Page 87 of That One Night
“Then we can try to make it work. Long distance or…”
“Or?” Hendrix prompted.
She pressed her lips together. “I don’t know. There are schools everywhere. I’m not tied to Charleston.”
He cupped her face with his hands, leaning in to press his warm mouth against her brow. “You’d move back here for me?” he asked, his voice thick.
“I’d consider it. And for my mom.”
This time when they kissed, she could feel the ache rush through her. The need for him, so hot and thick inside of her, felt like it was almost impossible to ignore.
“Wait,” he murmured, as she pulled at his t-shirt. “I want to say something, too.”
“Is it bad?” she asked him.
“No.” He paused. “Well yes. But not the way you think it is. I just wanted to tell you. About me.”
Oh. That made her heart slam against her chest. “What do you want to tell me about you?” she murmured, noticing how his eyes didn’t leave hers.
“Everything.”
Chapter
Twenty-Four
His heart was racingway too fast, despite the fact that he wasn’t moving. Just leaning on the wall, staring at the woman he was quickly becoming addicted to.
“You’re worrying me,” she murmured. “You look so serious. Is it about your mom? About her catching us? You never told me what she said this morning.”
“She thinks we’re having an affair.”
Emery winced and he shook his head.
“Don’t worry,” he added. “I made it clear that it’s all my fault.”
“I’m not worried about that,” Emery said softly. “I’m worried because you look like you’re about to throw up.”
“I don’t like talking about myself.” Wasn’t that the understatement? And yet he needed to. She’d been so damn brave, telling her ex she was coming clean. Telling him that she’d think about moving back to Hartson’s Creek.
She’d put herself out there. He couldn’t pull back now. He wanted her to know him. The good and the bad. He’d been hiding behind his mistakes for too long. Pretending he didn’t care what people thought about him.
But he cared whatshethought. That was the truth. And she deserved it.
“I moved back here because I’d been breaking my mom’s heart for way too many years.” He let out a breath, trying to figure out how to explain the constant dread he felt that he was letting her down.
He was a grown man. But he loved his mom. And she’d always deserved better.
“You know about the drugs being found in my locker at school?” he asked her. Because he might as well start from the beginning.
“I remember hearing about it.”
“Trenton put them there. Him and his friends. They were pissed because I’d gotten onto the football team and taken the place they thought he deserved.”
“Trenton planted the weed on you?” Her mouth dropped open.
“He was one of them.”
“I didn’t know,” she told him. “I didn’t, honestly.”
