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“It will take some getting used to being around you and not saying things I used to.”
“Even though it’s been years since we’d been together?” I turned slightly to face him.
His forehead creased. “Some things are hard to forget.”
His sweet words tunneled a hole through my heart. It would be so easy to let him in again, but he was only in this for closure and possibly friendship. I couldn’t want anything more.
I resisted the urge to say that he was hard to forget. That I never had. That I always wondered what if. What if we’d stayed together? What if we’d gone to school together? What if we’d gotten married like we’d talked about? Would we live in his cabin together? Would we have a little girl or a boy?
That hurt more than anything. I should be used to the pain that came with thoughts of Talon. But now that we were together, I wondered if it was possible not to feel pain when I thought of our past.
All I had the right to hope for was friendship. Anything more was a pipe dream, and I’d destroyed ours a long time ago.
“It looks like someone took the horses home and left a golf cart.”
I stood and helped him clean up our trash and the blankets.
“Marley will get the rest of this tomorrow,” Talon said as we piled a few blankets into the golf cart for the ride. “I didn’t mean to stay so long.”
“It was nice.”
Talon looked over at me. “Thank you for spending time with me.”
“You don’t have to thank me.” I grinned. “You bid on me, after all.”
“It was worth it.”
Pleasure wrapped around my heart. Being with Talon was like coming home to a marathon rerun of your favorite TV show. It was comfortable. You remembered the familiar parts and reveled in the ones you’d forgotten. But watching the reruns never got old. You just remembered all the reasons why you loved it the first time.
I sucked in a breath. I was in so much trouble.
At his cabin, he parked the golf cart next to his truck. He led the way to the porch, where he unlocked the door and pushed it open. “You can sleep in the guest room. The bed’s already made, and there’s a bathroom.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned into his hard body. “Thank you for tonight. It wasn’t what I expected, but I had a good time.”
“Me, too.” Talon smiled, and it was like the last few years melted away.
We’d said goodbye while he was standing on my porch a million times, and I thought we’d have forever. Our plans didn’t work out, but I was happy to have him in my life again. Maybe the pain in my chest would dissipate and I’d be able to breathe deeply again.
“Let me show you the room so you can get some sleep.”
I followed him up the stairs and through the doorway. The room was filled with natural-colored wood furniture and a colorful ringed quilt on the bed.
Talon leaned over to turn on the lamp on the nightstand. “Heath made the furniture in here.”
I ran a hand over the footboard. “It’s beautiful.”
Talon leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb. “He does good work. Although these were some of his first attempts. I’ll just grab some towels.”
When he returned, he placed a couple of towels in the bathroom and then handed me a stack of clothes. “So you can change.”
When I accepted the clothes, I resisted the urge to breathe in his scent, which I was positive lingered on the clothes. There would be plenty of time for that when I was alone in bed.
“I’ll let you get some sleep.” He started to back away, but I stopped him with a hand on his forearm. I hesitated only for a second before I lifted on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. Underneath my lips, a muscle in his jaw twitched.
“Good night.” I let my breath ghost over his skin before dropping down to my feet.
“Night.” His expression was carefully blank as he nodded, then he left, closing the door behind him.
