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Sixteen
“You just mademy heart shrink a few sizes.” The husky edged to Blaine’s tone had Emilia pulling her hand from his.
Maybe telling him that he made up her best memories was taking things too far. Maybe she’d read the moment all wrong and merely sounded pathetic. He had every reason to move on, and it wasn’t his fault that she hadn’t.
“I’m sorry.” She forced herself to finish the apology, even as he pulled his gaze from the fire and onto her. “You came here to work, not get sucked into helping me. Now my big mouth is making things even worse.”
“That’s not it.” He gave a small scoff, attention falling to the table with their half-eaten bowls of soup. “I left my whole family behind at nineteen. My parents had to stay with my sister in LA, so she could finish her final years at school. Hell, I wasn’t even allowed to go back to visit because everyone was so afraid of what would happen if the wrong people saw me in town… I had no choice but to carve out a new life here in Harlow. You were gone from my life without so much as a goodbye, Emilia. I figured you’d moved on to someone better, someone your dad approved of. I was just some scruffy kid you dated a little while, right?”
“I’m sor—”
“I swear to God, you better not be about to say you’re sorry again.” He lifted his gaze, shaking his head.
She frowned and peered down at her lap. “I do that a lot, don’t I?”
“Too much for my liking.” He shifted beside her, and a moment later, his fingertips touched her chin, directing her attention back to him. “Not a single one of us gets to choose our family, got it? I don’t blame you. I never blamed you. But it’s a hard punch to the gut to hear you say the last ten years could have been a whole different story.”
Her brows tightened, and he must have seen the confusion on her face because he spoke again. “If I’d known, I would have come back. You know that, right? I would have found a way to get you out of there.”
Her jaw fell slack, and she turned from him, her hand taking on a life of its own and landing over her mouth.
Now she was the one feeling the force of that gut punch, a genuine pain growing in her tummy and absorbing her ability to think clearly. She wanted to say she’d tried to find him, but his family had frozen her out—understandably believing she’d only bring him harm. But what was the point of sharing that news? Of presenting more things to be upset about that could potentially lead to a family rift?
Her throat swelled, and she held back from talking, even as Blaine’s hand found hers again, pulling it away from her lips, shifting her entire body toward him.
As if by instinct, she leaned in, meaning to rest her head on his shoulder in some kind of show of mutual comfort. Before she understood what happened, his lips were on hers.
Her entire world stopped. Her heart seemed to stretch and strain within her. She couldn’t be sure if this was what she wanted, but then her eyes slammed shut, taking the decision out of her hands.
Gentle warmth spread through her chest, and the earlier tension in her muscles eased at the softness of his lips over hers. He tugged her closer, and her last threads of self-restraint snapped as the kiss deepened.
An unexpected moan escaped her, and she broke free, this kiss marking ten years since she’d felt so utterly wanted and alive. She stared at him for the longest time, the flames from the fireplace adding a beautiful contrast to the angles of his face, the woodsy scent of him drawing at her senses. If she wanted to say something, she couldn’t, her voice all too thick and raw for escape.
He leaned forward and captured her lips in his again, and for a second there, she gave in, only for the unfamiliar dull ache between her legs to awaken her from his spell.
She wrenched her mouth away, breathless but certain she couldn’t go on. Her head was a muddle, but not enough to hide the fact she wasn’t in the right frame of mind. “We need to stop.”
Blaine’s brows knitted together. “Your shoulder?”
She nodded, but the ache around her heart warned of her main reason, one so much more familiar, a line she’d already crossed and would now have to wear the guilt over. “And Sarah.”
Blaine’s cheeks hollowed while any tension at his jaw dropped away. “Emilia—”
She gave a slow shake of her head, not wanting to talk about it or argue, her guilt expanding like a growing weight on her chest.
She stood up, wobbling for a moment before she steadied on her feet. “I’m going to bed. Blaine, I refuse to be the other woman.”
