Page 71 of Always a Chance
I put a finger to her soft lips, stopping the next words out of her mouth. “He explained it all to me, but no matter what he’d said, it wouldn’t change anything.”
Pushing my hand away, she crossed her arms. “It sure seemed to before.”
“That was then.”
“What’s different now?”
“Now, I’m ready to say what I should have ten years ago.”
Her grip on her arms relaxed. “Johnny—”
“Stay. Don’t leave, don’t run. Or if you do, take me with you.” I stepped toward her. “Choose me, Talia. Choose us.”
Tears flashed in her eyes. “Ugh.” She turned away from me. “I hate you so much.”
“Don’t say that, Tal.”
She turned on her heel, angry tears now coursing down her cheeks. A few onlookers stopped to see what the commotion was, but most ignored us. “I love you, you giant nerd.”
“That’s not very nice.”
“I love you, but you make it so darn hard sometimes.”
I moved closer until my chest brushed hers. “Why’s that?”
“Because I want so badly to be mad at you, to tell you to leave.”
“But you can’t.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. Of course, I choose you. There was never going to be anyone but—”
We collided in an air-stealing kiss, the kind that made the entire world drop away. The busy street, the honking horns, and annoyed pedestrians who tried to get around us. I kissed her until my soul swam in a sea of fire, until my mind whirled so fast I lost myself to the feel of it, of her.
“I’m sorry it took me so long,” she whispered against my lips.
I smiled. “What’s ten years compared to the rest of our lives?”
Her lips parted, inviting me in once more. I could have lived in this moment and been happy for an eternity.
“Maybe you were right to blame me.”
Her eyes dimmed. “Johnny—”
“Not for the accident. For not telling you how I felt for all that time. Maybe if I had, things would have been different for us.”
She was still for a moment before shaking her head. “Things happen when they need to.”
I brushed a hand over her cheek, and she leaned into it. “You really believe that?”
“I do. Barrett and I—”
“Can we not talk about him?”
“No, we need to. Our deal was if one of us met someone we knew we could love, we’d end our relationship. Honestly, we were more friends than anything. I wouldn’t have survived the city without him.”
“Why are we still talking about this?”
She looped her arm through mine and pulled me down the sidewalk along with the rush of people. “Hush, you. What I’m trying to say is we ended things right when we got back.”
