Page 58 of Home Is Where You Are

Gentry’s thumb gently caressed the inside of my wrist as he waited for me to respond.

I shifted back and forth on my feet, nervous about how I should react.

I wanted to keep him at arm’s length. I should thank him for his concern and go right up to my room like I’d planned. Even though the thought of sleeping in there gave me anxiety.

But I had to look up at him. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep pretending that I wanted distance between us.

Those plans went right out the window when I looked into his beautiful green eyes. I could get lost in the depth of his eyes. I had so many times when I was younger. And they still had the same effect on me no matter how much time had passed.

“Thank you for worrying about me. But as you can see, no one gave me too much of a hard time.” I had to keep it short and sweet or else I’d let out every thought in my mind.

I took a deep breath and held it.

Him being this close had all the warning bells going off in my head. They screamed at me to get away from him as fast as I could because my subconscious knew I couldn’t resist him.

I was a glutton for punishment because I did the opposite.

I closed the gap between us and leaned into him, resting my forehead on his shoulder.

Letting out the breath I was holding, I took another deep breath and inhaled his scent. He smelled of salt water and ash with a hint of chocolate.

Gentry wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his chest. I couldn’t resist wrapping my arms around his waist and just taking in the feel of us together in this moment.

We needed to have the adult conversations that we should’ve had a long time ago.

I just needed to muster up the courage and have them with him.

But right now, I just wanted to relish the way it felt to be back in his arms. A place I'd secretly longed to be for the past four years.

Gentry pulled away, and it took every ounce of willpower to not close the distance between us.

“I’m sorry for keeping you from going to bed. Tonight was fun.”

“I had a great time, but I’m goin’ to call it a night. The sun drained me today,” I said, stifling a yawn.

“You want to come out and sleep in my room?”

How he could tell just what I needed, I didn’t know, but I was thankful.

“Thank you. I’ll go grab some clothes and meet you out there,” I said with a half-smile.

I didn’t want to lead him on because I still thought that we were bound to break each other’s hearts eventually, but I couldn’t make myself stay away from him.

I ran up the stairs and grabbed a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top along with a pair of shorts and a fitted tee and slipped on my flip flops before I darted out of my room to head to the barn.

“You’re off somewhere in quite the hurry,” my mom said from the other side of the kitchen, causing me to scream and throw everything I had in my arms in the air.

She chuckled as she took a sip of her nightly cup of tea. She stood leaning against the counter and watched as I picked up all my clothes. Damn woman. How she’d always managed to sneak up on every one of us, I’d never know.

“You scared me,” I said as I stood there with the armful of clothes.

“Obviously. Where are you off to, hmm?”

She knew that answer. She just wanted to hear me say it.

“I’m going to sleep out in the barn again. I just can’t sleep in here. In my room, I mean. And Gentry and I are going to talk.”

“We can move your things to a different room. I should’ve done that before you returned home.”