He jolted as if she’d hit him. Murphy couldn’t look at her.
“Tate, that’s in the past.”
She slapped him hard around the face, and he let her. “No, we’re in the past.”
“We can get past this.”
“No.”
“I was putting the club first,” he said.
“And that’s your problem. You will always put the club first. I’ve lived my whole life with a man who has put the club first. The Skulls always come first like it’s some kind of sacred group.” She stared into his eyes, knowing this was long overdue. “I’ve watched him hurt a woman he loves because of it. I’m not going to be second best, Murphy. I’m going to find a man where I come first.”
His arms released her, and he let her go. She brushed past him, but he caught her hand and tugged her close. Tate collided with his body. Before she could breathe, his lips were on hers.
She gasped when he broke the kiss. “You may try to be with another man, Tate. You may even fall in love with him, but you and I both know, I’ll always be your man just like you’re my woman.”
He let her go. The instant his arms left her she felt alone.
Murphy’s words were true. She’d given her heart to him a long time ago. He knew stuff about her no one else would ever know. Rubbing her arms, she turned away and started walking.
She was walking toward a future and—she hoped—her future happiness.
The End