Page 64 of Caught Looking

She wiggled closer, snuggling against my arm. “You didn’t need to come.”

And yet she clung to me like a lifeline. “Nothing could have stopped me.”

“How long can you stay?”

Was she bracing? “My flight leaves Sunday morning at seven.”

She sagged with relief. “Oh.”

She thought I was only here for a few hours? I brushed her hair back and kissed her neck. “I’m yours.” Two words I never thought I’d say to another woman, but were absolutely and completely true. I was Annalise’s.

She turned in my arms. The small sliver of light from the edge of the curtains wasn’t nearly enough. I could just barely make out her eyes. “I’m sorry about this.”

Sorry?I brushed my hand over her beautiful face. “You’re kidding right? No apologies for this.” Roscoe, good pup that he was, didn’t get jealous. He simply set his jaw on her hip and watched us both.

“I should have let Coach and Melody deal with it. Now everything’s a mess.”

“Did they say it was a mess?” If they did I had more heads to knock.

“No.” Her voice cracked right along with my damn heart. “They said they have my back.”

Hell yeah they did. “So do I. I watched the video. Babe, this isn’t on you.”

Roscoe whined in agreement.

“What did I do wrong?” she whispered. “What should I have done differently?”

“Nothing. Going out to talk to him was the right thing to do.”

“No.” She pressed her cheek into my palm. “In the beginning. When I started dating Owen, what did I miss? What didn’t I see? I should have known.”

“Oh babe.” I moved to my back and hauled her into my side, her cheek resting on my chest so I could hold her tight and run my hand up and down her arms and spine.

Roscoe must have sensed that I was taking over. He hopped down and slid out of the bedroom. A moment later I heard him tear into his dinner.

How did I fix this? How did I help Annalise through the pile of shit Owen dumped on her, and back to the gorgeous, vibrant, badass woman I was falling for? She deserved nothing but love, respect, and happiness. I would do anything to erase as much of this as I could. If that meant helping her talk through it, then that’s what I’d do.

“You know he wants you to blame yourself. To have you believe it was somethingyoudid wrong. But you didn’t. You didn’t miss anything. Owenhidit. You didn’t see it because there was nothing to see. And babe, you couldn’t have known. He’s intentionally charming. Distracting. He puts on a good act.The boy next door. He says he wants parents to think he’s the best thing ever. He’s a manipulator. That’s not on you.” And I hated that she felt like she was at fault for trusting him.

“I can’t sleep. I keep playing over everything. The day we met. The day we broke up. Everything that’s happened since the Fourth.”

My fingers stilled as I held my damn breath. I wanted to ask her something she hadn’t even asked of me. Something I wasn’t ready to lay out. And yet, I was going to ask anyway. “Will you tell me what happened? What he…did?”

I was a fucking bastard for asking. I instantly regretted not telling her about Lori when I had the chance. How could I ask her for something I hadn’t been brave enough to give?

“Seth,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “No.”

But I was a bastard, so I slid down until we were nose to nose and took her gorgeous, sad face in my hands. “Please?”

A tear slid out and over my thumb. “But then you’ll know which story I am.”

I closed my eyes, hating myself even more. Then I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’re not a story, Annalise. You’re not a fake name in a game that asshole tossed out on the green of hole twelve. You’remine.” I ran my nose along hers before dropping a soft kiss on her lips. “And I’m so fucking yours. All I want to do right now is give you what you need and I can’t do that until I know why you’re tearing yourself up over a man who doesn’t deserve it.”

More tears spilled out, breaking my heart over and over again with each swipe of my thumbs. “I don’t want you to think less of me,” she whispered.

As if that were possible. “Do you think less of me for golfing with dickface?”

Her lower lip trembled and all I wanted to do was suck it into my mouth to make it stop. “No. Not now. I know you would do it all differently if you could.”

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