“Let’s get out of here,” I say, and walk around the bar. “Maddox can close up for me, since it’s almost time anyway.” I take her hand.
“Where are we going?” she asks, looking up at me.
“You will see,” I say, leading her out of the bar and into the town square. It is beautiful at night, with all the lights strung up across the square, and soft jazz music coming from one of therestaurants. I led her down the sidewalk and veer left towards a small path by the creek.
I bring her to my favorite spot, even now, where I come to clear my head. It’s a little bank right by the edge of the creek. The soft sound of the stream instantly calms me down.
“I forgot about this place”, she says, taking it all in. She finds a grassy patch and lowers herself to the ground.
I sit down with her and take her hand into mine. “I didn’t realize how much I missed you until you returned, Bee,” I say.
Her cheeks blush, and she looks down at the grass. “ I always knew I would come back here eventually. I just didn’t know it would take this long,” she says, and looks back up at me. “I am so glad you are still here, Grey. I needed you back in my life more than I realized.”
I inch my face closer to hers and whisper, “Can I kiss you, Bee?”
She looks at me for what feels like an eternity, as if studying every detail of my face. Finally, she whispers back, “I would love that,” and suddenly my lips crash into hers. She tastes like honey, and I grab the back of her neck as I deepen the kiss. I hear a soft moan escape from her, and I feel myself instantly harden. This girl has me under her spell. I enjoy her taste for a little longer before I pull back, both of us out of breath. That was probably the best kiss I’ve ever had, and I knew I was in trouble. I had it bad for this girl. A lump forms in my throat when I realize I don’t know when she’s leaving. “Wow,” she says, her breath tickling my neck as she pulls away. She turns and lays her head on my shoulder. Both of us are sitting in silence, except for the calm trickle of the creek. I feel her sigh, and I smile. “Thank you for everything, Grey,” she says, and we enjoy the blissful quiet.
Chapter 13
Blair
I couldn’t sleep.
Even after the bar had emptied and Greyson walked me to the creek with that familiar warmth in his eyes and that nickname, my honey bee, still buzzing in my chest, I lay wide awake in Madison’s guest room. That kiss was unforgettable, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
I curled into the comforter, my laptop warming my legs, the blank document on the screen daring me to start.
But it wasn’t just the writing that kept me awake.
It was him. His voice. His eyes. He looked at me like I wasn’t something broken that needed fixing, but someone strong enough to piece herself back together.
I hadn’t let anyone see me like that in a long time.
And that terrified me.
“You’re stronger than you know, honey bee.”
Greyson’s words kept circling my mind, gentle but anchoring. I’d come back here thinking I’d keep my head down, take care of Madison, maybe finish my novel. I hadn’t planned on opening myself up to anything deeper. Especially not him. Not again.
But the way he’d stood there tonight, not pushing, just present, I felt something shift in me, a loosening of that knot I’d carried since college.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard.
Chapter Twelve, I typed.
Then, slowly, she didn’t believe in returning home. But sometimes, home waited anyway.
It poured out of me after that. Maybe not perfectly. Perhaps a little jagged. But real. I let the fictional version of the girl in my novel say the things I hadn’t yet figured out how to say aloud. About pain. About betrayal. About how coming home didn’t mean you were weak.
It meant you were brave enough to face what you left behind.
At some point, I closed the laptop and tiptoed downstairs for tea. Madison was in the kitchen, leaning against the counter in her robe with a tired smile and a hand on her belly.
“You’re up late,” she said.
“So are you.”
She shrugged. “The baby doesn’t let me sleep much these days.”
