Eternally Yours - Brenda Jackson [72]
“You don’t have to worry about anything like that happening,” Clayton snapped. “There won’t be another woman.”
“How can you be so sure of that?”
“Because I love you.”
Syneda gasped and stared at him. It seemed her voice left her. “You can’t mean that?”
This was not the way he had intended on revealing his feelings to her. “I do mean it,” Clayton said curtly. “I love you and want to marry you.”
Clayton’s words hit Syneda with the force of a ton of bricks. Unable to lie passively in his arms any longer, she jumped out of bed. Glancing around the room, she noticed their clothing tossed carelessly about the room. Spying Clayton’s dress shirt thrown on the floor, she automatically reached down and put it on.
Clayton watched Syneda through hooded eyes. She was not handling this the way he had hoped. “I really don’t understand why you’re trippin’. We’ve been seeing each other constantly for nearly five months, during which time I haven’t seen any other woman. Why can’t you believe that I love you?”
Syneda turned to face him. “I believe you may think you do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you see how happy and content Justin and Dex are, and think now is the time to try it for yourself.”
“Don’t try rationalizing my feelings for you, Syneda. I love you, plain and simple.”
Syneda’s eyes filled with tears. “No, Madaris. Nothing about love is plain and simple. Have you forgotten I can write a book on the word, or rather the lack of it? Sex is plain and simple, not love. My mom died not knowing the difference. But unfortunately, I had to find out the hard way that a night she spent in passion with some man, which may have been plain and simple love for her, was nothing but plain and simple sex for him.”
“I’m not your father, Syneda. I love you and you’re wrong. What we’ve shared these past months has nothing to do with sex. I fell in love with you in Florida. The reason I never told you was because I wanted to give our relationship a chance to grow gradually. You may deny it now, but I believe deep down you love me, too.”
“No! I don’t love you. I don’t love any man. All I wanted to share with you was an affair. You broke the rules, Clayton, and I can’t believe you’ve done that. I thought you’d be different from the others. You were supposed to understand.” She turned and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
When Syneda came out of the bathroom some time later, Clayton was dressed in a pair of jeans and a cashmere cardigan. His bags were packed.
They faced each other for a moment without speaking, then Clayton was the first to break the unnerving tension of silence. He walked over to stand before her.
“I felt it best that I leave, under the circumstances.”
Syneda took a deep breath and lifted her tear-stained face to him. “I agree, you should leave. You’re asking too much of me, Clayton. There can’t ever be anything beyond what we’ve been sharing these past months.”
“I want more, Syneda. I want an entire lifetime. I want you to be eternally mine.”
“I can’t give you that. When I accepted your proposal it was with the understanding that either of us could end it at any time. Well, I’m ending it.”
“Don’t do this to us, Syneda.”
“I didn’t do anything, you did.”
“You think falling in love with you was wrong?”
“I don’t want your love, Clayton. I didn’t ask for it, and I don’t want it.”
Clayton flinched. Her rejection of his love hurt, and he felt his heart breaking into a million pieces.
Without saying a word, he picked up his baggage, turned and walked out of the bedroom. It was only after Syneda heard the sound of the door closing behind him that she gave in to her tears.
Celeste slipped out of bed when she heard Braxter singing