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“No. No, it’s not like that. It’s so much more complicated than that.”
“Libby was sure you were running from someone the other night. I can’t protect you if you don’t tell me what you’re running from.”
“I don’t—I was, but I don’t need to be protected,” I said, the words coming out more harshly than I intended. “I know how to protect myself, but that doesn’t change what’s happening in my life.”
He studied me for a few seconds before nodding. “Okay. You can’t give me what I’m wanting,” he murmured, tossing my words back to me. “Does that mean if it was someone else . . . if it was one of the twins?”
I relaxed against the door and him, and fought the urge to show him everything I was thinking and wanting to do. “You know that’s not what I meant. You didn’t have to ask.”
“I’m not the one who keeps running away, Firefly,” he said softly as he brushed his thumb along my cheek.
“You forced me away.”
His mouth twitched into a frown at the reminder. “I’m afraid of what will happen to you if I keep you by my side, and there’s shit happening in your life that makes you run from what you want. But we’re still here,” he said, his voice gruff as he bent his head closer.
“You dragged me in here.”
His answering glare was almost enough to make me smile in that moment.
“You wouldn’t be in here if you didn’t want to be.”
“I wish I’d met you in a different life,” I whispered as I lifted my hand, trailing the tips of my fingers along his lips. “I’ve wanted something else for my life for so long, I can’t remember a time where I wasn’t planning to get away from North Carolina. And yet, even as those plans continued, I’ve hated the thought of not seeing you every week. After the street fair—” I bit down on my lip to stop the words from tumbling out, but held his stare as they begged to be freed.
After you freed me.
After you forced me to acknowledge how much a stranger had come to mean to me.
After you made me crave you in a way I’ve never experienced.
“But it doesn’t matter what I want. I wouldn’t know how to let myself have it. If I’m honest with myself—I know I can’t. And if I took what I wanted, it would result in heartache for so many people, and too many lies told to you.”
One of his brows lifted slowly. “Really?”
“I can’t tell you what’s happening, and there would come a point where you would demand to know. Don’t deny that.”
From the way his jaw tensed, I knew he wanted to.
I placed my hand against his chest and put the slightest pressure there. “So I think it’s best for everyone if we say goodbye and I go back to my booth, and dream about a life where we might have been.”
He let me push him away slowly, his face etched with frustration as he watched me reach for the knob to unlock and open the door.
“Goodbye, Dare.”
I’d barely turned when he slammed the door shut and pressed my back to it again.
“Then lie to me,” he begged just before his mouth fell onto mine.
One of my hands had been braced on his chest, whether to steady myself or continue pushing him away, I wasn’t sure, and I no longer cared. Because my fingers were now curling into his shirt to pull him closer as I melted into his arms.
He held me tightly, like he was afraid of what would happen if he let go.
A fear I understood all too well.
With the hand that wasn’t pinned between us, I brushed the tips of my fingers along his jawline and moaned into his mouth when he deepened the kiss. His tongue teased mine, coaxing more from me that I willingly gave.
More of my mind, more of my heart, more of my soul.
I knew right then he could have it all, and I would still find more to give, because nothing in my world had ever felt as right as kissing him.
