Alexander's POV

"I'm sorry," Brittany breathes out, her voice a soft melody threaded with regret and longing. The gentle sadness that trembles through her words pierces straight into my chest, twisting the muscles there into something raw and aching.

"You were more than worth the wait, baby," I tell her, my voice thick with something fierce and tender all at once.

She shakes her head, a slow, almost defeated motion, the weight of something far heavier ...