“Listen here buddy, you’re not going anywhere”
“Good morning to you too, princess,” Damion chuckled lowly.
She stood and stared at him with her arms crossed and cocked an eyebrow, challenging him. “I’m not letting you do this. I’m not letting you resign.”
“Colette, you can’t-”
“I think you will find that I can. And I am. I care about you far too much to let you march out of here and leave me behind. I’m not just going to sit around and watch you walk away!”
“I have to. And besides, like I told you before Princess, I work for your father not you.”
She stared at him in shock. “Do you- do you not want to be with me?”
He laughed humorlessly and ran his hands over his face in frustration. “I want to be with you more than anything Colette, that’s the problem! How the hell am I supposed to do my job when all I can think about is how much I want to be kissing you?”
“But I need you! Not as a guard, not as a babysitter, but as a person. I think I have grown enough now that I don’t need anyone watching over me constantly, but I do need you in my life.”
“This sounds a lot like a conversation we’ve had before,” he mumbled. “You didn’t think you needed me back then, you won’t need me in the future.”
“A lot has changed since our first encounter,” she smiled softly, walking forward to take his hands in hers. “Please don’t leave me.”
He sighed and closed his eyes. “Selfishly, I really don’t think that I can.”
“So you’ll stay?” She asked with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
“I can’t stay as your guard, but I won’t leave you.” He took her face in his hands and looked her deeply in the eyes. “I will never leave you, Colette.”