Take Me Away (Southern Bride 6)

He rushed to me, cupped my face in his hands, and leaned his forehead against mine. His breathing was so ragged, like he had run uphill for miles to get to this one spot. To get to this very moment. To tell me what I had a feeling he’d been wanting to tell me for years now.

“I’ve never stopped loving you. Never. I’ve been waiting, Linz. For eight damn years, I’ve been waiting for you.”

I closed my eyes and felt a sob finally slip free.

With his forehead still pressed to mine, he shook his head and whispered, “Please don’t cry. God, please don’t cry.”

“Say it again, Nolan. Please.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, and I nearly dropped to the ground when I saw twin tears slip free and roll down his cheeks. I lifted my hands and brushed them away with the pads of my thumbs.

“Please,” I whispered.

He opened his eyes and pulled slightly away as he met my gaze. “I love you.”

Smiling, I felt my heart do a crazy little dip as my stomach followed right along. “I know this is crazy, and I cannot believe I’m saying this, but I know it’s true. I love you too, Nolan.”

“Fuck,” he mumbled as he pressed his mouth to mine. The kiss was full of need and passion, and eight years of locked-up feelings between both of us burst free in that one moment of truth.

“Nolan, I want you,” I said as I pulled my mouth from his. “I want you.”

He looked stunned. Then he stumbled back and nearly fell. I reached out and grabbed onto his arm.

“Do you not want me?”

“Yes,” he said, his voice coming out strained. “I want you more than anything.”

He looked around at where we were.

“Will you take me to the cabin now?”

My heart thundered in my chest as I waited for him to respond. My God. I had just asked this man whom I had only known for less than twenty-four hours—yet somehow knew that I’d known him much longer than that—to take me somewhere and sleep with me. Who in the hell was I?

“No,” he finally got out. Then, he shook his head. “I mean, yes. But we can’t…we can’t be together. Not there.”

I nodded and tried not to look as devastated as I felt. I plastered on a smile that I was positive looked forced. Why in the world had I let my emotions take over?

Why?NolanI COULDN’T HEAR a damn thing. My heart slammed against my chest, in my ears, at every pulse point.

Linnzi stood there, a sad smile on her face as she drew in a breath and then looked past me. “Should we keep walking?”

I was sure I stared at her like she had grown three heads. “What?”

“Our walk, should we keep going?”

Her sudden casual switch threw me.

“No. I mean, we can if you want to.”

She nodded and started down the trail, or what she thought was the trail from where we had originally been walking.

I shook my head to clear all the damn noise in there. As she walked by me, I reached for her arm and she stopped. “You have no idea how desperately I want to take you right here, right now, Linnzi. I have done nothing but dream of being with you. You’re not the only one who woke up affected by dreams. I’ve had my cock in my hand so many times, and you were always the vision in my head as I called out your name when I came.”

Her mouth formed a small O, and her cheeks turned bright pink.

“Don’t think for a minute I don’t want you. The only reason I said no is because there’s people there. We wouldn’t be alone. And to be honest with you, I don’t want to mess this up.”

She stared at me with a confused smile. “Mess it up how?”

I closed my eyes and tried to form cohesive words. “I’ve got an inner battle going on inside of me. I want to tell you everything, Linz. God, I want to tell you everything. But I have this fear that if I tell you or you remember, you’re going to hate me. Hell, hate a bunch of people.”

She gasped. “Hate you?”

With downcast eyes, all I could do was give her one nod.

“Did you cheat on me?”

My head snapped up to meet her gaze. “I have never cheated on you and have been nothing but faithful to you these last eight years.”

Her eyes widened in shock as she whispered, “What?” Then suddenly, her hand came up to her mouth. “Oh my God. We were together when the accident happened.”

I felt my entire body stiffen.

“We were dating, weren’t we?”

Even though I tried not to let it happen, I sagged slightly in relief. “Yes. We were…” I stopped myself before I told her we were engaged.