AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She huffs, almost like she understands what I said, which puts a small smile on my face.
“I wish I had your life right now,” I say with a sigh. “Life choices can be hard sometimes. I wish I didn’t have to choose, but I know I do.”
She nudges her head into my palm, almost like she’s hugging me, so I wrap my arms around her and hug her like I have a thousand times before, but needing it even more now.
After I get a saddle on her, I hop up and start my journey out to the end of our property to meet Dalton one last time.
I take my time riding out there, going over in my head a thousand times what I’m going to say and wondering how this is going to go. Even though we’re meeting at the same time we always have, I can tell the seasons are shifting and the darkness is falling faster than it did at the beginning of the school year.
By the time I get out to meet him, the sun is making its final descent behind the hills that surround us. Though it’s not as bright out, there’s no missing the guy I’ve gone from hating to—dare I say—loving, standing there, waiting for me to arrive.
What surprises me is the setup he has going on. He laid a blanket on the ground with some food already there, like a picnic.
I don’t say anything as I dismount Brandy and tie her to the fence, then walk in silence to where Dalton is standing.
“Hi,” he says.
I haven’t been able to look up, so I stand here, staring at the ground, focusing on my breaths. He takes his finger and places it under my chin, lifting it until I meet his eyes.
I instantly close mine, willing the tears that are threatening to appear to stop.
“Open your eyes,” he whispers.
I do, and one tear falls down my cheek, which he wipes away with his thumb.
“Don’t cry.”
I swallow and inhale a deep breath.
“I know this isn’t what you want. That’s obvious. But I get it. I understand. So, you know what? I’m willing to wait. To wait for you. You won’t live at home forever, and neither will I. We can go away to college—together—away from here. Away from any drama of Leighton River, where no one knows us and we can be together like we want to.”
Is that even possible?
He nods like he heard my thoughts. “We can make it happen. I have no doubt. I can basically play football wherever. I’ll let you know all the colleges that I’ve talked to and who have made offers. You tell me which one you want to go to, and we’ll go there together.”
A few more tears fall down my face, only now, these are tears of relief. Out of all the things that have gone through my head since yesterday, this is not one that I even considered.
“I respect that you want to honor your father. I wish I had that kind of relationship with mine. We’ll have to figure out how we’ll tell him in a few years, but we can deal with that then. Hopefully, by then, I will have been able to separate myself from my father, and we can prove to your dad that I’m not like him.”
I don’t know how this will work, but knowing we have a chance rips the dread I’ve felt for so long away, and for the first time in a while, I feel like there’s hope.
He lowers his body so he’s looking right into my eyes. “What do you think?”
I wrap my arms around him and kiss him like I’ve wanted to do more than anything since the second I saw him in class today.
Our kisses turn intense, and when he lowers us to the ground with ease, I let him until we’re lying together.
With all the stress running through my body for the last twenty-four hours, the relief he gives me pushes me to want even more from him.
With one leg propped up, I run my fingers under his shirt while he lies on top of me.
He reaches up behind him, removing his shirt with one hand, then nestles back on top of me. As I run my fingers down his muscular back, he slips his fingers under my shirt, sending chills throughout my body just with his touch.
When he moves my shirt up, I lift my arms so he can remove it completely. Feeling his skin against mystomach brings a warmth I’ve been dying to feel for too long.
He pulls back and looks in my eyes as he says, “I want you, Natalie. I know I said I’d wait for us to be together, but I want this. I want it so bad.”
I lean up and meet his lips with a kiss. “I want it too.”
