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What if she rejects me? What if I ruin our friendship?
She widens her eyes when I don’t continue, then nods encouragingly. “It’s okay, Cade. You can tell me anything. You know you’re my absolute favourite person in the world.”
Her words bolster my flagging confidence and propel me forward so that we are toe to toe.
My breaths are her breaths. We’re so close that I can feel the warmth of her body penetrate my cold skin. I peer into her eyes, searching for that big, beautiful soul of hers.
The soul I fell in love with the first day she arrived at my house as Dad’s ward. I’d taken one look into her expressive brown eyes and lost my soul to her.
I was hers from that day. I’ll be hers until my last day.
She inhales sharply, and it’s then I realise I’ve spoken aloud.
My eyes blow wide, and I open my mouth to take it all back, fearful that I’ve come on too strong, too fast, but before I can utter a word, she palms my cheeks to tug my mouth down to meet hers.
She presses her lips against mine for the space of a couple of heartbeats before she pulls back. Shock and embarrassment are front and centre on her beautifully flushed face, and I can’t help smiling like the cat who got the motherfucking cream.
“I—I’m sorry. I—” She steps backwards, slowly edging towards the stairs, and before I can gather my wits, she’s gone, racing for the safety of her bedroom.
* * *
I’d stood at the foot of the stairs for more than an hour, running my finger back and forth across my lips, reliving her soft lips pressed to mine no less than a million and one times.
The grandfather clock had chimed, pulling me from my thoughts, and I’d trudged up to bed with a smile on my lips and hope in my heart.
It had taken weeks to get her to even look at me properly again, but I’m nothing if not persistent.
A movement in the distance catches my attention, and I narrow my eyes when I spot her about five hundred yards away, kicking at the wildflowers beneath her bare feet.
Picking up the pace, I quietly approach her as I allow years of repressed feelings to bubble to the surface.
I’m just about done with her running from me when things get hard.
It’s time to show her that this is it. We are end game. And she’s never running from me again.
CHAPTER18
SUMMER
Coming here was a mistake.Being back is twisting me up inside. And the guilt is damn near crippling.
You should have just told him why you were here in the first place, idiot!
I kick at the blanket of wildflowers underfoot, mad at the world, but mostly mad at myself. Furious for thinking I could have an ounce of happiness, a handful of halcyon days before returning to the unfairness of my reality.
Emotion clogs my pores, making me feel uncomfortable in my own skin for the first time in a long time.
Coming face to face with Layla. Hearing her unconstrained malevolence, and having her announce my sin before Sutton with such ease, I feel completely exposed.
And on top of everything, the overriding newly acquired knowledge that I was so fuckingstupidto leave back then. Foolish to believe her lies. Naïve to put my trust in the worst person I could have. Someone who never looked out for anyone but themselves. I see that now.
I should have come back when Layla had sent me a letter to say she’d lost the baby. I should have fought for my future—forourfuture.
For the future we all deserved.
Instead, I’d felt ashamed. Everything was so messed up by that point.
And more than that, I’d felt betrayed that Caden had been sleeping with her in the first place, though now I know that was also another lie.
