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SADIE
The cab of the truck filled with uncomfortable silence. The walk back to the parking lot had given me a little time to cool down, but not enough. My foot tapped out a nervous rhythm while I rubbed my thighs together to relieve the ache between my legs.
My bruised ego was a whole other situation. I could understand not wanting to keep mauling one another in front of the old man who broke up our make-out session, but I didn’t understand Drew’s complete change of attitude. We’d barely exchanged ten words with the guy. Did he think I was too forward for joking with the old man about us going home together?
His hot-and-cold attitude was driving me nuts. If it wasn’t for that kiss, I’d be considering whether he was even worth the drama. But that kiss… Oh. That. Kiss.
Before today, I thought I had experienced every kind of kiss there was. Fumbling first love kisses. Horny, drunk college kisses. Reverent, you’re-the-person-I’m-going-to-be-with-for-the-rest-of-my-life kisses.
But being kissed by Drew was an entirely different experience. It was a wild mix of needful lust and delicate worship. Like he simultaneously wanted to devour me but also hold on to me like I was a precious thing he worried was going to slip through his fingertips. There was no mistaking the heady look of amazement in his eyes when we broke apart.
Which only made me angrier at how he was acting now.
I’d almost worked myself up into enough of a lather to confront him when he broke the silence in the truck cab.
“It was my mother’s house.”
I turned to look at him but remained quiet, leaving room for him to say whatever it was he needed to get off his chest.
“You asked me about…” He cleared his throat “Before…” He tossed a quick side-eye my way then darted his gaze back to the road. “About why my house looks the way it does. My mother, she passed away about five years ago. I inherited the house, and I haven’t had the heart to change anything.”
“Okay.” What was I supposed to do with that piece of information? His choice of home furnishings was not at the top of my list of concerns this second. But at least he’d shared something. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
He nodded, remaining quiet.
Turning my body to face him, I got it all out in the open. “So what the hell happened back there?”
“Look, I let things get a little out of control. I never should’ve kissed you like that—”
“You shut your mouth,” I interrupted him. “You do not get to backpedal on one of the best kisses I’ve ever had.”
His eyebrows shot to his hairline as he glanced at me, then looked back at the road again.
“I’m talking about the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act after that guy interrupted us. Are you ashamed of him knowing we were about to get it on? Did I overstep by joking around about it?”
“What? No.”
“What’s the problem, then? We were on the same page until that guy asked if you have everything you need.”
Tension radiated off him. His jaw clenched. His shoulders worked their way up to his ears. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the wheel.
“I mean seriously, you look like you’re about to blow a gasket over some guy asking us if we had condoms.”
A surprised laugh burst out of him. “What?”
“I mean, that was what he was getting at, right?”
He still looked uncomfortable, but most of the tension left his body. “I can tell you without a doubt, that is not what he was asking about.”
“What did he mean?”
He sighed and shifted in his seat. He moved his jaw from side to side and then seemed to come to a decision. “After I lost my leg, I was in a dark place. I blew off a lot of the physical therapy and rehab I was supposed to be doing. One day I needed to get the hell out of my house and out of my head, so I went out on the trail by myself. I had no business being out there in the shape I was in, and I didn’t know what I needed to take with me. I should’ve had some hiking poles, water, a protein bar. Hell, at least a fully charged cell phone. But I didn’t bring any of that shit.”
He rubbed the back of his neck then dropped his hand to the steering wheel.
“I overdid it and ended up completely wrecked. Old Man Turner found me crawling my way back to the parking lot. I literally could not fucking walk anymore.” He shook his head at the memory. “You’ve seen him. He weighs a buck twenty soaking wet, and he’s over seventy years old. He couldn’t exactly carry me back to my truck. So, I sat there and waited while he called a friend to bring crutches, knowing the whole damn town would hear all about it. It was one of the most humiliating moments of my life.”
My heart broke for this man who was stripped of his dignity during a time when he was already suffering. “I’m sorry you went through that.”
