“Just… give me a hint, would ya?” His request was so desperate. Like he was filtering through twenty-seven years of memories and coming up completely blank.
Beth shook her head sadly, her eyes falling to the floor. “One time, you told me you were afraid of spiders but I didn’t believe you and when I found one in my bed I begged you to kill it, but instead you went and got Ryan and he did it.”
She peeked up at him. His face was stormy. High pressure had mixed with low pressure and created a swirl of jacked up energy. A tornado of every emotion that had a name. And some that didn’t.
Beth bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying more. The truth was out, hovering between them like a hot air balloon that could run out of air at any moment and crash to the ground. All she could do was let this play out and hope it didn’t hurt too much.
Chapter Three
Renner couldn’t swallow. He tried twice but his damn throat refused to work for him.
“Bethy?” his voice left him in a broken breathy rush. It couldn’t be her. His Bethy hated him. And her hair had been blonde. Mostly. With natural dark streaks. And she had freckles. The Bethy from his dreams, the way he imagined her to be all grown up, still had freckles.
“No one calls me that anymore.”
Renner shook his head in denial. She’d changed so much. He finally swallowed the lump in his throat. How many times had he hoped to see her again? Just to know if she was okay. To see what had become of her. He’d never ask for more. She deserved better than him. Always had.
He brought his hand to her cheek, tilting her face up so he could see every feature. Not even her eyes were the same as he remembered. They were bigger, more open. And her lashes were long and dark. Her lips had grown to be full and fucking kissable. Her sweet round cheeks had slimmed some. Her body had filled in, in all the right places, and slimmed in others.
With his thumb, he rubbed the makeup from her cheek, revealing a spattering of pale freckles. His heart thundered in his chest, and he felt like a boy all over again, trembling in the face of his emotions.
It was her. It was really her.
“My Bethy,” he whispered. “It’s you.”
He couldn’t stop what came next. Through the years when he would wonder about her, he made himself the same promise over and over: if he ever saw her again, he would kiss the holy living hell out of her.
Before he could think better of it, his mouth crashed down on hers. Pillow soft lips against his hard and demanding ones equaled perfection. Nothing in his imagination had ever compared to what this moment actually was.
Tilting her head, he pressed his tongue into her hot mouth, teasing a taste of her. She was heat and home and the sensation of her wet mouth turned his knees to jelly.
His animal prowled beneath the surface of his skin, begging to be let out. He wanted to nuzzle and feel his body move against every part of her soft skin. Wanted to lick and taste every inch. Wanted to memorize her scent and her touch and—
Renner smelled tears, and with them, the sour note of disappointment, of hurt. These weren’t happy tears.
He pulled back just enough to see her eyes. They were closed tight, blocking him out completely.
“How could you do that?” she croaked, pushing farther away.
“I made a promise.”
She wiped her eyes, turning her back to him. Damn it, this was bad.
“A promise to who?”
“Myself. I swore if I ever found you, I’d kiss you. I’d kiss the hell out of you. I’ve missed you so much, Bethy.” It was the truth, and he prayed she could hear it in his voice because he needed to make this right. He wanted to kick his own ass to Jupiter and back for letting her slip past him these last few weeks.
She shook her head, but let him turn her around. He stared at her anew. How could he have missed it? How had he not recognized her right away? She’d haunted his dreams for years, yet here she was. If he hadn’t locked them in this room, would he ever have realized she was girl who kept him going during the hardest time of his life?
“But… you didn’t find me. I was right in front of your face, Ren, and you didn’t see me. You…” her lip trembled. “You forgot me.”
He shook his head in denial. But before he could say anything else, the door beeped and the lock clicked back into place. Bethany spun, reaching for the handle, and was out of the spa faster than a blink.
Renner breathed deep as a sense of loss overtook him. He wasn’t sure how long he stood staring at the door, trying to rein in his emotions and make sense of all that had happened.
On autopilot, he reassembled the door panel and closed up the place before making his way outside to his bike. Luckily, he didn’t see Layna or Magic anywhere.