Dirty Toe Drag (Nashville Assassins Next Generation 6)

“I love it.”

“Great,” she says, wiggling her shoulders and looking fucking adorable.

I can’t believe she went to get frames for my mom’s pictures. She also cleaned this morning, leaving me a sweet note saying she couldn’t wait to see me. I opened my soul to her, and she didn’t judge me. She held me. She supported me. Something I’ve always longed for. Everything inside me is set on fire, and I feel that overwhelming need for her. That all-consuming…affection. I fucking adore her. I yearn for her. Fuck, I love her.

Without any warning, I blurt out, “I love you, Stella.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Stella

My heart jumps up into my throat.

My pulse runs red-hot.

My stomach clenches.

My brain is screaming that this can’t be real.

But my heart…oh, it sings.

Unfortunately, though, my mouth starts moving before my brain can tell it what to say. “We haven’t had sex.”

Wes looks down at the bed, visibly upset by the proclamation that my dumb-ass mouth has made. He leans his knees into the bed, tucking his hands into his pockets. “I don’t need sex to feel this way for you, Stella.”

“Really?” I say once more, sounding very much like the biggest idiot in Nashville, Tennessee. “I’m sorry. It’s just…you’re Wes,” I say with a nervous, awkward laugh. “Like, you love sex.”

He nods slowly, unable to look at me. “Yeah, I do. But I love you—all of you. Who you are. Not what’s in your pants. I know that part of our relationship will be incredible because I love you. All of you.”

Well, fuck me sideways. I exhale in surprise, my mouth now hanging open because, let’s be honest, I never expected this. I always thought he would be so closed off to feeling that way for me. Someone with that kind of trauma, and yet, he loves me? I mean, I’m awesome, but I assumed he wouldn’t feel that way for a while.

“And I’m realizing that’s not the case for you.”

I jump up then, holding up my palms. “Whoa, wait. Pause,” I say, and finally, he looks at me. “Wes, I fell for you the day you replaced the shoe I broke. No man has ever done anything to make my day so special or to make me feel so good. I knew right then, I was in it. But after last night, I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to love me. I was worried that part of you didn’t work or you wouldn’t allow it to happen so quickly.”

His eyes darken. “So, what did you think we were doing here?”

“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I planned on asking because I have fallen for you and I want you desperately, but I’m terrified to put myself out there like that. I don’t want to be hurt.”

“Stella, I told you from the jump, hurting you is the last thing I want.”

I shrug one shoulder. “All boys say that.”

“I’m not a boy. I’m a man.”

Jesus Christ.

He moves his big body around the bed, coming to where the tips of his shoes touch the tips of my boots. He swallows hard, looks down at the floor, his hair falling into his eyes. “I know I’ve been through some shit, and I hate it. I do. But I want to do what you said. The past doesn’t need me anymore, my present does, and I want to be in the present with you.”

I gaze up at him as my heart pounds in my chest.

“I’m aware my past is a lot to take in, a lot to process, but if it’s not something you can handle—”

“What happened isn’t who you are,” I say quickly, interrupting him. “I was just terrified that you weren’t ready for what I want—because I want it all, Wesley. I want forever and more.”

His eyes hold mine, burning ever so brightly. “I don’t want my past to dictate my future. I want to be a good man. I want to be a strong and honest man. Not only for myself, or my mother’s memory, but for you.”

Oh, damn it. My eyes start to swim in tears as I stay locked in his gaze.

“I want to be enough for you.”

“Oh, Wes. You’re more than enough. You’re perfect to me.”

He scoffs. “Unperfect, you mean.”

“Perfectly unperfect for me. Just me.”

He reaches out, taking my hips in his hands and pulling me against him. “I’ve never in my life felt like this about someone.”

“Me either,” I whisper. “I mean, I loved my high school boyfriend, but it was nothing like this. I’ve started to believe in myself since I started falling in love with you.”

His lips quirk at the side. “You’ve always believed in yourself. You just need someone to push you along.”

I smile then, the motion consuming my whole face. “I needed you.”

He leans in, his head pressing to mine as our noses align. “My shining star Stella,” he starts, and my lips curve, my heart singing loudly for him. “I’m going to try this again,” he says, taking in a deep breath and letting it out in a whoosh. “I love you.”