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It’s definitely too late.
As the song came to an end, Trey dipped me low over his forearm and brushed a sultry kiss against my throat. He yanked me forward so we were chest to chest, his eyes on fire as they soaked me in. “Have I told you how magnificent you look tonight?”
I smiled. “A time or two.” The man certainly wasn’t stingy when it came to giving out compliments. Tonight he was being oddly stingy with sharing his feelings. “It never gets old to hear it though.”
A slow song started, a classic country ballad about lovers who’d taken the long path to find each other. It felt right. Appropriate for tonight. I hoped. Trey’s low voice hummed along to the song, surprising me.
“I had no idea you liked country music.”
He laughed and held me a little tighter. “I’ve always liked a song or two, like this one. But country music, ribs and Carson Creek are all growing on me.”
“So you like it here too?” My heart raced in anticipation of his next words.
He nodded, his cheek right against mine. We were so close I could feel the accelerated beat of his heart against my chest. “I do like it here, Valona. A lot. But the thing I like most, what I absolutely love, is you. With my whole heart and then some.”
My feet came to a complete stop at his words, at the visceral emotion behind them. “You…do?”
I felt his smile more than I saw it, his nod against my cheek sent a shiver of awareness through me. His freshly shaven face was already starting to grow back and I let my hand scrape against his scruffy jaw. “You’re the first woman who’s been able to see past my face, to treat me like a person. Like nothing but a man. Hell, you made me work for it and that made me a better man.”
My heart stuttered to a stop and then kicked into overdrive at his words. It was the same thing Rodney had said to Claire, and Trey was saying it to me. “You encouraged me with Keri and that empowered me to be the best version of myself possible, made me someone she could genuinely look up to. I think you are everything, Val. Gorgeous and strong, creative and determined. There’s nothing you can’t do when you set your mind to it, and it’s so damn appealing, you have no idea. I love you Val, so much, and I want us to be together. For real.”
I sucked in a breath once again as his words slammed up against my chest and wiggled into my heart.
“You don’t have to say anything back Val, not tonight. I just want you to think about me, about us, in that way.”
Trey is in love with me. I can hardly believe it even though I knew, instinctively, that I’d been waiting to hear those words with such emotion, such conviction behind them. “It’s not that, Tre.”
He let out a relieved sigh and spun me out and then back to him. “I can live with that.”
“I’m just wondering how I got so lucky to find a man like you living right next door.”
Trey laughed and whispered in my ear. “I’ve never been the boy next door before.”
“You’re far too gorgeous to be the boy next door. You’re the boy who sneaks in through the window.”
“If that’s what you’re into, babe, just say the word.”
“Trey,” I laughed. “I’m serious, I don’t know how I got so lucky.”
“Maybe,” he growled and pressed a chaste kiss to my cheek. “Maybe the universe is simply sending you exactly what you deserve Valona.”
Finally, when he said those words, I believed them. I believed that Rodney started us, both of us, on this journey and it was my turn to get the life he hadn’t gotten to lead. “I love you too, Trey and I’m sorry I made things so difficult between us. I hope you understand that I couldn’t move on, couldn’t give you my heart until I was sure. Until my confidence in myself matched your confidence in me.”
He pulled back and stared at me with a mix of affection and heat and love. “You know, I think you’re even more stunning when you know how badass you are. This dress, the deep sultry makeup, it’s a woman who knows just how amazing she is, and expects any man who wants her heart to earn it.”
“You have more than earned it, my love.” I couldn’t just say the words, not tonight. I promised myself that I would show him as well as tell him what was in my heart. So I let out a shaky breath, stepped in as close as I could and pressed my lips to Trey’s right there in the middle of the dance floor, in front of the whole damn town.
