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I studied him for a minute. “I know you wanted to get out of here, Kyland. I know better than anyone. I guess I can understand you being upset to see me do something you wouldn’t have done if you had won that scholarship. But you lost the right to pass judgment on my choices.” Are you going to tell me the truth now? Tell me why you lied to me? Explain to me why you broke my heart? Why you were able to send me away?
“I know. God, Tenleigh, I know.” He released a large, shaky breath.
I looked up to the star-studded sky. “I’m sorry too,” I said. “About the other night. I acted immature. I had taken a couple shots and…I’ve always been an angry drinker.” I laughed softly but then went serious, fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. “I shouldn’t have made a scene. My mama used to do that when she was sick, and the last thing I’d want to do is make people talk about her. Those Falyn women…”
“Oh, shit, Tenleigh.” His voice hitched. “No. No one said that. It was just a run-of-the-mill fight. I was wrong. When I saw you there, working at Al’s again after… I lost it.”
I nodded sadly, running my hands along my thighs.
“Anyway,” he said, “no one’s talking about us. Everyone’s talking about Gable Clancy and his—”
“Mail-order bride,” I said along with him. “Yeah, I was in the back cleaning up when all that happened, but I heard about it.”
His lip quirked up in a small smile and my eyes lingered on his mouth before I looked away.
A small silence ensued and Kyland filled it. “Of course, Gable isn’t sure if she was really trying to kill him or if the car got out of her control on account of her prosthetic leg.”
A laugh bubbled up my throat. “Wait, what?”
“Yeah, I work with him. I know more about mail-order brides with prosthetic legs than I ever wanted to know.”
I looked over at his amused expression and intended to smile back, but instead, I felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me. A tear escaped my eye and I swiped at it, looking down at my finger in surprise. I hadn’t shed a tear in so long.
Kyland’s expression was suddenly raw and pained. I shook my head as if I could deny the emotion that was practically drowning me in that moment: grief. Grief for the loss of him, although he was sitting right next to me. All these years, I had been so focused on the anger, in just surviving, moving forward, that I hadn’t allowed myself to remember the sweetness. But, oh God, how I’d missed him. Despite my heartbreak, despite my anger, I’d missed him so desperately. Besides Marlo, he had been my everything.
He scooted closer, keeping eye contact, asking silently if I was okay with him moving toward me. I was. And I shouldn’t be. This was hardly going to bring me peace. I should tell him to move away. I should tell him I didn’t even want to breathe the same air as him. But I didn’t. I looked him in the eye and I didn’t move away. Very, very slowly, he put his arms around me as if I were a skittish animal who might run at any moment. He pulled me into his broad chest and I sucked back a sob and clutched at his smoky T-shirt. He held me as I finally cried the tears I’d held at bay for so very, very long, and I let him.
We sat there for what seemed like forever, his strong arms around me, his heart beating steadily under my ear. Finally, my tears dried and I tilted my head up and our eyes met.
“Tenleigh,” he whispered, his voice as smoky as the rest of him, filled with need.
There were so many things we needed to say to each other, so many things I wanted him to explain to me. So many emotions were swirling in the air around us, so many unanswered questions. But in that moment, it seemed like all that could wait. And so when his lips touched mine, I let out a sound of encouragement and pressed myself into him. Maybe it was foolish. Maybe…probably. His tongue entered my mouth tentatively and he let out a groan that sounded half-tortured and half-blissful. I met his tongue with my own and reached up around his neck to weave my fingers into his short hair. He put his hands gently on either side of my face and tilted my head. The kiss went deeper. Just like the fire we had watched earlier, my whole body felt alight with flames, my flesh burning with need. But fire destroyed. Fire left you devastated and singed beyond recognition. Fire was anything but peaceful.
