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“I can’t. He hates me. Didn’t you see it on his face?” I wail and she sighs again, hugging me harder.
“He doesn’t hate you. He’s just disappointed and afraid to get burned again. Whether you think it or not, I’m sure he was hurt when you guys were sixteen. I never understood it all. But it doesn’t really matter. It’s in the past. Leave it there and move forward. Quit being a child and go out there and get your man.”
But I close my eyes and sob, my heart broken.
How the hell do I do this?
Prove that I’m not ashamed of what we are? Prove that I’m in love with him and always will be.
Maybe I should ask the grannies? That almost makes me laugh. God knows what they’d say to do!
CHAPTER10
SEBASTIAN
I knowI’m being an idiot! I know it. My Granny knows it and she’s about to tear my head off my shoulders and roll it across the floor to rearrange my brains, according to her.
“I’m not being stupid! She told me to hide and then get out. There’s no mistaking what she said. She’s ashamed of what she was doing. I’m nobody’s dirty little secret,” I grumble into my book, avoiding her measuring eyes.
“Oh please! She just didn’t want to listen to us pecking at her. It’s not that she was ashamed but you have been absolutely intent on getting her for the last ten years. She’s been just as intent on staying away from you and not getting hurt again. You can’t expect her to do a complete one-hundred-eighty-degree shift just because you got her alone and managed to seduce her into bed? You didn’t really expect it to be that easy, did you? I mean, you’re cute and everything, kiddo. But she’s still got those old scars and sometimes they don’t heal as well as you’d hope and the littlest thing can reopen them.”
I scrunch my nose and keep reading. Until she whips the book out of my hand and I eye her warily.
“Stop being so damn stubborn! You said just yesterday that you’d do anything to be with her and then at the first sign of a little speed bump, you take off like a grumpy old dog with its tail tucked between its legs. Grow a backbone and get your ass over there! Prove that you’re hers!”
“How?” I ask her, sitting up and wondering what the hell is wrong with me.
I want her. I know she wants me. She waited for me. She was willing to be with me last night. She just didn’t want us to get caught like a couple of teenagers making out on the back porch. I shouldn’t have gotten so pissed off and I sure as hell shouldn’t have run out of there.
But she’s right. Those old fears clicked in my head and all I could see was that she was pulling back again.
And that hurt. I was there and totally open and she was running again.
I need to grow a pair and get my woman. And this time make sure she can’t get her feet under her to run again.
I sit up and then stand, stalking back to my bedroom.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get cleaned up and then I’m going to get my damn woman!”
“Beautiful! But watch your mouth, honey!” she calls after me.
I just snort.
She’s got a worse mouth than me any day of the week. Her and her best bud are like a pack of sailors when you get them together.
I jump in the shower and clean up quickly, not letting my mind wander to dangerous territory. I can think of her sexy body later. Hell, maybe I’ll throw her in the shower with me.
Now’s not the time for that though. I’ve got to get her out here.
I stomp out and put my best button-down on and my nicest pair of jeans. Pulling on my good black felt Stetson and my favorite pair of boots, I walk down the hall and grab my coat.
“I’ll work on the donations another day. I’m gonna be busy today. And maybe you and Louise could disappear. Just for a while. I’m not taking no for an answer this time.”
My jaw is set and she eyes me up, chuckling. “Finally got your head out of your ass, huh? Good for you.” Her face gets serious. “Make her happy. That’s all you need to do. Just make her happy.”
I stop at the door and turn and look at her. “I intend to. For the rest of our lives.”
