Rekindled by Maisey Yates Page A

he repeated.
    “After this? I don’t think so.”
    “Everything was going great, Lucy. Let’s just forget this happened.”
    “No,” she said. “No, I’m not going to forget it just because it’s inconvenient for
     you. I’m not going to go upstairs and just go on with the ‘sex only’ thing when I
     want more. I am so damned tired of taking half, Mac. I took it for far too long in
     my marriage and I will not take it from you, or from anyone else ever again. I want
     it all. I want a man who loves me—more than that, I want a man who isn’t too afraid
     to let himself love me.”
    “You think I’m afraid?”
    “Yes, I think you’re afraid. No, I know you are. Because your parents are such a disaster.
     Because you’ve seen love play out badly. I’ve lived it. I have walked that road myself.”
    “So why the hell would you ever do it again? Why would you risk a good thing for something
     I’m not even sure exists?”
    She swallowed and looked down at the floor. “Did you ever think that maybe what I
     had, what you saw, wasn’t love? Maybe it’s not that love doesn’t exist, it’s just
     that very selfish people misidentify it. They say they love someone, but what they
     really love is themselves. Their own comfort. Maybe that’s what we’ve experienced.
     But that’s not what we have. Not what we could have.”
    Mac shook his head. “If you have to believe that, Lucy, I understand. But I don’t.
     I just think it’s asking for a life filled with a bunch of fighting and pain. And
     my parents brought kids into it. They made us be a part of it. I’m not doing it.”
    “I didn’t think you were a coward, Mac.”
    A muscled jerked in Mac’s jaw, and his teeth clenched tightly together. She could
     tell he wanted to say something. That he wanted to yell, even. But he didn’t. Instead,
     he backed away. “I bet you’ll be wanting to find another place to work.”
    “Maybe eventually,” she said. “But I’m not just going to quit working here.”
    “Oh, really?”
    She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “I need this job. I’m not walking away from
     it over some hurt feelings. I’ll get over it. I’ve learned enough about myself over
     the past few months to know that. And to know that I survive heartbreak pretty well.”
    Not this kind though. Her love for Daniel had eroded slowly over time. A casualty
     of his behavior. His harsh words.
    This was a sharp break in her heart. The loss of a man who had given up before they’d
     ever really tried. The loss of something that could have been amazing.
    “If you’re staying anyway,” he said, “why don’t you stay with me?”
    She shook her head. “No. And I hate that I have to say that. But it’s time I lived
     on my terms, and not just someone else’s. It’s time I asked for what I want and actually
     expect to get it. I love you. If you decide you love me, if you decide not to be scared,
     if you decide you want more than just sex and common courtesy, then you run to me,
     and don’t wait. But until then… until then it has to be done.”
    She bent down and picked up her dress, sliding it back over her curves and zipping
     it. She put her hand on her chest. The throbbing in there, around her heart, was physical,
     so painful it blindsided her.
    She had done what she needed to. She’d made a decision for herself. She’d demanded
     more. Demanded what she deserved.
    It sucked a whole lot more than she’d imagined it would.
    Because part of her just wanted to run back to him and say, hell yeah, let’s keep
     having the sweaty sex. But there was something new inside of her, a core of strength
     that she couldn’t ignore, didn’t want to ignore. And that strength wouldn’t allow
     her to bend.
    Not anymore. She’d spent too many years so bent she’d nearly broken.
    And if she just bowed down and let go of everything that mattered to her, she wouldn’t
     even be the kind of woman Mac would care for. More importantly,