It's Our Time (Carolina Rebels 3)

“This is a bit much, don’t you think?” Ian asks as I walk out of the bathroom. He’s sitting on the bed, already in his PJs. “You ignoring me this long for a little mistake?”

“Are you trying to throw fuel on the fire?” He thinks forgetting us is a little mistake?

He grabs my wrist and pulls me to stand between his knees. His arms lock around my waist. “I’m trying to say whatever I need to for you to talk to me. I’m fucking sorry, Sydney. I can promise that I feel worse about this than you are pissed. It didn’t even click why you hung up on me until I decided to try to text you since you weren’t answering my calls and I saw our last few messages about meeting for dinner. I wasn’t thinking when I agreed to go with EJ and the guys. Come on, babe. Just forgive me already. It won’t happen again.”

Ian stares at me, looking hopeful. Apparently, I’m quiet for too long.

“Doesn’t it count for something that I came running the moment I realized what happened?”

“Not if I factor in how Savannah cried for the better part of the trip home because she decided too late that she wanted to ride home with you instead of me.”

“Fuck,” he mutters, gently banging his head against my chest. He lifts his gaze to look at me. “Babe, please.”

Damn it. He always gets me when he says please because it’s so rare. “Fine,” I mutter. “But if it becomes a habit, there will be hell to pay.”

Ian sighs. “When will it get through that thick skull of yours that while mistakes may be made, you’re still the most important person in my life and the last thing I want to do is hurt you. There’s only been one thing I’ve done where I knew it would hurt you and I’ll be damned if I’ll do it again. I love you, gorgeous. I don’t want to piss you off or do anything but make you happy. But neither of us are perfect. When is it truly going to click for you that despite that, I’m still going to be here and still going to love you all the same?”

“What?” Why is he saying this? Where is this coming from?

“It just feels like you’re waiting for me to fuck up or that you always expect the worst of me.”

“No,” I interrupt. “It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it?”

Sighing, I link my arms around his neck and rest my forehead against his. “It freaks me out now because when something goes wrong, there’s more on the line. All I end up wondering is what if things don’t work out between us? That doesn’t exactly help aid me in not being pissed at you anymore, but that’s what’s happening.”

“Do you honestly think I’ll let you slip away from me again? I pushed you away once; the only thing I’m going to do this time is fight to keep you. Unless you have some plan of not doing the same, then you can stop worrying.”

God, I hate it when he has a point.

“I love you.”

“Love you too, babe. Let’s go to bed.”

I crawl into bed while he finishes his nighttime routine. My ey

es are closed, my body is relaxed, but I smile when Ian gets into bed and starts getting handsy.

“Makeup sex?” he asks as his hands slip under my shirt and start roaming upward.

“Is that all the game you have, Ian? Asking for makeup sex while you grope me?”

“Doesn’t matter if it works and with you, everything I do works.”

“Don’t be so cocky.” Although, it seems he has the right to be. His thumbs swipe over my nipples. That’s all it takes to turn me on. Ian knows it, too. He grins and kisses me.

Ian is gone on his road trip and this is the perfect time to give Savannah’s room a makeover. Logan comes over to do what he can to help, which mostly involves keeping Savannah occupied. Ian helped me move the furniture to the middle of the room before he left.

“I thought Carey was coming,” I say when Logan appears in the doorway.

“Off with her secret boyfriend.”

“You still don’t know who it is?”

“Nope. She hasn’t said a word, and she’s barely at the apartment anymore.”

That’s odd. Something must be up. “Where’s Savannah?”