AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is that who you think I am, Press? Do you think I could kiss you like I did, then rush into Beau’s arms the minute I saw him?”
“No. I don’t. I—”
“I told you I didn’t want him to kiss me. Did you think I was lying?” Luisa grabbed my arms and removed them from around her body, then she brushed past me, raced out the door, and hurried down the staircase.
I’d grown so used to letting her go, giving her space, that it was what I almost did.
“Don’t let her go,”I heard my mother’s voice say in my head.
I rushed after her, following when she ducked into the room where we’d shared our first kiss, also the room where we’d first slept side by side. It was already my favorite in the entire house, but now was more so.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” I said, walking over to where she looked out the window, crying.
She turned to face me. “What?”
“I wasn’t entirely honest with you earlier when I told you what I’d said to my mum about you.”
Her mouth gaped as if she was preparing to give me another tongue-lashing.
“Please let me finish. I told you I said Beau didn’t care about you the way I did. What I really said was that Beau doesn’tloveyou the way I do.”
“Then, how could you think—”
“Because I’m a bloody idiot. Because I never thought you’d see me as a man you desired rather than an older brother.”
She silently studied me while I held my breath, awaiting her response. “I believe you,” she finally said.
“You do?”
Luisa nodded. “Do you want to know why?”
“Because you know I’d never lie to you?” I hung my head. “Except for the one time I just admitted I did.”
“That isn’t why. I believe you because you interrupted me. Well, first, you followed me.Thenyou interrupted me.”
I put one arm around her. “That, somehow, means I’m worthy of you believing me?”
“You’ve never done either before. You wouldn’t allow yourself to.”
“In the past, I wanted to…”
“Give me space?”
“Yes,” I admitted.
“Do you know how badly I wanted you to let your guard down? To chase after me? To interrupt me?”
Rather than respond, I let go of the reins I continued to hold and kissed her. “I dreamed of this,” I confessed against her lips. “Every night.”
“I didn’t know. I didn’t see it.” She rested her palm on my cheek. “I stupidly thought I wanted Beau when, all this time, it’s been you, Press. You who I talked to about everything. Every fear, every desire, every time I couldn’t make up my mind, every time I doubted myself. Never once did you waver. You were there for me whenever I needed you and even when I didn’t realize how much I did. How could I have been so blind?”
“You weren’t blind, Luisa. You were healing. You’re still healing.”
“Thanks to you,” she said, leaning up to kiss me.
“Not me alone.”
She rested her hands on my chest. “At the wedding, when you said you were leaving but nothing about when we’d see each other again, I felt like a part of me was dying. And then, when I had to go to Butler Ranch to give you the time and space to mourn your mother, I realized I left a part of me behind.”
