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“And why is that? Why do you have trust issues? You’ve mentioned a little bit but—”
“Going straight to the big questions, huh?”
I smile apologetically, biting my lip with a nod.
“Okay, fine. But if I’m stripping, then you’re stripping.”
“What?”
“We’re both going to bare our souls.”
I swallow a lump in my throat because, God, that makes me nervous. I’ve got so much bottled up, but at the same time, this talk is needed. If we’re ever going to move past everything that went wrong between us then we need to figure out why. “Okay,” I say with a nod.
“Okay.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Wes
NowthatI’vesuggestedwe share all our secrets, I’m at a loss for where to start. It’s not that I have lots of them, but it’s a part of my life I don’t usually talk about.
Lucy leans back against the counter with her water to her lips, peering up at me through her lashes. Her telling me I had to work for it—for her—really made me stop and think about what I wanted, and she’s it. She’s what I want. I’ve just been struggling with how to move forward from all the shit in my life.
When the silence between us shifts toward awkward territory, I finally clear my throat and look down at my hands, clenching and unclenching my fists. “I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I despise lies. I seem to attract liars for some reason, and it just got to a point where I had to say enough…that I deserved better, and refuse to let those people into my life. My father aside—I just…” I look up to see Lucy’s remorseful eyes and her lip trapped between her teeth as she nervously bites it.Shit. I probably should clarify… “This isn’t about you. Not yet, anyway.”
She huffs out a laugh. “Even so, I’m sorry for lying.”
“Thanks, but you weren’t the only one to mess up back then,” I say seriously, very aware that I walked away first.
Lucy laughs but it’s a little forced. “You’re right, but let’s not play the blame game,” she says with a soft smile before motioning for me to go on.
“I had a girlfriend in college,” I start after giving Lucy a quick smile in return. “For all of college, actually. She was always really supportive of my football career, and understanding of my, uh…obsessionwith it. At least I thought she was. But not long after I was drafted, I found out she’d cheated on me with another player on the team, and—”
“Bullshit!” Lucy exclaims, cutting me off, and I laugh at her reaction.
“Nope, that happened. And then I found out she’d actually been cheating all through college. Kind of hedging her bets on who would make it big and earn the most money. I—”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she says, cutting me off again. “What kind of a person does that? I hope you dumped her ass there and then. The nerve. If I could… What? Too much?”
Her question snaps me to attention and I realize I’ve been staring at her with my jaw on the floor. My pants also feel a little tighter becausemy God…
“Badass, protective Lucy is hot. So fucking hot. And you could never be too much. Don’t ever think that.”
Lucy blushes, which only makes her more beautiful, something I didn’t think was possible. She brushes her hair behind her ear, giving herself the chance to briefly look away with a shy smile. I’m not even sure what brought on her reaction, but I can’t stop staring at her.
“Protective Wes is pretty good too,” she says when she looks up again, causing me to laugh.
“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” I joke. “Actually, in honesty, I wasn’t aware I’d ever been protective.”Out loud.
“And that makes it so much better. But I’ve seen it a few times.” She shrugs as though it’s no big deal, but it is. I’m glad I’ve made her feel protected, because I have no doubt, I’d do pretty much anything for her.
“I care about you, Luce,” I let her know in case it’s not obvious. No matter how pissed I was at her, I’ve never stopped caring.
“I know. I’ve never once questioned that.”
She knows.I feel an ache in my chest that I almost want to rub. I have no idea what’s causing it, but I think it’s safe to say it has something to do with the iridescent blue eyes staring back at me and the incredible woman they belong to. A woman I’ve foolishly been pushing away. I almost want to laugh at how stupid I’ve been, pretending she doesn’t affect me. And I’m about to say something to that effect when she gets in first.
“Anyway, sorry. We were talking about your ex.”
