Love After War by Cheris Hodges Page B

slightly. “When my mother died, I found out some things that I needed to process alone. I was wrong to push you away, but I didn’t know what else to do.”
    She shrugged away from him. “There you go with that ‘I needed to be alone’ crap again. If you need all of this solitude, then why pretend that you want to make up for what you did to me? You keep parts of yourself wrapped up and hidden away and I can’t—won’t—deal with that.”
    Adrian drew her into his arms and she didn’t resist his embrace. That was a good sign, he surmised. “It’s complicated and I don’t want you to be a part of . . .”
    â€œOf what? If you can’t be open with me, then stop calling me. Stop playing with my heart when you know I—”
    â€œDana, I’ve never stopped loving you and if you’d give me another chance—”
    â€œTo hurt me again? I don’t think so.” She slapped his arms away. “All or nothing. That’s how it has to be.”
    He squeezed his eyes shut. Would she want to stay if she knew it all? Would she want to have anything to do with him if she knew he’d spent the last two years planning the demise of the people she worked for? “I want to give you ever ything,” he said. “But—”
    â€œNo buts,” she snapped as she pushed him in his chest. “Why am I such a fool when it comes to you?”
    â€œYou’re nobody’s fool. Dana, my life changed when my mother died. She told me the man who I thought was my father wasn’t. The man who donated his sperm ignored me all my life, ignored my mother, but when she took her last breath, he was on her mind.”
    â€œAdrian.”
    â€œMy head hasn’t been right since then.” He dropped his head and Dana cupped his cheek. Her tender touch offered him the soft comfort that he’d missed since she’d been gone. The kind of gentleness he needed to keep his heart from turning into a block of ice.
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    â€œSo am I. It doesn’t make up for how I treated you and what you saw that night. I knew I had to find this man and I know it isn’t going to be pretty when I do. That’s what I wanted to keep you away from.” The half-truth burned his tongue. He didn’t want to put her in the middle of this family war. That’s why he’d been so over the top in their breakup. Too bad he’d done such a good job of making her hate him.
    â€œAdrian, I wish I could—”
    He brushed his lips against hers. “I need you. Need you to be that light in my life, something good.”
    â€œAdrian.”
    â€œPlease. The biggest mistake I ever made was allowing you to walk out of my penthouse that night thinking I was some cold bastard. I thought I could do this and not look back, but seeing you here again and being with you, I know I can’t live without you.”
    Dana leaned in and kissed him slow, deep, and long as if she was answering him with her hot tongue. If he was right, her answer was yes. Pulling her closer, he relished the feel of her body against his, though in the back of his mind, Adrian wondered if the truth would destroy not only the Crawford family, but also his tentative reunion with Dana.

Chapter 8
    Dana stood there looking into Adrian’s eyes, not knowing what she was seeing, but she knew there was still a struggle going on inside him.
    He stroked her cheek gently and smiled. His eyes didn’t match his lips, though, and Dana saw that. And when she started to call him on it, Adrian took her hand in his and kissed it. “You look worried.”
    â€œI am,” she whispered. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
    There was a lot Adrian wasn’t telling her and he wished that he could tell her everything. But not until she finished her work with those people. He kissed the back of her hand. “No.” Leaning in,