Chapter 50 Breaking point
Melissa’s POV
The silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating.
Gavin stood by the window, backlit by the afternoon sun, his white shirt still unbuttoned at the collar, sleeves rolled to his elbows. He looked like every fantasy I’d ever had and every mistake I’d ever made rolled into one devastatingly beautiful package.
“Melissa.” He said my name again, and something in his tone made my pulse spike. “We need to talk.”
I didn’t know why, but every instinct screamed at me to run.
To put distance between us. To get out of this room before something happened that I couldn’t take back.
My feet moved before my brain caught up.
I turned toward the door.
I didn’t even make it three steps.
His arms wrapped around me from behind, pulling me back against his chest. One arm banded across my waist, the other hand splaying possessively over my stomach.
“Gavin, let me go.” My voice came out shaky, desperate. “Please let me go.”
“No.” The word was final.
Tears burned behind my eyes. I tried to push at his arms, but they were solid, immovable. “Please.”
“Why are you running from me?” His breath was hot against my ear. “Why did you ignore me? Did I do something wrong?”
“I can’t do this…”
“Can’t do what?”
“This!” I gestured wildly even though he couldn’t see. “Whatever this is. I can’t…”
A tear slipped down my cheek. Then another.
“Tesoro mio( my treasure),” he murmured, and the tenderness in his voice broke something inside me.
“Can you please stop speaking that with me?” The words came out choked. “It’s not like I can understand anything you’re saying.”
He was quiet for a moment. Then: “I would let you go, I would. If you weren’t holding onto me.”
I looked down and realized with a start that my hands were gripping his forearms. Clinging to him even while I begged him to release me.
I tried to let go. My fingers wouldn’t cooperate.
“See?” His voice was soft now. Gentle. “Your body knows what your mind won’t admit.”
“That doesn’t make this okay.” More tears fell. “None of this is okay.”
“Tell me what’s wrong.” He turned me in his arms so I was facing him, his hands cupping my face, thumbs brushing away my tears. “Talk to me. Let me help.”
“You can’t help.” My voice broke. “You’re part of the problem.”
His jaw tightened, but he didn’t let go. “Explain.”
“My mom. Your fiancée” The words tumbled out before I could stop them. “I saw her yesterday. She looked so tired, Gavin. So worn down. And all I could think about was you. About what we were going to do. About how much I wanted you.”
His eyes darkened.
“I can’t keep doing this.” I pressed my hands against his chest, not pushing, just needing to touch him. “I can’t keep hurting my mom. Yes, I want you. God, I want you so much it terrifies me. But I love her. I love her, Gavin. And every time I’m with you, every time I let you touch me, I’m betraying her.”
“You…”
“I am!” My voice rose. “I hate the fact that I met you. I hate that I kissed you that night. I hate that you’re becoming my oxygen, that I can’t breathe properly unless you’re near me. I hate all of it.”
The words hung between us, raw and honest and devastating.
Gavin was quiet for a long moment. Then he exhaled slowly, pulling me closer until my forehead rested against his chest.
“Melissa,” he murmured, his hand stroking through my hair. “Melissa, Melissa.”
He said my name like a prayer. Like an apology. Like a promise.
Then he walked me backward until my spine hit the wall. His hands framed my face, forcing me to look up at him.
“I’ll take everything away,” he said quietly. “Everything that’s worrying you. Every burden. Every fear. Tell me what hurts and I’ll fix it.”
“You can’t…”
“I can. And I will.” His thumb traced my bottom lip. “Your mother’s exhaustion? I’ll handle it. Her job? Her stress? Consider it done. Whatever she needs, she’ll have it. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Gavin, that’s not…”
“Shhh.” He tilted my head back, his nose brushing against mine. “Let me take care of you. Both of you. Let me make this right.”
My hands moved of their own accord, sliding up his chest, feeling the solid muscle beneath the thin fabric of his shirt. His heart was racing. Just like mine.
“Can you trust me?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
“How?” The question came out broken. “How will we get out of this? How should I trust you when everything about this is wrong?”
“Non ho mai pensato di essere messo in ginocchio da una piccola cosa come te.” The Italian rolled off his tongue like silk. Dark. Beautiful. Incomprehensible.
“Gavin…”
“I never expected to be brought to my knees by something as small and perfect as you,” he translated, his forehead pressing against mine. “But here I am. On my fucking knees, Melissa. For you. Only you.”
A sob caught in my throat.
His hands moved to my waist, lifting me slightly so we were eye level. My legs instinctively wrapped around his hips, my body betraying me again.
“I don’t know how to fix this,” I whispered. “I don’t know how to make it right.”
“Then let me.” His lips brushed my cheek, tasting my tears. “Let me handle it. Let me take care of everything. All you have to do is trust me.”
“That’s not fair.” My fingers tangled in his hair. “You’re asking me to trust you when I don’t even trust myself around you.”
“I know.” His mouth moved to my jaw, my neck, placing soft kisses that made my breath hitch. “I know it’s not fair. None of this is fair. But I’m done pretending I can stay away from you.”
“Gavin…”
“I tried.” His voice was rough now, strained. “I put you in that closet thinking distance would help. I ignored you, avoided you, treated you like any other employee. And it didn’t change a fucking thing. You’re still the only thing I think about. The only thing I want.”
My hands were shaking where they gripped his shoulders.
“I’m scared,” I admitted. “I’m so scared of what this means. Of what happens when people find out. Of what it will do to my mom.”
“I’ll protect you.” His lips found mine, soft and gentle. “I’ll protect both of you. I swear it.”
“How?” Tears streamed down my face. “How can you promise that?”
“Because I’m Gavin Cross.” He pulled back to look at me, and the intensity in his eyes stole my breath. “And I don’t lose.”
He kissed me again, deeper this time, swallowing my sob, my protest, my surrender.
When he finally set me down, my legs were weak. My face was flushed and puffy from crying. My lips were swollen.
I looked like exactly what I was…a girl completely undone by a man she shouldn’t want.
“I’ll set this straight,” Gavin said, smoothing my hair back from my face with surprising gentleness. “Your mother. The situation. All of it. Give me time.”
“How much time?”
“Not long.” His thumb brushed across my cheekbone. “But you should probably not ignore me again.”
There was something dangerous in his tone. Something that sent heat pooling low in my belly despite everything.
“For your own good, mi amore,” he continued, his voice dropping lower. “When I can’t reach you, when I don’t know where you are or if you’re safe… I don’t think clearly. And you don’t want to see what happens when I stop thinking clearly.”
It should have been a threat.
It should have scared me.
Instead, it made me feel protected. Wanted. Claimed in a way that was both terrifying and thrilling.
“Okay,” I whispered.
“Okay, what?”
“I won’t ignore you again.”
“Good girl.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead, then my nose, then briefly…on my lips. “Now go home. And tomorrow…”
“Tomorrow?”
His smile was filled with promise. “Tomorrow, you’re mine.”
He released me and stepped back, giving me space to breathe.
I grabbed my bag with shaking hands and headed for the door.
At the threshold, I paused. “Gavin?”
“Go home, Melissa,” he said softly. “Before I change my mind about letting you leave.”
I left before I could do something stupid.
Like turn around and go back to him.
Like beg him to make good on that promise.
Like surrender completely to the man who was becoming my entire world.