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Her unreadable expression shifts a third time—this one the clearest of them all—a small, tender smile. “So, basically,” she says slowly, with a choked laugh. “You fell in love with me while trying your damnedest not to?”
“I’d never loved anyone, Phi. The more obsessed with you I became—the more I loved you—the more I convinced myself it was my revenge scheme against your father. Francis insisted otherwise, but I told him to shut the fuck up.”
Her laugh blossoms in volume. It grows louder as she tips her head back slightly and her shoulders lift up.
In moments like this, Delphine’s a sight to behold. It’s a reward to witness her like this. The way she lets go, so bright and alive, is something few get to see.
Seconds pass by before her laugh dies out and she takes in another sip of wine to cool down.
“I think,” she says with a slight pause, “a part of me…sensedwhat you just told me. That you were out for revenge against my father. It was something I considered.”
Of course she would. Delphine’s sharp. She’d think of all possible angles.
“But I felt you were being real with me too,” she goes on. “I always felt safe with you. Even at our low points. I never felt you’d intentionally hurt me. Even when you broke my heart, like my first year of college, a part of me still felt like you were up to something. You were acting too cold. Too distant. Even for you.”
“I remember your suspicious stare out the window as I drove off.”
“I guess my instinct was correct.”
I stretch my arm across the table and engulf her hand with mine ’til its tucked inside. “I could never bring myself to hurt you. Not if it was avoidable. Breaking up with you was torture. I hated myself for doing it. But I knew you were at your wit’s end. You’d only be trapped between me and your father. It would stress you out and damage your performance at school. Those twelve years apart… you have no idea.”
Her smile changes. It sharpens, her lips stretching. “I have my own version. It was rough, Jon. I resorted to calling my parents in hysterics.”
I remember. I was spying.
Delphine was a mess. She was heartbroken. Her birthday weekend ruined, she returned home, and even took a brief leave of absence from her spring semester to recover.
The only time in her academic career she ever pressed pause.
Our breakup caused that much distress for her.
I’d almost reached out.Almostbegged her to take me back.
By the end of the summer, she’d met someone new. Duane Phillips, the guy who would become her college boyfriend, maybe the only other guy she’s ever dated who I considered a real threat. Even with Garrett and their engagement, I knew she didn’t really love him. The engagement was more formality than anything else.
Duane was the first guy she said she loved. He was the first real long-term boyfriend she had. The first she was intimate with after me. It killed me knowing some other guy was winning her heart when she belonged to nobody else but me. But there was nothing I could do. They broke up at the beginning of law school because he made the decision to study abroad, and they decided they needed a break. I was more than a little relieved.
For almost four years I had been forced to endure the reality I had broken up with the only girl I wanted, only to have some other guy come in and sweep her off her feet. While I was stuck in a hellish cycle of nameless club girls, all I really wanted wasDelphine.
Yet, I couldn’t go to her. I had to stay away.
Instead, I was transferred to South Valley, where I had to watch from afar as she lived her life.
“It’s in the past. I think we’re together when we’re supposed to be. The times we were together when we were younger… things were… they were too complicated. It tore us apart because we weren’t ready yet. But we’re ready now,” Delphine says with finality to her tone. She’s tossed her cloth napkin on her plate, signaling she’s done with her plate of food. A brightness has developed about her. More than her usual glow, it’s an aura that encircles her as she smiles wide enough, she shows off her set of pearly straight teeth.
I can’t resist smiling back. A rarity for me except when I’m with her. I stand up from my seat, her hand still enclosed within mine, pulling her along with me.
She doesn’t protest. As I get up out of my seat, so does she. I reel her toward me in a fast spin that might make her a little dizzy. My arms are ready to catch her the second she twists within reach, wrapping around her, bringing her close.
Air rushes out of her lungs as her gaze rises up to meet mine. She looks flushed. Her pupils are dilated, her brows high and surprised and her lips parted and kissable. I can’t resist taking her up on such an offer—I indulge in tasting those lips for myself, so fucking sweet that I let out a throaty noise of approval.
Delphine leans into the kiss. Her lips melt into mine. It’s an unhurried kiss, yet passionate at the same time. Deep, as our tongues meet and we patiently explore. The night air nips at us, but we don’t let it interrupt us.
We create our own kind of dance—a slow, unhurried sway in place with arms loose around each other and too engrossed to notice anything but each other.
Delphine buries her face in my chest when our kiss naturally ends. “I almost don’t want tonight to end. It’s too perfect.”
My hold on her hand tightens and I squeeze her hip.
