Keeping His Promise: A When It Happens Novella, Book 2 by Rhyannon Byrd Page A

you about my demon ex. But I did it. Because as new as all this is, you’re already important to me. Even when you were trying to push me away, I just wanted to throw you over my shoulder and bring you back here. I’ve tried, but I can’t stop thinking about you. And now I don’t even want to try. I just want to keep doing exactly what we’re doing.”
    A tremor moved through her as he spoke, but she didn’t pull any farther away from him. Instead, she turned and curled up against him, pressing her cheek against his chest, right over the heavy beat of his heart.
    Wrapping his arms around her, he said, “Come on, Nat. Talk to me. Trust me .”
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    T aking a deep breath , Natalie pressed her hand over Sean’s heart, finding comfort in the hard, thudding beat. “Do you still love her?” she murmured, knowing she had no right to ask, but unable to hold the question inside.
    The change in topic seemed to catch him off guard, because he sounded genuinely confused as he said, “Who? Dani?”
    When she nodded, he laughed low in his chest. “Hell, no.”
    She lifted her head to look at him again. “Really?”
    He looked like he was trying hard not to smile. “Yes, really. That’s something you don’t ever have to worry about.”
    “Well, I would think any woman you get involved with would have to worry about what’s going to happen when she comes back, begging for another chance.”
    His dark eyes gleamed beneath the heavy weight of his lashes—but she wasn’t sure if it was because she’d insinuated they were getting involved (which she couldn’t think about without freaking out, so she didn’t think about it), or if it was simply the idea of his ex begging for another chance at him. “And what makes you think she’s going to do that?” he asked lightly.
    “Sean, come on. You’re an incredible guy. She’d be crazy not to.”
    She was basically lying on him on her side, and his hands settled on her outer hip, thumbs softly stroking against her wet skin, as he said, “She already did.”
    Her jaw dropped. “When?”
    “A few months ago.” He shrugged, acting like it was no big deal, when she knew that couldn’t have been the case.
    “And?” she asked, drawing out the word.
    “And I told her to go back home.”
    “You did?”
    He angled his head a bit to the side, his dark hair gleaming under the hazy, golden light spilling across them from above the mirror. “What exactly did you think I would do?”
    “I don’t know. It’s just that…you loved her.”
    “Oh, I sure as hell thought I did,” he drawled in a wry tone, a flat smile twisting the corner of his mouth. “But, fuck, Nat. I was young and arrogant and thought I knew what the hell I was doing. I wasn’t nearly as together as you are at twenty-four. Nowhere close. So, yeah, I cared about her—but I know now that I never gave myself to her completely.”
    She caught her lower lip in her teeth, wondering why that was, but didn’t want to push the issue. God only knew she’d already been nosey-as-hell with her questions.
    But he read her as easily as he always did, a knowing look smoldering in his blue eyes as he murmured five brief, simple words: “She wasn’t the right one.”
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered, not knowing what else to say.
    He gripped her a little tighter in response, his hooded gaze never leaving hers as he said, “So the rest of the story is pretty simple. When I explained how things were to her, and tried to make it clear that I wasn’t ever heading down that path with her again, she threw a tantrum and headed back to the East Coast. And I was happy to see her go.”
    She leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to the middle of his chest, then rested her cheek there again, lost in thoughts of the past, present, and future. But it was the past that needed to be talked about, and she was still struggling to find the words to explain what she needed to say, when his deep voice pulled her back to the