“Too bad I can’t beg your mom for pics.”

I wrap the short end around the long end. “You can. She’ll give you anything for a bottle of vodka.”

“Leigh—”

“I’m not going there. Don’t worry.”

“That’s not what I mean.” His eyelids press together as my fingers brush his neck. “You want to talk, I’m here. Always”

I tie the knot. Slide it up his chest. “Another time.” We’re close. Barely inches apart. My palm stays flat against his chest. My other hand goes to his hip. “I don’t like talking about her.” My fingers curl into his belt loop.

“When’d you rock a tie?”

“High school?”

“What were you like then?”

“Younger.”

His chuckle is soft. “Not what I mean.”

My fingers climb up his chest. Brush his shoulder. “I was the same as I am now. But more naïve. Worse with my makeup. Shit at bleaching my hair.”

“I can’t imagine you naïve.”

“I wanted to believe in people. Guys who said they loved me, mostly.”

“You love any of them?”

“I thought so. But now… no. I know what love feels like and it’s not that.”

His eyes turn down. “You love…”

I swallow hard. “That’s not what I mean.”

“Yeah, it is.” He brushes my hair behind my ear. “Don’t handle me with kid gloves.”

I shake my head.

He nods. “You’ve changed in the two years I’ve known you.”

“How?”

His fingers skim my neck. “You don’t walk around with the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

“I guess not.”

“You smile a hell of a lot more.”

“Or maybe I smile more around you.”

“Maybe. But when we first met you were the Ryan.”

I laugh. “You have a good sense of humor about being miserable.”

“I have to.”

My voice drops to a whisper. “You smile more too.”

Tags: Crystal Kaswell Inked Hearts Romance
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