Mine To Have (Southern Wedding 1)

"About having dinner with me?" He smirks, and fuck, I wish I could walk over to him and lean my head back while he kisses me.

I shake my head. "I can’t believe you drove all this way just for this."

"Well." He smiles at me, and then my chest fills. "I really, really wanted to see you." I just look at him, not saying anything. "Does that silence mean a yes?"

Chapter 17

Travis

"I can’t believe you drove all this way just for this." She shakes her head at me, and I can’t help but smile at her. The minute I saw her, all I could do was smile.

"Well," I start to say. "I really, really wanted to see you." I give her a second to answer, suddenly nervous that she is actually going to say no. "Does that silence mean a yes?"

"I need to change." She points at the blue scrubs she’s wearing.

"That’s fine," I say. "I have to check into the hotel anyway."

"Hotel?" She tilts her head to the side. "You booked a room?" she asks, shocked.

"Well, yeah." I look around her waiting room and my heart can’t calm down. Did I want to rent a room? No. Did I want to stay with her and take her in my arms the minute I saw her? Yes. Was I going to let her push me away? No. Was she going to fight me the whole way? Probably. "I’m going to go check into my hotel and then I’ll swing by your house in about an hour and pick you up, okay?" Every single second that I wait for her to answer feels like an eternity. My feet move to her, and my hands go out to grab her face. My thumbs rub her cheeks. "Do you think you can unblock me now and send me your home address?" I smirk at her as my heart echoes in my ears. "It would be hard to explain if I have to go door to door and knock, looking for you."

She chuckles and looks down. "Fine," she says, reluctantly. "I’ll unblock you." I can’t help but lean forward and kiss her lips softly. Definitely not the kiss I really want to give her but I know that it’s baby steps. "But only because I’m afraid that you’ll knock on my father’s door or my brothers’, and then they’ll shoot you."

I can’t help but put my head back and laugh. "Fair enough." The burning starts in my stomach. I don’t know if I would blame them for shooting me. I hurt her, and it’s unforgivable.

My hands drop from her face when she pulls up the phone in her hand and adds me back as a contact. She starts to type something, and then the phone pings, and I take it back out of my back pocket.

Harlow: 2145 Villas Street

I text her back.

Me: I’ll be there in an hour.

I press send, waiting for it to beep in her hand, and when it does, I just smile. "And just like that, you're back." She makes me laugh.

I kiss her one last time before I turn and walk out, taking a step before turning back. The door opens, and she stands there. "This isn’t your father's house address, is it? Or your brothers’?" I ask, and she rolls her lips. "Why would you lead me to the lion’s den?"

"Come to think of it." She puts her hands on her hips, and her eyes light up so bright everything settles inside me. "I should have."

I shake my head. "See you in fifty-five minutes, Harlow." I turn, finally making my way into the car and only when I sit behind the wheel do I finally breathe a little sigh of relief. I take one look back at her practice and smile. She did everything she said she was going to do. I can’t be sorry that I let her go because of that, but ever since I laid eyes on her last Saturday, the regret has hit me harder than a wrecking ball hitting a concrete wall.

Checking into the little hotel is a breeze, and when I dump my overnight duffel bag on the bed, I walk over to the window, looking out. From the minute I found out she left on an emergency, I knew that I was going to go after her. There wasn’t even a question in my mind. I acted normal the whole time, I laughed when I needed to laugh and listened when I needed to listen, but the whole time, I was making my plan.

It took me a couple of days to make sure everything was covered with my shifts, but as soon as it was, I packed a bag and headed out. Sitting in the car for eight hours gave me time to play everything over and over in my head. The reunion went a lot smoother than I thought it was going to go. I thought she would have said no, but I think I caught her off guard. Looking down at my watch, I see that just ten minutes have passed, and instead of just standing here waiting, I walk back out toward my car.