Sean reaches for my hand to squeeze. It’s a sign of silent encouragement.
I jump back to the beginning of my tale. “I went to college on a small scholarship but needed to take out student loans to pay for the remainder.”
I know that Sean doesn’t have experience with that or the fact that at times debt can feel like a heavy burden to shoulder.
“When Dagen and I became more serious, he told me that he wanted to clear that debt to take that worry away.” I shake my head. “We never discussed the terms of that. I foolishly assumed it was a gift. Apparently, Dagen viewed it as a loan because when I dumped him…”
“He demanded that money back,” Sean interrupts.
“It was his way of keeping me in his world,” I tell him. “He brought it up as I was packing my things. I knew at that moment that I’d pay back every penny, so I’d never be connected to him again. Dagen and I had reached a point where my dreams were secondary to his. What I wanted in life didn’t matter to him. He didn’t think marketing was the career path for me. He hated that I worked as a bartender. He believed that I should give up my dreams to fulfill his. He made it clear that once we were married, he expected me to work for him as his assistant at his consulting firm.”
“He’s pathetic,” Sean murmurs.
“I looked into taking out a loan to clear what I owed him, but I couldn’t get approved because my employment situation wasn’t stable.” I take a deep breath. “Going to my parents or my oldest brother wasn’t an option. Everyone had warned me that Dagen wasn’t right for me. “
Sean squeezes my hand again. “I understand.”
I glance down at our hands. “My sister knew. She suggested I sell my engagement ring to pay off the debt, but it didn’t belong to me. I gave it back to Dagen a week after I left him.”
“Has he been harassing you, Champ?” Sean gazes into my eyes. “Has he been after you to get it paid off?”
I shrug. “He’ll text me to say we should meet up to discuss it, or he’ll call and invite me to dinner to renegotiate the terms of the loan even though there are no terms. I’ve tried to get him to leave me alone, and he will for a few weeks, but inevitably, I always hear from him again. I think he believes there’s a chance we’ll get back together even though I’ve told him that will never happen.”
Sean leans closer to me. “He doesn’t believe that anymore, Calliope.”
My gaze searches his face, stalling at the bruised skin around his eye. “How do you know that?”
“I told him I’m in love with you,” he whispers. “I told him that one day I intend to marry you, and that means he needs to stay the fuck away from you.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
Sean
I don’t knowif anything will ever spear my heart the way Calliope’s tears do.
I just confessed that I love her, and with a trembling bottom lip and tears streaming down her cheeks, she nods and the faintest of words come out of her mouth. “I love you too.”
“You love me?” I ask because I’m that guy.
I need to hear it again and again because if it’s true, I’ve just been handed the winning ticket in the life lottery.
Her hand moves to her chest to rest over the lace on the front of her sundress. “With all of my heart.”
“Every last piece of it?”
She lets out a laugh. “Yes.”
With my heart beating a victory song against my rib cage, I move in for a kiss. It’s our first kiss after professing our love for each other, so this will be filed away as one of the most memorable moments of my life.
I take her mouth softly, guiding my tongue over the seam of her lips until she parts them for me. The kiss is slow, sensual, and will stay with me until the day I die.
Her hands cup my cheeks, holding me there after the kiss breaks. “You said you want to marry me one day.”
“Tomorrow works for me.”
A soft laugh falls from her lips, her breath skimming over my cheek. “One day, I’d love to marry you.”
I won’t push because she’s mere months from the end of a serious relationship, and even though I know my heart has always been hers, I won’t push for anything she’s not ready for.