Page 67 of What I Should Have Felt

My papa cursed under his breath in that Cajun-French I loved while my mama clicked her tongue. “I thought you said you were tired of secrets,” she admonished.

“I am. It wasn’t like it was meant to be a secret, but can I turn it into a surprise that I need your help with?” I continued, and my parents peeled away from me with a raised brow.

“You’ve already got a plan cooking, don’t you,” my pops began.

I nodded as my mom grinned widely. “What do you need from us?”

Chapter 28

COLETTE

Azelie had decided to keep things quiet about Ford being her dad with this idea of making some major reveal at the fundraiser run or dance this weekend. But she had stuck really close to him every moment she could. Which I had a love and hate relationship with because I wasn’t quite sure where Ford and I stood on a romantic level, and we’d had zero moments alone.

Until now. Until somehow that big oaf managed to weasel his way into him and me driving together after sending our parents ahead for their booths by saying he didn’t want to risk his motorcycle getting hit in such a crowded parking lot.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, and my knuckles turned another shade of white as I drove us toward the school for the festival that had begun. Not a word passed between us, mostly because I had no idea what to say. After everything came out, and all this time where we simply crossed paths, I—

“I give it three, four days tops,” Ford said, breaking the silence. He leaned back against the seat and twisted his ball cap around backwards. Flames roared hot in my stomach at such a simple movement by him. No. No. Stop. This was the most inappropriate moment to become aroused.

Ford spread his legs a little wider, and the seams on his joggers strained with the movement.

Stop, please, I quietly begged in my mind. Why was all of that so hot? So fucking attractive. This was not the time nor place to start thinking about how sexy he’d look butt-ass naked in bed with me. But the thought of him sweaty, crawling between my legs, and burying himself inside me created a slick pool of heat within my body.

“For what?” I gasped, shaking out of those thoughts. “For O’Connor to attack us again?”

He smiled to himself and closed his eyes. “Nah. For us to fuck.”

“WHAT THE HELL, FORD?” My eyes widened. There was no way he read my mind, had he? And worse, now I wasdefinitelythinking about that. Every desirable but dirty thing I wanted him to do to me flashed like a movie, clear as day in my head.

“Oh, my bad. For us to have sex. Sleep together. Make love.” He raised a brow and flopped his head toward me. “Which would you like to call it?”

“None.” I pursed my lips as he chuckled and looked back out the front window. “How is this appropriate? It’s only been a couple days since everything came to light, don’t you think we should allow a little bit of time to pass?”

“That is exactly why it’s the appropriate time. We don’t have to sneak around, hide, or any of that shit anymore. I can be open and upfrontwith exactly how I feel about you. Well, after Saturday because the entire fucking town will know by then, too,” he explained.

He wasn’t entirely wrong. The logic was sound, and it was honestly something I wanted. But how insane would I sound accepting this with ease after all of these years? The idea of dating Ford, like a normal couple out in the open, outweighed that inkling with a heartbeat.

“You’ve become quite bold,” I said with a smile.

A smirk filtered on his face. “I didn’t come back just to stop all of this shit with O’Connor, you know that right? It was a nice excuse, but I came back for you, no matter how much of an ass that made me because it was time for closure. I couldn’t stay away any longer.”

I pulled my brows together and turned into the packed high school parking lot. “Don’t ask me to tell you what I would’ve done if Liam…”

His smirk softened, and his eyes met mine. “I would never, baby.”

“I’m sorry I’m not just already jumping into things with you,” I added quietly, looked away, and found one of the last parking spots available.

“Ah, now I get why you’ve had us avoidingbothof our parents. Not ready to take the questions and heat from them, I see,” he teased, and then something shifted in his expression as his gaze lingered on me, but I refused to turn his way.

“Look at me, please,” he tenderly asked as I put my vehicle into park.

Slowly, I glanced at him. Sitting upright in the seat, he faced me with adoration on his face. “I will never ask you to apologize for moving on. I will never ask you to compare me to Liam or expect you to choose between us. Ever. You loved him. You lived a life without me, and that is something to celebrate and cherish. I’m just grateful for a second chance at seeing whatcould happen between us. Without some stupid shitty rivalry that never really made sense anyway.”

My heart fluttered in my chest like a bird’s feather in the breeze on a cool autumn day. “You also got sappy,” I quipped, ignoring the fact that he had called me out on the “avoiding both of our parents” shit. That was at my request and very much for the reason he stated, plus I wasn’t keen on forgiving mine for everything they’d done. They’d altered the course of not just my life, but my daughter’s and the man I once loved and now loved again.

He grinned and twisted in his seat. “Yeah, I probably did.”

“I like it. This…This you.” I gestured up and down his body as he pushed open the door. “But that’s not me agreeing to us being anything yet.”

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