The Senator's Hispanic Bride by Alexis Gold

and then I couldn’t get you off of my mind, and I knew it was wrong, so I told her to get her things and get out of the house.”
    Isabella lowered her head and buried her face in her hands. Michael felt worse than he had ever felt with her. He had betrayed her trust and her sweet love, and nothing was worth that. He reached for her shoulders, resting his hands there lightly, but she pulled away from him and he had to reach again and hold on to her tightly.
    ***
    Isabella felt as though she were living in a nightmare that had come to life. The only saving grace was that he had kicked Kelsey out before anything happened. He hadn’t had sex with her, and that was something. Not much, but it was something. She wept bitterly and when he put his hands on her shoulders, she tried to pull away at first, but he held her fast and turned her around. She refused to look at him, but he wrapped his arms around her anyway and held her tightly to his chest.
    “I’m so sorry, Isabella, I love you. I would never do anything to hurt you. You must believe that. There’s no woman in the world that I want as much as I want you.” He kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair with his hands. “Please forgive me. I don’t want to be without you.”
    Her weeping quieted and she looked up at him through wet eyelashes and the expression he saw on her face tore at his heart. “How could you do that with her? Even if it wasn’t sex, making out with her, kissing her?”
    Michael shook his head. “I don’t know, Isabella, honestly, I don’t. I’ve been asking myself that same question over and over since it happened. I think it was because she hurt me so badly before and it was like I was getting her back, I suppose, but then it just wasn’t right and I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to hurt or lose you, and it seems like that might be just what I did.”
    She looked into his beautiful blue eyes and asked sadly, “Why didn’t you tell me? Do you know how hard it was to have her ask me to sit with her at that café and listen to her as she told me all about you being with her and see her laugh at me because I had no idea? I felt like such an idiot, and I hurt so bad! You gave her the upper hand, and it put me at a disadvantage. Why would you do that? Why wouldn’t you tell me and just be honest from the start?”
    He held her face in his hands and looked into her sad eyes. “I’m so sorry, Isabella. I hate that she did that to you. She had no business doing it. I didn’t tell you because I was so ashamed of what I had done that I didn’t want you to know. I never wanted you to know. I can promise you something, though,” he held her face close to his and gazed at her earnestly, “I am never going to do anything like that again. Never. I promise I won’t hurt you like that. There is no other woman I want besides you, and it will never, ever happen again. Just say you’ll take me back. Say you’ll marry me. Be my wife, stay with me the rest of my life, please.”
    She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and as she let it out, he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her softly. “Please say you will. Please marry me. I don’t deserve a second chance with you, but I promise that you’ll be glad you gave it to me.”
    Isabella opened her eyes and looked at him again. He was pleading with her so genuinely that she had no choice but to listen to the desires of her heart. “Alright,” she said softly. “I’ll marry you, but Michael, I’m going to tell you this right now, don’t you ever hurt me again, because I won’t take you back a second time.”
    He closed his eyes in complete relief and pulled her close to him in a tight embrace, holding her to his heart and swearing to them both that he would never hurt her again. “I promise. I love you so much, Isabella, my wife, I promise.”
    He took her ring from his pocket and slid it onto her finger. They looked at each other and she knew he meant every word. She hoped