earlier, and he happened to find you on Tinder. Please, tell me you didn’t get on that damn app

because of me this week.”

“What?” I gasped, eyes wide. I couldn’t fathom what he was talking about until my conversation

with Aria came rushing back to me. My eyes drifted shut. “Aria,” I groaned. “We were at a family

wedding yesterday. A man asked me to dance, and I accepted because I felt like I should, but

everything about it felt wrong. It was so disorienting and upsetting that I stopped mid-dance and ran.

My sister found me in the hallway. I explained a little about what had happened between us. She

insisted I needed to get out there. That meeting someone new would cheer me up. She told me to

create a Tinder profile, and I refused. She must have created it behind my back last night because I’ve

never even downloaded the app. Please, believe me. I had nothing to do with that.”

A ragged curse tore from his lips as he swept me into a crushing hug. “Thank Christ.” Relief gave

his words wings, and they lifted me straight off the ground. “I hate the thought of you being with

anyone else, kitten.”

I held him tight for a second longer, then pulled back to meet his gaze again. “Then why did you

set up that meeting with Callum?” I asked, a painful twinge searing through my chest. “Would you

really have shared me?”

“I would have tried if that’s what you truly wanted, but I would have hated every goddamn

second.”

“Then why did you offer?”

“Because that was the only way I could think of to prove that I’m not the prison sentence you

seemed to think I was.”

I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t that.”

“Then what?” His head tilted, eyes pleading for understanding. “Why have you been so

resistant?”

“Because I’ve daydreamed for years about being normal. Life was supposed to be different for

me—dating, travel, maybe even a job. I was going to be a normal girl and not get married off by my

father to some man I hardly knew. Go from living under one man’s roof to another’s, never learning to

stand on my own.”

His lips quirked upward in the corners. “And who told you I would take that dream from you?”

I shrugged meekly. “Me. I’ve never known a Mafia man who didn’t keep his wife or girlfriend

tucked away for safekeeping.”

His eyes sparked to life with a flash of his beautiful dimples. “Lucky for you, I’m Irish, and we’re

used to our women being entirely too batshit crazy to control.”

I choked on a laugh as a swarm of bubbling emotions summoned a new pool of tears.

Bishop placed a tender kiss at the corner of each of my eyes. “I’m not asking for forever yet, just

that you’ll give me a chance. Give us a chance.”

I leaned forward hesitantly and allowed my lips to ghost against his. “I don’t want to push you

away anymore. I don’t want it to be over.”

“Whatever this is, kitten, it’s not the end. This is only the beginning.”

BISHOP SPENT THE NEXT HOUR WITH ME ON THE COUCH, WATCHING A MOVIE AND TALKING. WE

cuddled and teased and laughed until my heart felt full to bursting. By the time my family returned, I

had to rein in my obnoxious smile so that my dad didn’t suspect something more had gone on while he

was out.

I was reluctant to let Bishop leave when the time came but pleased when he asked me, with Dad

present, if he could pick me up for breakfast the following morning. Dad looked at me as if to verify

that I wanted to go and took my giddy grin as answer enough. I was so excited I could hardly sleep

that night. It was amazing how freeing it was to allow yourself to feel what came naturally. I’d felt

like I shouldn’t want to be in a relationship, adding guilt and frustration to an already uncertain

situation. When I simply allowed myself to enjoy the way I felt around Bishop, warm light seemed to

flow through my veins.

That electric rush gave me the energy I needed the next morning when Bishop showed up bright

and early after thoughts of him had kept me awake late into the night.

“Morning, gorgeous.” His voice was raspy and sexy as hell. He took my hand in his and walked

me to his car. “You sleep well?”

“I had a little trouble getting to sleep, actually.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yup. All kinds of happy, tingly thoughts kept me awake,” I teased.

Bishop groaned from deep in his chest. “The things you do to me should be illegal.”

“That’s funny. I’ve thought the same about you—or, more precisely, your dimples.”

He grinned at me. “You like the dimples?”

“Please.” I scoffed, tilting my head to the side. “As if you don’t know how damn sexy those things

are.”