Page 144 of Spurred On

“Would I waste this precious opportunity to get the truth from you if I did?”

“I’ve always told you the truth.”

He had. “Then tell me.”

He lifted a shoulder. “Because I knew you hated her.”

“I didn’t hate her, per se—”

“I knew if I picked her, it would drive you away.” He dropped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “It worked. You left.”

She stilled, frowned down at him. “Why did you want to drive me away?”

“Because. I was afraid.”

Something tightened in her chest. What on earth could he have been afraid of? Confident, brash Cody Silver, the guy who could have any woman he wanted? The handsome, carefree playboy of Snake Gully? “Afraid of what?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“You . . . sacred me. Scared me to death.” He chuckled, though it was a humorless offering. “Mortifying thing to admit.”

She shook her head. “How did I scare you?” Nearly a whisper. She didn’t understand any of this. It was utterly befuddling.

“It was the way you made me feel. I never felt that way before.” He met her gaze. “Not for any woman.”

“So you . . .”

“Yeah.” He forced a laugh. “I dumped you before you could dump me.”

She flopped down beside him and braced her head in her hand and offered a tiny smile. “We are a pair.”

“Yes. We are. So now, we need to decide what comes next.”

“What can come next? You’re afraid I’ll dump you, and I’m afraid you’ll dump me. We’re both too cowardly to trust each other and without trust . . . we have nothing.”

“People change, Sidney.”

“Do they?”

“If they want to. Yeah. Yeah, they do. I am willing to trust you. Trust this. As scary as it is . . . I want to take a chance on us. I’m willing to risk it. Are you?”

She couldn’t meet his eye. She wanted to, oh, how she wanted too. But old demons were hard to exorcize.

He tipped her chin up and made her look at him. “We both admit we made stupid mistakes in the past because of doubt and fear. Do we want those emotions to own us forever? To limit us from what could be?”

“No. Of course not. It’s just . . .”

“What?”

“I can’t silence that little voice, the one that keeps whispering that one day, you’re going to realize . . .”

“What?”

“That I’m not all that special.”

He cupped her cheek, thumbed away her tears. “Sidney. You’re special to me.”