“Lei—”
“No, Maverick. I don’t even know what I’m sayin’. You’ve had this attitude, this freakin’ wall up, for so long that I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m madder at myself for letting you get the best of me, pulling my focus from Clay and Quinn. If you really are here for them, then you need to do just that. You leavin’ this time will tear them up if you just run off again without a backward glance. You don’t understand this because you weren’t here, but they all felt the void of you hard, real hard.”
“Leigh, look—”
She shakes her head. “No, really, Maverick. Whatever you’re about to say with your silver tongue is nothin’ I want to hear. I knew how you felt before you left, and regardless of whatever that was back at the PieHole, I think it’s safe to assume that things haven’t changed in the handful of hours you’ve been back in town. We need to just put it behind us and move on, for your family. I’ll keep my distance and I would appreciate it if you did the same. Honestly, Mav”—she pauses and I watch her chest move as she pulls in a deep breath—“I survived the sting of your rejection back then, and while I’m stronger now, I don’t think I could handle your emotional punches again. I’m sorry that I hit you, that was wrong, but let us just chalk up today as the mess it was and move on . . . in separate paths.”
She finally meets my gaze, her blue eyes even brighter with the wetness of her emotions coating them.
“I’m not leavin’.” Out of everything she just said, the only thing I can even get past my lips is that. There is so much that I need to tell her, but I’m not even sure where to start. I just know I need to address her claim that I’ll be hauling ass out of here because if she truly believes that, it doesn’t matter what else I say to her. She’ll be waiting with the rest of the town, guessing when I’ll be kicking up dust like the last time I left.
Her lips open and close, but no words come out. I can see her mind working in overtime as her brow furrows and her eyes search mine. I stand tall and drop my guard, letting her see the honesty and truth behind my words. Her eyes widen when realization hits. I continue to stand there as she studies me.
The years drop away from us.
The pain inflicted and the pain consumed, vanish.
The helpless feelings I battled with daily, the ones that drove my need to escape, are gone.
For the first time in my recollection, I feel somewhat whole. My breathing speeds up as my nerves fire with an overwhelming need. There isn’t anything spoken between us, but with the connection of our gazes, we might as well have spoken our deepest thoughts.
I step toward her the second she jumps up from the stool, the wood crashing to the ground in her wake. In a split second, everything falls away. The anger, the helplessness, and the lost feelings I’ve been struggling with. Gone. And in its wake, a feeling of need so strong it knocks the breath from my chest, takes over, and I know I have to have her back in my arms.
“This can’t happen,” she says with a gasp when my arms wrap around her to pull her closer, her words breathy against my lips. The soft cotton of her shirt rubbing against my naked, overheated chest.
“It can.” My arms snake around her narrow body to pull her closer.
“This is a mistake,” she slurs, her mouth opening and our tongues sliding against each other.
Her words fuel my movements and settle a determination over me that demands I prove her wrong. This is far from a mistake. This is a lifetime of want combusting in a split second of affirmation that proves just how wrong she is.
With her still in my arms, I turn, placing her ass on the counter. Just like back at the PieHole, everything else wrong in my life slips away and only my desire for her is left. Everything I ignored years ago floods through my system, mixing and mingling with the new feelings seeing her again after all this time brought forth. It’s too soon, but in the same breath, it’s ten years too late.
Her hands move sluggishly up my chest, around my shoulders, and then her dexterous fingers push into my hair. Her thumbs stay resting against my face as those very fingers tighten against the short hair at the nape of my neck to pull me closer. Her movements signaling to my brain that she’s giving in to what our bodies so desperately want.
She shivers in my arms and I use her distracted state against her. Deepening our kiss while I move my hands from where they had been resting against her hips, up her torso, pushing the fabric of her shirt up as I go. The second my calloused palms hit her rib cage, she squirms, wiggling her hips on a low moan. I step closer, feeling the heat of her through the barrier of my towel and her shorts, and when I press my thumbs against her pointed nipples, she jumps in my arms, connecting our bodies, hip to hip.