OBSESSION (The Bening Files (Novella) Book 4) by Rachel Trautmiller Page A

hit her square in the chest. With a quick glance at Lilly, who shrugged, she followed him. She caught up as he neared the elevator, and touched the sleeve of his suit jacket. “Hey. Everything okay?”
    He turned, the same forced smile in place. Dread settled in her gut. This was the most standoffish she’d seen him in forever.
    “As good as can be expected.”
    “That’s not…” She closed her eyes a second. “Everything is not okay. I get that. Last night was—” Awful. In more ways than one.
    “Lilly’s right.” He sucked his bottom lip inward. “You should go home. Follow up with Davis and your case. I’ve got this covered.”
    What was this? Did he think she was itching to leave? “I know this isn’t how you envisioned things.”
    It certainly wasn’t how she’d imagined her life ten years ago, but she wouldn’t take it back. Would he? If he knew this is where they’d end up? In a hospital drinking sludge that didn’t pass for coffee. Arguing over decisions that shouldn’t be so hard. Fighting distrust of every person in their lives, when all they used to see was potential.
    Innocent until proven guilty. Not the other way around.
    His brows slammed together. “You’re saying that as if one of us can’t handle it.”
    She shook her head. Couldn’t swallow past the sudden lump in her throat. After everything they’d been through—bombs, serial killers, accidents—this couldn’t be the insurmountable moment in their relationship.
    He blew out a breath, then paced the area and turned back, one hand on his hip as he came to stand in her space, those beautiful blue-green eyes swirling a storm she’d never witnessed before. The mesmerizing kind a sailor would never be able to turn from even knowing his seconds were numbered.
    “I could see why you’d be worried. And I get it. She’s your niece. Your responsibility. But we are married. We made a commitment to stick out all the times life throws us a curveball. That can’t happen if I’m never included in the decisions.”
    He was the first, and only, person she wanted in every aspect of her life. “Robbie.”
    “There’s a lot going on. I appreciate that. I’ve been hounding you about Davis. Your mom is mixed up in some crazy business you can’t seem to unravel. Adding Paige’s pre-term labor amps up the stress tenfold. And I know you’re freaked out about losing the Penningtons.”
    “You aren’t?”
    “No.” His voice was steady. Strong. “They weren’t good enough. They were too perfect. Too cute. And they acted as if they wanted Paige to be a part of those kids’ lives when they really didn’t.
    “Look at how quickly they pulled out. Or how many tests they demanded we have completed. They were looking to make a perfect family and it doesn’t exist. Not in their definition. They would have crushed Paige eventually.”
    “I didn’t know you felt that way.”
    His face softened. “You can’t tell me they didn’t strike you as an odd couple? And not the kind that works when two really weird people get together. Odd as in everything they do is a show. Is an attempt to prove that what they have is best.”
    Had she ignored it in the name of moving forward? After all her mom’s nurturing, had she taken the route of nature as Paige feared she would also do? Become disconnected and disinterested in the people around in favor of a cause she deemed more worthy?
    As if he could hear her thoughts, he placed his palms on either side of her face. “Listen, I’m in this for the long haul. That means you, Paige and her babies.” He pressed his mouth to hers, a sweet meeting of lips that let her know she was insane to doubt him for a second. Even when they didn’t agree. And then he pulled back, his eyes glued to hers. “Even if we take them in as our own.”
    Whoa . The sound around them disappeared as if it were only the two of them in the universe.
    “What?” She’d heard wrong. Kids had never been in the cards. The choice