Take Me Away (Southern Bride 6)

Linnzi tilted her head and regarded me for a few moments before she asked in a confused voice, “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

In that moment, nothing was ever the same again. I turned and bolted from her room.

“Nolan?”

Linnzi’s soft voice pulled me from the memory. I looked up at her and swallowed the lump in my throat. After a few deep breaths, I said, “It was a plane accident. That’s how you got hurt.”

Her mouth fell open. “What?” she asked softly.

The sound of my heart beating in my ears made it hard to even hear her. “You were hurt in a plane accident. We were flying down from Colorado. I had a short-term assignment there and we were due to get married that weekend, so it was just easier to fly.”

She slowly shook her head as she let the words sink in.

I closed my eyes and felt a tear slip free. I heard her inhale, but I kept going. Focusing back on her, I went on. “I was flying the plane, Linnzi. It was my fault. All of it was my fault.”

Her hand came up to her mouth. “You were what?”

I waited for a moment, wondering if the memory would come back to her as I held my breath and searched her face. When she didn’t say anything, I said, “I…I was flying the plane. The main landing gear collapsed and…and…I attempted to do a go-around, but the plane didn’t respond. It…it…”

It felt like I needed to take giant gulps of air as I tried to finish telling her. Tears flowed easily down my face. “It bounced down the runway, and the wing came in contact with the runway. It…”

“Stop…” she said in a barely there voice. “Please, don’t say anything else.”

I gave her a confused look. She shook her head. “Stop. I don’t care what happened. I don’t want to know.”

Swallowing hard, I felt my jaw start to ache as I clenched down. “What do you mean, stop?”

She pushed off the fence and walked up to me. “I see the pain in your eyes, and I want you to stop. Please.”

“But—”

Linnzi pressed her finger to my lips. “Something inside me is screaming for you to stop. Please, I don’t want to know anymore.”

I went to say something, and she pressed her finger against my lips even harder. “Please, Nolan. Not now. I know there’s more, but not now. Another day, just not now. You’ve already given me some more pieces to the puzzle. It’s all I can take right now.”

The need to tell her everything was almost overwhelming. She needed to know everything.

“Linnzi, I think…”

She pulled my mouth down and kissed me. It was a desperate kiss. A hungry kiss. A kiss I could easily allow myself to get lost in and forget everything. No amount of jumping out of planes could make me forget what happened the way that being with Linnzi could.

“Kiss me, Nolan,” she whispered as she gave me a small shake. “Kiss me back!”

My eyes searched her face, and I felt so damn confused.

“Damn it, Nolan! Kiss me!”

I cupped her face in my hands and did what she asked. I kissed her, pouring all of my emotions into that one kiss. It was too much, yet not enough. I wanted to crawl inside her and stay there forever.

Linnzi ripped her mouth from mine. “Nolan, take me back to your house.”

My knees wobbled. “What?”

“I want you. I want to make love, now. I need you. Give me memories, Nolan, happy memories to erase all of the bad ones that are holding me hostage.”

Slowly, I shook my head. “But…it’s only been a couple of days, you hardly…”

“Do not say I hardly know you, Nolan Byers. I’ve been dreaming about you for eight years. I’ve been waiting for you, only you. I remember you asking me to marry you and me saying yes. I remember what it feels like to have your hands on me. Don’t tell me no now.”

“We can’t hide from the truth any longer, Linz.”

She shook her head and looked up at me with pleading eyes. “We can for a little while longer. Please. Give me that, at least.”

I was conflicted. A part of me knew I needed to keep telling her everything. The other part of me—the side that was terrified she’d walk away before I ever got to experience one more moment like this with her—won out. A small smile threatened the corners of my mouth, and I felt her entire body sag in relief.

She smiled. “Are you going to make me beg, Mr. Byers?”

“Beg? Not just yet.”

Her smile slowly faded, and her eyes turned dark with desire. I grabbed her hand and practically pushed her into my truck as we headed back to the ranch.

“How many Gs are we hitting on this ride back?” Linnzi asked with a giggle.