Page 55 of Lovewell Lane

What did I have to do to make it clear to Margo that I didn’t hate her? I thought our chat on the boat made it crystal clear that I wanted to know her better, but her walls and deflecting made that difficult. Sure, I said it in a shitty way. Which was why I apologized and tried again in a nicer way.

I’d do anything for this woman. Except put her in harm's way.

Which was what I feared giving in to my desires would do.

I stood up from my chair and grabbed her hand. Pulling her to her feet, I pushed my hand into her hair, under her jaw, and tilted up her head, so she couldn’t look away from my eyes.

“This.” I paused to emphasize the tension between us, “Isn’t me not being able to stand you, Margo. This is me using every fucking drop of self-restraint I have.”

She looked shocked, but she didn’t pull away. I leaned my head down until our foreheads were pressed against each other. My nose brushed against hers, and she shivered.

“I told you I’m crazy about you. I meant that,” I confessed with a low growl. “How do I get that through your head? Or are you just playing dumb because you don’t want to admit you don’t feel the same? I won’t push this on you. Not with everything at play. You live in my backyard, in my town, while I’m also a good ten years older than you.”

“Nine,” she whispered. She’d done the fucking math. That told me everything I needed to know.

“If you want this to happen,youhave to want it. I won’t push myself on you, Margo. Make no mistake, my hesitation isn’t because I’m not sure about you. I’ve never been more sure of anything. You steal my every line of thinking anytime something that remotely reminds me of you comes along. My hesitation is that I don’t want to hurt you. Or Tessa. There’s a lot at play here. I’m older, and I have a child. That’s a lot of pressure on you if we were to do this. But trust me, I want it more than anything.”

I took a long breath and stared down at her mouth. Those lips were so perfectly pink and soft. I’d do anything to—

“Kiss me,” she ordered. And with that, my restraint snapped.

With my last shred of self-control, I looked into her eyes to determine if she really wanted this. She was confident. My gaze followed the speckling of freckles that I loved so much across the bridge of her nose and down to her mouth.

I pushed my lips against hers and cupped the back of her head with my hand. She let out a little gasp as I threaded my fingers through her hair. My other hand grasped at her waist, pulling her impossibly closer.

She melted against me. Leaning in for more like I had deprived her for far too long. She wound her arms up and enclosed my neck, so we were tangled around each other.

My hands couldn’t stop moving. I hadn’t done this in so long with any woman, much less this woman. And after thinking about something so many times, it was euphoric to finally have it. I needed to have every inch of her in my hands. Drown in this closeness. This intimacy.

Everything about her, her smell, her taste, her sweet sounds, drew me in more. She was the only vice I wanted for the rest of eternity. I’d live and die at her feet.

I pulled back with a smile to give her a second to breathe. Her breath hitched as she followed my mouth with her eyes, soaking in the sight of a rare smile from me. I watched as her lips formed a smile of their own. My thumb caught on her bottom lip.

After she’d taken a beat to admire my expression, she seemingly decided that was a long enough break. She simply pushed her lips against mine again, and I reciprocated. I walked us toward the house until I felt the wall push against her back. My knee found its way between her legs, and she groaned into my mouth.

“Fuck,” she gasped as I trailed my lips up her neck. She was irresistible. I would do anything if only to keep hearing those little noises she made.

She pulled my lips back to hers, and I kissed her with all the pent-up emotion I’d been holding onto since we’d met. It was hot and sexy and—

“Hold on,” Margo whispered.

I pulled away immediately and cradled both sides of her face in my hands. “You okay?”

She nodded with a smile. One of her hands came up to hold mine that was cupping her jaw. She nuzzled into it with a tired smile and kissed my palm.

“We should stop it there,” she reasoned. “I’m tired, and I don’t want to think about anything else tonight other than this.”

My thumb brushed against her lips as I nodded. “Okay, we can get you in bed.”

“No,” Margo stopped me. She tugged at my hand until I dropped it down and she led me inside. “Can we watch a movie? I just don’t want to be alone right now.”

“Yeah.” I handed her the remote as we both got comfortable on the couch. I wrapped my arm around her, and she wiggled over closer to me. We fit perfectly, like two puzzle pieces. She put on The Little Mermaid, and I let out a quiet chuckle.

“We should just leave it at that,” Margo murmured. “I have my diner and you have Tessa. Let’s just leave it at a kiss. No one gets hurt.”

That stung. I knew in my heart she was right, though. No matter how badly I wanted her, it would hurt so much worse to have her and lose her. Not to mention how selfish it was not to take Tessa into account. If we pretended to be a big happy family, and Margo in the end decided to leave Honeyfield, Tessa would be destroyed. I couldn’t risk her heart like that either.

Margo was nothing like my ex-wife. They were completely opposite in fact. But I couldn’t help but compare the circumstances. My ex-wife came into town just a few months before we started dating and she then got pregnant with Tessa pretty soon after. It was all a whirlwind after that. She wanted the big house, so I asked Slick if he would be okay with us switching houses with the baby on the way. He couldn’t have been happier for me. Everyone in my family was stoked to have a baby coming. It felt like the first new start after my mom died.

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