Page 51 of True North

A door opens and slams behind me.

“Louisa!”

His long stride comes up fast. His hand grips my wrist. I stop, air burning through my lungs, blood barreling around my veins like a speed racer.

“Lou, please. Look at me.”

“You should go back to the dance.” I don’t turn back. I can’t.

“No.”

I huff an incredulous laugh. Always so damn defiant.

“I told you, I’m fine. Go and have fun,” I toss over my shoulder, eyes set on the street in front of me.

“I am. I mean. I was?—”

I turn back. “Watching me fall apart in front of the whole town is fun?”

His face turns serious in an instant. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Tell me, Harry. What do you mean? No, hang on.” I hold a hand up. “Tell me what youwantme to do, so I can do it and move on with my life.”

He closes the distance between us and takes my face in his hands. My body is alive the second his skin touches mine. Shoulders heaving, I study his goddamn handsome face.

“I want you to stop fighting me. I—” He sucks in a breath and tilts his head up to the inky sky. “I want this hot-and-cold bullshit between us to pick a fuckin’ side. I want...” His gaze drops to my mouth. His thumb brushes over my bottom lip.

My insides melt to nothing, and I can barely breathe. But I manage, “What?” The word is harsh, desperate.

But he tightens his grip, eyes burning. Something painful takes over his face.

“What do you want, Louisa?”

ChapterThirteen

HARRY

Ipress my forehead to hers, closing my eyes. I can’t look at her when she inevitably rips my heart out for a second time. But she doesn’t breathe a word.

I push back, hands on her face as it falls with desperation and she says, “I want you in my life.”

Pushing onto her toes, she brushes her lips over mine. I could just lean in, fall a little further and blur the lines between us. It would be so easy. But as much as her confession clears some things, she hasn’t given me any reason to take her word that we’re anything more than two people who can’t stay away from each other. Nothing concrete.

So, we’re back to friends?

Like the type of friends you call when you are short a dime to land the ranch of your dreams.

And the thought that she’s tellin’ me what I wanna hear turns the acid in my gut to ash. Is this even real? And is she gonna hang around long enough for it to work? Once bitten, twice shy. Even though every cell in my body screams to sweep her up and take her word as truth.

“You say that, bu?—”

Her finger presses over my lips. “The things I wanted never lined up before, Harry. I was always forced to pick one or the other.” Her worried green eyes search my face. “But I...”

A horn blasts through Main Street.

Hell. The old buckboard is blocking the through traffic. Hilarious as that is for Lewistown on a Saturday night.

“Hold that thought. And Lou,” I say as I release her and make for my vehicle, still looking over my shoulder, “outta the middle of the damn road, woman.” I force a smile, ignoring the raging torrent of flame licking my insides for the last few minutes, and turn my attention to the truck. Three cars are lined up behind it, waitin’ to get wherever they are going.

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