AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You have no idea what I want.”
The grit in his voice sent goosebumps up and down her arms. She couldn’t hold his gaze any longer and dropped hers to look at the blacktop.
But he wasn’t having it. He put two fingers under her chin and raised it until their eyes met. “You didn’t sleep with me out of gratitude, then?”
She licked her lips, which had become dry. “Definitely not.”
“So why did you?”
There it was…the million-dollar question. Her heart beat a rapid staccato against the walls of her chest, and her breaths came short and fast. She wanted to flee across the parking lot and not look back. She wanted to return to the safety of her dad’s house and her pink bedroom and the daily walks to the park. She wanted not to feel so damn vulnerable.
But more than that, she wanted Tristan to know the truth.
All these thoughts flashed across her brain in an instant but were zapped to smithereens under the razor intensity of his gaze. “Um…er…um.”
She couldn’t seem to get her tongue moving, or any other body parts for that matter, while he waited for an answer, seemingly calm and unruffled, rather than a basket case like Lillian. But even as she had the thought, the expectation in his gaze changed to disappointment and he dropped his fingers from her chin, stepped backward and turned to go.
“Wait,” she held out a hand. “Wait, please.”
He paused and turned around.
“IdiditbecauseIwas…becauseIaminlovewithyou.” There, she’d said it. Why wasn’t he reacting? He still stood in the same spot, rooted to the ground, staring at her with a combination of confusion and disbelief.
“You…what did you say?”
She rushed on, desperate to get her pent-up feelings out now the dam had broken. “I know you’re engaged to be married. I’m not expecting you to change your plans because I’ve developed feelings for you. I only want your happiness, Tristan, that is all. I want you to be able to think of me fondly in the years ahead whenever you do think of me. I want you to know I told the truth for once. That I fell in love with you. That I want—”
Before Lillian could finish her next sentence, Tristan exploded forward and wrapped his arms around her, cutting off the last of her words and pulling her up in his arms, swinging her high off the ground. “Why the hell didn’t you just start with that, woman?”
And then she was sliding down his chest, and he was kissing her like he was dying, and she was the oxygen that kept him alive.
“We shouldn’t be kissing,” Lillian said when she could take a breath and a glimmer of rational thought took over and guilt set in.
“Hmm,” he said, ignoring her. He tasted like champagne and heaven and a thousand wishes, and she never wanted the kiss to end, but she knew it must.
“Wait…stop…” She pushed on his chest. “You…we can’t be doing this.”
“Of course, we can.”
He tried to pull her to him, but she resisted. “I know wecan…but we shouldn’t be. It’s wrong. You have a fiancée, remember?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Angelina…your fiancée? You know, the one who had her arm around you twenty minutes ago? Why are you looking at me like I’m crazy?”
“Because you are. Angelina’s not my fiancée. We’re not engaged.”
“You’re not? But Hannah said my dad came to your house and talked to Angelina when I was still in the hospital. She told him she was engaged to be married to you.”
Tristan’s wrinkled brow cleared, and his shock gave way to a superior smirk. “She lied, obviously. She does that.”
“Then,” she gulped. “Then why was she at your house?”
“She was there to help plan tonight’s party. She leads the hospital fundraising committee, and I agreed to participate only if the committee would make all the arrangements.”
“So, you’re not engaged?”
“Nope, although she likes to think she has a claim. I haven’t thought about Angelina in that way since the night of the party we attended together. Now, will you kiss me again?”
