My mouth dropped open. “You’ve been sitting on my porch for three hours waiting for me to come home? I’m not sure if I should be flattered or slightly freaked out.”
Robert gave me a half-smile. “Maybe both? I didn’t think it through very clearly.” He rubbed his hands together. “Can we go inside and talk? I think the tip of my nose has gone numb.”
“Of course,” I exclaimed, hurrying to the front door. I opened the door and my dog burst past me, heading straight for his food bowl in the kitchen. I could hear him crunching happily from the hallway.
Robert closed the door behind him. We stood awkwardly, not entirely sure what to say. With embarrassment, I remembered what I had said the last time I saw him. I wanted to talk to him. To lay some things out on the table. I hadn’t expected to do it tonight, so I was feeling off balance and floundering.
“Are your parents okay?” he asked again.
I shrugged. “They’re being their usual dramatic selves. But I made it clear this time they needed to start leaving me out of it. Their toxicity has colored too much of my life. I need to stop letting their relationship dictate mine.”
Robert’s eyes met mine. “Sounds like you’ve made some important decisions tonight.”
“I have. I think it’s time I stop being so black and white. People are allowed to screw up. They’re allowed to make mistakes. I can’t expect perfection from those I love. I have to be willing to forgive. I’ve been really bad at that in the past.” My heart started to hammer in my chest. I felt as if I were on the precipice of something great but I was scared I’d fall off and break like my mother’s dishes.
“It sounds like we’ve both made a lot of mistakes,” Robert said.
“We have. I think we’ve made a complete mess of something pretty damn wonderful,” I agreed.
“Do you think we can work together on cleaning it up?” he asked hesitantly.
I considered his words. I knew I wanted to forgive him, but I had to be straight with him too. It was the only way this would work. “You lied to me. I know why you didn’t say anything about your website. It’s not exactly something you bring up on a first date, but you still should have told me once we started to get serious.”
Robert hung his head. “I’ve never felt shame for the work I did until I hurt you. Then I felt the worst guilt I had ever experienced in my life. I don’t want secrets between us. I don’t want you to ever feel I’ll keep things from you. And I won’t again. I promise. I just hope you give me the chance to prove to you I’m trustworthy.”
He was practically self-flagellating. I didn’t want him to take all the blame for this. It wasn’t fair.
“I hate that I made you feel shame for what you were doing. That wasn’t my intention. I need you to know I don’t judge you for it, for what Tiffany made you do. For stripping. For the website. Sure, I don’t like knowing so many women have seen what I feel belongs to me.” I gave him a self-conscious smile.
Robert’s eyes brightened. “Are you saying I’m yours?”
I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. I didn’t do well with emoting and telling someone how I was feeling. But for Robert, I’d try. Because I knew, deep in my bones, that what we had was special. It was a once-in-a-lifetime special. And I wasn’t prepared to lose it again.
“And I’m yours. If you want me,” I said shyly, looking up at him through my lashes.
His face lit up and he reached for me as if he couldn’t bear not to be touching me a moment longer. “Do I want you? My god, Sky, you’re all I could ever want. I’ve felt half-dead these past few weeks. I’m no good without you.”
“Me too,” I murmured, and his mouth crushed against mine in a frantic burst of lips and teeth. He kissed me as if he were holding on for dear life, frightened that I’d slip away again.
“I love you, Skylar. I love you. I love you,” he chanted against my lips, holding me tight.
I pulled away, breathless and overjoyed. I reached up and cupped his cheek. “I’m sorry for those horrible things I said to you at Sweet Lila’s. I was drunk, but that’s not an excuse.”
“You were hurting. I get that.” Robert kissed me again.
“When I went to my parents’ tonight my mother was so angry at my dad. All because he never told her about some girl he dated in high school. And while what you kept from me was a bit more serious than some silly high school romance, it doesn’t change that I was being equally stubborn. And when I heard her say such horrible things about my dad, I saw myself in her and that was a horrific realization.” I buried my face into his chest. “I don’t want to be my mother, Robert.”