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“Charlotte.” He sighed and then made a face. “I’ve been lying to you since I got back home.”
My lips twitched with a smile. Here we went again. “Um, doubtful. I don’t think you can lie. That’s why in eighth grade Mrs. Crubel specifically asked you who egged the principle’s car. Everyone knows you’re the most infuriatingly honest guy in the world. You can’t help yourself.”
He winced and then combed a hand through his increasingly messy locks. “No, Charlotte. I’m a liar. I’ve been holding something back from you and just when it mattered most, I let you down.”
Standing from the bed, I crossed the room toward him. He bit his bottom lip and watched me with flashing eyes. I stopped just short of him, trying to work out what he’d said. Once again, I found myself at a loss for what Hunter was thinking. It used to be so clear. Did he mean how he didn’t tell me about the thing about Steven and their fight? I was over that. It didn’t matter anymore.
“Hunter.” I smiled softly at him. “You didn’t lie. Not really. You just didn’t tell me about you and Steven. I get it. You’ve always been like that. You have to work things out in your own head before you spill the details.”
He inhaled deeply. “You’re right about me having to work things out. You know me so well. But no, I’m not talking about Steven.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Okay, then, what? I’m feeling kind of lost here.”
“I can’t...” He grunted softly and bared his teeth. “I mean, it’s hard to explain. You know I’ve never been great at words and stuff.”
If this confession had something to do with bull riding or his wonderful transformation into a cowboy, then I welcomed it with open arms. Hunter didn’t have to be afraid to tell me. It was just me—his best friend in the whole world. One fight didn’t change that. I still cared deeply for him and I knew he cared about me, too.
“Whatever it is, just take your time,” I said with a shrug. The rodeo could wait. Whatever Hunter needed right now was first priority. “I’m here for you. You know that.”
His lips twitched with a grateful smile. Taking a deep breath, he nodded, as if he’d finally talked everything through in his head.
“Things changed for me over this last year,” he began slowly. “Being this little naive kid was no longer an option for me. Everything that happened with Steven forced me on this path of discovering who I was going to be as a man. I felt ready for that, when I moved back. But what I didn’t expect was for things to change between you and me.”
I hadn’t realized until then that Hunter had moved closer to me. He watched me with a steady and feeling gaze that nailed me to the spot on the floor where I stood. I hardly breathed as he hesitated slightly, and then reached for my hand. The friction of his skin against mine sent heat shooting up my arm.
“Charlotte, I started lying to you the day I surprised you at prom,” he said, his eyes darkening. “I should’ve told you then and there about how I felt about you. It should’ve been the first words out of my mouth, but I couldn’t.”
Apparently, my lungs had forgotten how to work, because my chest suddenly ached for air. My mind was swirling with all these thoughts and questions, begging to be thrown Hunter’s way. How did he feel about me? What exactly was he trying to say?
“When I went back to Texas to finish out the school year, I thought I’d be able to chase those feelings away,” Hunter continued. His shoulders tensed as he flared his nostrils and sighed. “I honestly thought it was some kind of mistake. But then I saw you again at the arena and I realized how stupid I was. Those feelings weren’t gone. They’d begun a tidal wave, sweeping everything else out of the way. Even our precious pact.”
Yes, the pact. The rules that had kept us friends for so long.
“Never reveal the secret location of our hideout,” I whispered.
He smiled softly, then reached out tentatively to finger a tendril of hair that had fallen across my cheek. “Always make up after a fight.”
“And never—” I inhaled sharply as he tucked the hair behind my ear and allowed his fingertips to trail slowly down my neck, his touch heating my skin.
“—fall for each other,” he finished in a whisper.
Was he saying that he’d broken the rules, too? My heart wanted to believe it. It wanted to move toward him and wrap my arms around him and never let go. But we’d been down this road just days ago and he’d rejected me. He’d stomped my feelings into the dirt with the heel of his cowboy boots. I wasn’t sure what to believe anymore.
“Char, I wanted to tell you so badly.” His gaze flicked from my eyes, down to my mouth, and then back again—giving my stomach a little jolt. “And honestly, I didn’t think you felt the same. Not until...you kissed me after our dance.”
My cheeks heated as I remembered practically launching myself at Hunter in that storage closet. He chuckled softly and stroked a thumb over my cheek, as if he knew what was going on inside of my head. I reached up to hold his hand and leaned into his touch.
“I did feel the same,” I said with a smile. “I was trying to fight it, too. We have rules for a reason.”
He hummed his agreement deep within his throat. “But some rules are meant to be broken.”
I blinked at him in confusion. If he’d felt like this, why had everything fallen apart.
“But, why...?”
“Why was I such a jerk?” He dipped his head slightly in shame. “Why did I push you away two days ago when you told me everything that I wanted to hear? Because you were right, Charlotte. You know me inside and out. And you called it. I got scared. I was a coward.”
I pressed my lips together and stared up at him. No way. The Hunter I knew was fearless. He tackled monstrous men and rode bulls for kicks. He wasn’t a coward. I’d only said that to hurt him. Nothing inside me believed it was true.
