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“Right.”
“He’s trying to figure out where my mental state is.”
“And where is it?” I asked softly.
He pulled me into him. “Right here with you.”
“You sure?”
“More than sure.” He pressed a kiss to my lips. “I didn’t forget what you said. That I’d never see you again. I wouldn’t jeopardize us.”
“And what if I hadn’t said that?” I forced out.
His face softened at the words. “I’m here with you. Just you.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure,” he confirmed. “I don’t need threats to stay with you. This is where I want to be.”
The tension left my shoulders at those words. I pressed my lips to his, and his hands skimmed over my waist before circling around to my ass and pulling me into him. I would have given in to him right then if my brother wasn’t waiting for us downstairs.
We broke away with a gasp. Pupils blasted out and breathing rough. He smirked down at me.
“Later,” he teased.
“You’d better.”
The wedding was still a few days away. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still concerned, but I felt better than I ever had about it happening. This weekend, Lila would get married, and Ash Talmadge would still be mine.
22
Savannah
Present
The first Saturday morning in May dawned bright and beautiful. Ash was missing from bed, but that wasn’t unusual. He was a morning person. Always up with the dawn, working out in the gym he had in the basement. He lifted weights and ran a few miles before I was even out of bed most days.
But today was different.
Today was Lila’s wedding.
Nerves crept in at his absence. He wouldn’t leave me here alone and drive into Athens, right?
I felt bad, even considering it, but it was hard not to think of all the other idiotic things Ash had done in the name of love. I wanted to say that the hold she had on him had snapped in the last year. That he was finally, officially over her. As much as he claimed that he was. On the other hand … obsession was rarely logical.
“Ash?” I called as I threw on a silk robe and tiptoed out of the room.
I took the stairs in a hurry and glanced around futilely. The kitchen was dark. The living room looked untouched from last night. Even the glasses we’d left out were still there.
“Ash?” My voice was more frantic now.
I pulled open the basement door and rushed downstairs. The room was as empty as the first floor. No one was here.
Panic set in. I looked in the garage and saw his car was gone.
“Oh God,” I gasped. “Oh God, oh God, oh my fucking God.”
I raced upstairs, taking them two at a time in my haste. I nearly tripped on the top step. I threw my robe off and tossed it on the bed before scrambling into the first thing I saw—a pair of old cheerleading shorts and a tank top. I grabbed my purse and phone, which had zero missed calls or messages, and bolted downstairs.
I just made it to the last step, breathless and mildly terrified, when the front door opened. Ash walked inside, carrying a brown cardboard box of pastries and a holder with two coffees in it.
“Morning. You’re up early,” he said with a smile.
I could barely catch my breath at the sight of him. I closed the distance and threw my arms around him. “You’re here.”
“Uh, yeah.”
“I … I woke up, and you were gone.”
“I got coffee,” he offered helpfully as I retreated.
He set the box of pastries from my favorite pastry shop, Back in the Day Bakery, and coffee on the kitchen counter.
“I see that.” I threw my purse and phone down next to the coffee and flopped into a seat. My heart rate was slowly coming back down as the adrenaline left my body.
“You okay?” he asked, pressing a kiss to my lips before taking his own seat.
“We should go away today.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Go where?”
“I don’t know. Anywhere,” I said quickly. “Let’s take the yacht out.”
His confusion disappeared as he realized what I was doing. He sighed and looked down at his coffee, steam billowing up from the lid. “I’m fine, Mia.”
“I just want to do something,” I said, reaching for his hand.
“I know what you’re doing. We can stay here. You don’t have to worry.”
“I’m not worried.”
He arched an eyebrow at me. “Your frantic run down the stairs and look of abject terror on your face were for no reason then, huh?”
I winced and looked down. “No. But when I woke up and you were gone …”
“You thought I’d left…that I was going to the wedding.”
“I’m sorry. You said you weren’t going to go.”
“No,” he said, tilting my chin up to meet his gaze. “I’m sorry. You’ve done nothing but expect behavior I’ve shown you time and time again. I always went back to her. I made you wary of that. If I could go back and change it, I would. I’d fix how I treated you through so much of this. But I’m not leaving. I’m not repeating those mistakes.”
