You Had Me, You Lost Me, You'll Never Find Me novel Chapter 36

Tears pricked the corners of her eyes as she suffered beneath his heavy, demanding weight.

Ashton's movements stuttered to a halt. He gently brushed the pad of his thumb beneath her eye, the pressure impossibly light. Pinching her chin, he studied her expression, his touch entirely tender now.

"Why are you crying? Are you made of glass?"

Sylvia turned her head away. "I don't want to keep doing this with you."

Ashton pressed a soft kiss to her tears. "We've been together for three years, baby. Why can't we keep going? Is that pretty boy really better than your man?"

Sylvia squeezed her eyes shut. "Right now, yes, he is. Ashton, I don't love you anymore. I don't love you."

She repeated it twice. Ashton heard every word perfectly, and it felt as though a blade were twisting deep in his chest. His grip tightened instinctively, overwhelmed by an urge to shake some sense into her, yet he instantly pulled back his strength, utterly unable to hurt her.

He rested his forehead against hers. "Let's get married, okay? Sylvia, let's get married."

In the dim, quiet room, Ashton's voice broke with a desperate vulnerability, terrified she would reject him. He pressed feather-light kisses against her lips, his voice a mesmerizing lure.

"We'll have an adorable kid. We'll have a warm home. I'll work hard to be a good dad, and you'll be my perfect wife. Just the three of us as a family... okay?"

A dizzying wave of exhaustion clouded his mind, stripping away his defenses and allowing his deepest, most guarded desires to spill out.

But Sylvia felt an abnormal, searing heat radiating from his skin.

"Ashton, do you have a fever?"

She pushed herself up and pressed her palm flat against his forehead. It was burning up. No wonder his breath had felt so scalding moments earlier.

She tried to climb out of bed, but Ashton caught her wrist and buried his face in the crook of her neck. "Don't go. Don't go back to that pretty boy."

"I'm going to find you some medicine."

"I won't leave," she said.

Only then did Ashton release her hand, a tender smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Okay. I'll wait right here for you."

Sylvia offered a faint, reassuring smile. For a fleeting second, it felt as though they had warped back in time to before the fighting and the breakup, back when they were fiercely in love. Only this time, their roles were reversed—she used to be the warm one while he was cold, but now he was burning for her, leaving her entirely at a loss.

Sylvia walked out of the room and immediately tracked down the butler, informing him that Ashton was running a high fever. The butler understood instantly and sent staff to tend to him. With the butler looking after him, Ashton would be well cared for.

Sylvia didn't go back.

...Of course she was leaving.

She had just said that to placate him.