“She’s been the best thing in my life for four years.”
He nods, looking down. “Is she Mason’s?”
“Mason?” I’m confused.
He looks up to me. “Mason Green? Isn’t that who…” His words trail off, and his expression is like finding the last piece to a challenging puzzle.
“What did you want to talk about?” I ask.
He comes to where I’m standing, and I see the thoughts moving behind his eyes. He pauses. It seems like he might touch me, but he hesitates. I want him to touch me. My skin aches for his touch.
He blinks down briefly, and when our eyes meet again, his smolder. “I don’t know what happened or why. I only know you’ll tell me the truth, and we need to know the truth.”
“The truth about what?” My voice is as solemn as his.
We’ve reached an important moment.
A moment of truth.
Another step closer, and my heart beats harder.
“When I left… It seems so long ago.” With a bitter laugh, he runs an injured hand over his mouth. “I never wanted to let you go, Em,” his voice changes. His eyes are burning, intense. “Leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Still, it was important. I went to school thinking I’d work hard, double up on my hours, finish early so I could get back here sooner…”
My stomach cramps. All of those days fly back, assaulting my memory like a riptide. Blinking fast, I watch as he struggles with the words.
“When I found out you weren’t waiting, that you were with someone else, I didn’t know what to do.” He clears his throat, blinking his gaze to the side. “I kind of lost it for a little while.”
“But…” My brow clutches, my chest tight. “I wasn’t… Why did you think that?”
He shakes his head. “It never occurred to me that my dad would lie. He says he didn’t. He says it’s the information he was given.”
“Given by who?” The words pass through my lips on a whisper, but as I say them, I know the answer.
I know who wanted to keep us apart.
“You didn’t just leave me here… to fade into your past.”
He shakes his head. “I thought you didn’t want me.” Blue eyes capture mine, and like a magnet, I’m drawn to him. I go straight into his arms, and they open, catching me, clasping me to his chest, holding me, surrounding me in the warmth and security I thought I’d lost.
In that single moment, everything melts away. The walls melt, all the things that kept us apart dissolve like sand in the sea. Lifting my head, I find his eyes, and he smiles, smoothing his palms along my cheeks, tracing my jawline with his thumbs.
“I want you back, Ember Rose. I want it all back.”
I nod, my eyes heating. “I want that, too.”
Leaning forward, he kisses me softly, just a nip of his lips against mine. It’s fire in my veins. “I thought I came here to get away, to find peace, but I came for you.” He speaks against my skin, kissing and inhaling. “You drew me here. I don’t care about the lies. I don’t care what we were told. They won’t keep us apart anymore. You’re mine.”
“Yes,” I repeat, my lips parting as his return to mine.
His tongue sweeps inside, and warmth floods my stomach. A bubble of happiness expands in my chest. Our kisses consume, and the jagged lines of the chasm in my heart slowly meld together.
“Jackson…” His grip on me is strong but gentle, firm and possessive as he carries me to the bed.
It’s only us.
The scars are gone.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he holds my back in his hand. His lips are on my shoulder, tracing a line and leaving chills in his wake. I shiver and look down, heat flooding my panties.