Read Feel (Sovereign Book 3) for Free Online

for him were real, but nothing came out.
    It was never meant to be because fate stepped in.
    I hated the pain I’d inflicted on Aiden and could only hope that one day he would find a woman who would heal his broken heart just as I knew Barrett would fix mine. It wasn't that there was even a conscious choice to be made between the two of them. In fact, looking back on it, it was completely out of my control.
    Before I could say something, he got there first, just as the elevator doors slowly closed.
    “Tell him to keep you safe.”
    Then he was gone.
     

 
     
     
    Detective Manning and Barrett were still talking when I returned to the room. His eyes were soft when he saw my face, and I knew I must’ve been wearing my broken heart on my sleeve.
    “How about I come down to the precinct in a few hours and we can talk further?” he said to Detective Manning.
    She nodded and walked toward me with her arm outstretched. “It was nice to see you again, Ms. Jacobs. I’m glad we were able to find your mother safe. I’m a sucker for happy endings.”
    I shook her hand, and she gave me a gentle squeeze with her fingers before walking toward the door that Barrett was holding open and walking through it.
    After he closed it, he walked over to where I was standing beside the bed and pulled me into his arms, not saying a single word. I knew I was a mess, and I’d obviously done a bad job at hiding it because in that moment, he gave me everything I needed just by holding me.
    I don’t know how long we stood there for, but I know my tears had run out by the time I pulled away. “He kissed me.”
    “I expected that. I don’t like it but I would’ve done the exact same thing,” he stated calmly.
    “You’re not mad?” I asked, surprised by his non-reaction.
    “How can I be mad, Lys? You told me to imagine how I’d feel if I was the man who had to walk away. I don’t have to think about it because I watched you walk away once and it ripped me apart. Now, I have you here with me, I’m never going to have to go through that again, and I’m fucking glad because I wouldn’t be able to get through it a second time.” His words surprised me as much as they thrilled me. In that one declaration, he’d just proven that fate hadn’t steered me wrong.
    “I love you,” I blurted out and gasped in shock when I realized what I’d said. Shaking my head, I said, “I’m sorry, I—”
    “Don’t you dare take it back. I fell in love with you the moment you stepped out onto the rooftop the day I met you. I fell more in love with you when you told me to fuck you or walk away.”
    I didn’t think it was possible but my broken heart soared, and I looked up and gave a small smile. “Can you kiss me now? Because I can’t stand hearing that you love me and not having you kiss me.”
    “With fucking pleasure,” he said huskily before kissing me thoroughly. Walking me back toward the bed, I fell onto the mattress with a soft bounce, and he dropped down on top of me, not holding back anything this time.
    Barrett wasn't the wrong or right choice—he was chosen for me. The effect he had on me from the moment we first saw each other could not be denied.
    It wasn't easy, it was never smooth, but it was always real.

    Two hours later, I was lying back in the bubble bath Barrett had poured for me. He’d kissed my head, put my cellphone in my hand and pushed me into the bathroom, telling me to relax while he went to brief Detective Manning as he’d promised.
    Feeling myself turning into a prune, I got out of the water and wrapped the complimentary white fluffy robe around me before grabbing my phone and bringing up Barrett’s number. I was just about to hit the call button when the screen lit up with an unknown number.
    “Hello?”
    “Alyssa, it’s Marlee. Detective Manning, I mean. Has Barrett left there yet?”
    I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it’d been nearly two and a half hours since he’d left me to my bath.