Page 79 of Your Place or Mine

Wanting her. Really wanting her. Not just in that basic, primal way—which, trust me, was fully operational—but in thekind of way I like who I am when you’re around.

And that?

That wasn’t something I’d felt in a long, long time.

I rubbed a hand over my face and exhaled hard.

I needed to apologize.

Hell, Iwantedto apologize.

But the thought of knocking on her door and seeing her face, bracing, unreadable, maybe cold, made something tight in my chest clamp down even harder.

I’d already broken something between us.

Was it better to leave it? Let her move on and write me off as the angry bar owner with too much baggage and no social graces?

Or was I willing to fight for the one person in this town who made me forget my past long enough to imagine something different?

I stood up slowly and took a deep breath as I looked at the dying fire in the hearth.

I didn’t have an answer yet.

But I knew this. I couldn’t pretend she didn’t matter.

Not when she was the only thing I’d thought about all night.

And not when I could still feel the ghost of her lips on mine like a promise I hadn’t earned.

I couldn’t sleep.

I’d tried. God knows I tried.

I’d lain in bed with one arm flung across my eyes, sheets tangled around my legs, thinking if I could just shut it all out long enough, the guilt and the restlessness would pass.

But it didn’t.

The thing about screwing up with someone like Lydia was that it didn’t fade. It festered.

She wasn’t like the other people I’d pushed away over the years—old girlfriends, flaky friends, even well-meaning customers who asked one too many questions about my family. She wasn’t someone you could snap at and expect to bounce right back with a smirk and a roll of her eyes.

Lydiafeltthings. Deeply.

And I’d hurt her.

Worse, I’d seen it happen in real time.

I rubbed my hands over my face.

There had to be something I could do.

Not just say—do.

Words were cheap. Hell, I’d practically weaponized mine. And sorry? It didn’t hold much weight when the damage was already done.

She needed proof.

Proof that I respected her.

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