Page 110 of Breaking Emily's Rules
He looked so good and so terrible all at the same time. His hair was mussed up, and he had what looked like several days of beard growth. Bags under those beautiful blue eyes. On the other hand, he wore low-slung jeans, a tool belt and a Hensley shirt with the sleeves pushed up, showing off the cords of muscles in his arms. He looked like he’d just jumped off the pages ofHome Depotmagazine, Stud Edition. A magazine which existed, of course, only in my imagination.
I went for stating the obvious. “You look tired.”
“I haven’t been sleeping. I need to talk to you. If we could, uh, talk privately.”
“Dude, I wouldn’t if I were you,” a young man in the booth next to them said. “Chick has a mean right hook.”
Stone glared at him.
The guy threw up his hands. “Just saying, man.”
“Emily—” Stone said.
“No! We already said goodbye, and I’m not going to say it twice.” Damn it, I was so not going through that again. I stood up and walked past Stone and out the café, but Stone followed.
“You’re not getting away from me.”
“What is it you want now, Stone Mcallister? A pint of my blood?”
Another parking lot. Different location. Morning now, instead of afternoon. And all I could hear right now was the sound of my own heartbeat thudding in my ears triple time.
“I hurt you.”
“Yes,” I breathed out. “You did.”
“It’s the last thing I wanted to do.”
“You could have fooled me.”
He looked at his hands “Damn. I’m no good at this.”
“Atwhat?”
“Expressing my…feelings.” He said the last word like it was salt on his lips.
But suddenly I considered that maybe this was about more than saying goodbye again.
“Feelings is not a four letter word.”
He didn’t look convinced. “I asked you to forgive me for being an idiot. Now I want you to forgive me for something else.”
I crossed my arms. No paint chips today. “You don’t ask for much, do you?”
“True enough. This time I want you to forgive me for forgetting something. Something pretty big.”
“You. Forgot something.” Strange. He never forgot anything.
“I forgot to tell you that I love you.”
“W-what?”
He closed his eyes for a second, raked a hand through his hair and sighed deeply. “Here’s the thing. I’m not great with words, and you know that. Not good with the touchy-feely stuff. But I’m trying. How am I doing so far?”
“Um, I’m sorry. Did you say you love me?”
He cracked a smile and took my hand in his large one.
“I didn’t think it would be this hard to go. When I first came here, Fortune felt like a place I would leave soon enough. I could just bide my time here. I’d go back home to the air force and whatever part of the world they’d send me next. But when I wasn’t looking, you became my home. What I’m trying to say is, I don’t think I can ever get you out of my system.”
