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She felt the sweep like a caress, and her skin tingled with want.
“I had it all planned out, what I was going to say, and now that you’re standing in front of me I can’t remember any of it.”
“Just... just tell me why you came.” She wasn’t even sure if the words were audible over the music and laughter floating around them. Unable to help herself, she slipped her hand down his chest and rested her palm over his heart. It had been so long, and she’d missed him so badly. She needed that connection. “Is Lillian all right?” she made herself ask.
“She’s fine. She’s great.”
Her stomach shrank two sizes but she forced a smile. “That’s good. You found a job and a place to stay? I thought I might hear from you once you’d settled in.” She winced at the needy sound of her words.
“I couldn’t... I thought it would be best if we—”
Cut ties, cold turkey. “I understand.” She couldn’t resist adding, “And yet, here you are.”
He breathed a laugh. “Yeah. About that... A lot has happened in the past five weeks.”
Five weeks and five days, but who was counting?
“Sometime after promising Landon I’d take care of Lillian... I decided I should marry her.”
His words punched her in the heart. She swallowed around the hard knot forming in her throat. “I see.”
“I thought that’s what he’d want. What he’d expect of me. I owed him so much—how do you repay someone for sacrificing his life for you?”
Her insides twisted hard and her legs trembled beneath her. She just wanted to get this over with. Go to the bathroom and throw up.
He tilted her chin up until she met his gaze. “And then I came here and met you. And you...”
Hope sprang to life. She was going to burst if he didn’t complete that sentence.
He stopped swaying, giving up all pretense of dancing. He cupped her face and pinned her with an intense look. “You amazed me. You mesmerized me. You captured me. It was impossible to be with you and not want you. And then I gave into temptation that night and kissed you and it was...”
Beautiful. Passionate. Soul-stirring. How many times had she relished every memory of that kiss?
“Perfect,” he finished. “I didn’t want to leave you, Avery. After that night, after everything you confided in me and everything you meant to me, I wasn’t going to go to Albany. But the next day... Lillian told me she was pregnant.”
Avery sucked in a breath.
“I felt so torn. Between what I wanted and what I felt I needed to do. But I wanted to do the honorable thing, and I owed Landon, and Lillian needed me.”
She was really starting to hate that name. “Right.”
“But like I said before... a lot has happened since I left Riverbend.”
She lifted her chin. “A lot’s happened here too.”
He blinked. Uncertainty flickered in his eyes. After a pausehe continued. “I want to hear all about that. But first I need to say what I came to say, even if . . . well, even if it doesn’t matter to you. The gist of it is, Lillian helped me see . . .”
Avery drank in his tormented eyes as the air crackled between them. Her lungs felt constricted, and she struggled to draw a breath. “Helped you see what?”
“That I don’t feel for her what I feel for you.” He gave a humorless laugh. “Not even close. I told you I loved her and I do. But I’m notinlove with her, and she’s not in love with me either. I’ve been a real idiot. I was trying so hard to do the right thing, but it wasn’t the right thing at all—she helped me see that.
“I know we haven’t known each other very long, and maybe it should be too soon, too quick, for me to say this... but somehow it isn’t. I love you, Avery. I love you so much my chest aches when we’re apart and I don’t know if—”
Avery pressed her lips to his. She didn’t need to hear any more. He loved her and that was all that mattered. All she needed to hear. Her mouth curved against his lips.
Apparently he didn’t feel the need to finish his thoughts, and that was fine by her. He simply drew her closer, deepening the kiss. His lips worked hers with patient precision, each breath, each sweep of his lips making her come undone. Wes was here with her. He loved her. The most wonderful feelings fluttered in her stomach. She’d thought she would never feel this way—this kind of love had been for everyone else, not for her. But it was right at her fingertips now. Hers for the taking.
And she hated to ruin the moment with uncertainty—but there was something of which she had to be sure.
