Every thought in my head vanished and my self-control was reduced to a single thread. She looked up at me in the darkness, and the intensity in her gaze made breathing difficult. Even though the guard was gone, neither of us moved. We stayed pressed together in the shadows, close enough that I could feel the smallest shift of her body against mine.
I had told myself a hundred times over that I would be patient. I had told myself I would give her space and prove through my actions that I could be trusted. But all those sensible intentions felt feeble and thin with her standing so close, touching me like she had missed me too.
My hand slid around to her back and she allowed it.
I wanted to hold her and never let go. I wanted this moment to stretch on forever, uninterrupted and unbroken. I wanted toforget every cruel word, every week of silence, every horrible doubt that had driven her away.
“Baron?” she whispered.
I loved when she said my name. “What?”
“I need to tell you something.”
The words should have brought me back to myself. There was a strain to her voice that should have told me something was amiss, but I was too hungry for any softness from her to think clearly.
“So tell me.”
She took a deep breath and held it for several seconds. Then she shook her head. “Never mind.”
If she had wanted me to let her go, she would have said so. Laurel never held back from stating her opinion, especially when that opinion involved me being wrong. So I let myself lift one hand to her cheek, careful and slow, giving her every chance to pull away, but she didn’t.
I bent and kissed her temple, then the edge of her cheek. Did she have any idea how addicting she was to me? With her next to me, I could withstand anything.
“We shouldn’t be together,” Laurel said softly. “We are all wrong for each other, you know.”
“I know,” I said, brushing my lips along her jaw. “We’re too different.”
Several long moments passed before she spoke again. I used them foolishly, selfishly, resting my forehead near hers and letting myself imagine that we could forget everything. That our fight had been small. We could overcome anything if we simply held each other tight enough.
“Baron.”
“What?” I murmured.
“Did you mean what you said about not wanting any secrets between us?”
I took a deep breath. If Laurel was going to love me, I wanted her to love me with full knowledge of everything I’d done in the past, knowing that I’d changed. “Yes. I want us to always be honest with each other.” I stroked her hair. “I’ve really missed you.”
Pain crossed her face. “I’ve missed you too, but—” she broke off.
“But what?” I prompted.
Her eyes were darting around like they did any time she was hunting for an escape. I wasn’t going to just let her go this time. We’d missed each other. We cared for each other. I’d been honest with her. We could finally be happy together.
“I love you,” I whispered, about to kiss her, but then?—
“I kissed someone else.”
I froze, our lips an inch apart. “What?”
“I kissed someone else,” she repeated, though the words sounded forced. “Yesterday afternoon.”
For one terrible second, I waited for her to laugh or smirk or tell me she had only said it to provoke me because provoking me was one of her favorite pastimes. But there was no lie in her eyes.
How could Laurel be angry with me for something I’d done years ago then go and kiss someone else a day before she was here with me? I slowly pulled back. “Who?”
“Little John’s son,” she confessed. “His name’s Peter.”
I wanted her to stop talking.