Page 57 of Troy Story
He drew himself up until he was facing her in bed. Pushing a strand of hair from her forehead, he regarded her tenderly. “You okay?”
“I’m…good. So good. I can’t believe I lost control. I never do that.” She let out a shy laugh. “Sorry I was so loud.”
“Don’t apologize. I loved hearing you moan.”
Her laughter rolled out freely. “That’s what you said the first time we—”
She stopped and drew in a sharp breath. But now his curiosity was aroused. “The first time? You mean in your fantasies?”
“I…” Her eyes widened in fear. “I’m sorry, I should have told you.”
“Told me what?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she closed her eyes, as though too ashamed to face him.
He shivered, suddenly chilled by the breeze coming from the fan. What could have made her retreat like this? “What is it? I promise I won’t be mad.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Just tell me. Please.” Had he done something wrong? Hurt her?
“Do you remember when you came to that conference in Boston two years ago?” Her voice was so soft he could barely hear her. “It was right after the first time Shelby broke up with you. When you arrived on Thursday night, we went on a bar crawl and got really wasted.”
“Sure, but I was so drunk I barely remember any of it.”
“Do…do you remember kissing me?”
“Vaguely? I think I passed out after that. I woke up with the world’s worst hangover.”
He remembered goofing around with her on the couch, doing another round of shots, and kissing her. Drunken, sloppy kisses fueled by his secret desires. He couldn’t remember much else except that his dreams that night had been vivid and erotic. The next morning, he’d apologized for kissing her, but she’d brushed it off like it was no big deal. He’d felt a profound sense of relief, knowing he hadn’t taken advantage of her.
“You told me it was nothing,” he said. “A few kisses. Just some drunken shenanigans.”
Dusty’s breath caught. She grabbed the sheet and pulled it over her naked body, shielding herself from his gaze. “I lied. You did more than just kiss me. We…um…”
“What did we do?” He tried to keep his voice calm, even as his heart was racing.
“Almost everything that…we did just now. When I came, I was so loud that you teased me about it. We…um…we wanted to have sex, but I said we should stop. I didn’t want our first time to be a big, drunken mistake. I got up to get us some water, but by the time I got back to the couch, you’d passed out. And then, when you woke up on Friday morning and didn’t remember most of it…I let you believe nothing happened.”
He stared at her, too stunned to speak. At the time, he’d felt guilty about kissing her. But he’d done so much more. All along, she’d kept it to herself, never saying a word, even when he went back to Shelby three days later.
Her eyes welled up with tears. “I’m sorry. I know I promised I’d be honest, but I thought you’d be angry that I never told you. And tonight, it just slipped out. But that’s not the hardest part. It’s what you said to me.”
He was almost afraid to ask. “What did I say?”
“You said, ‘It’s you, Dusty. It’s always been you.’ I’d waited so long to hear those words, only to have you forget you’d ever said them.”
Now he felt worse than ever. Deep down, he’d meant them. But if he hadn’t been drunk, he never would have had the courage to say them out loud.
She sat up, holding the sheet around her chest. “I should go.”
“No.” He placed his hand on her arm. “Please stay. I’m the one who should apologize. I’m so sorry. You were drunk, and I took advantage. That’s not the way I treat women.”
“I wasn’tthatdrunk. If anything, I’m the one that took advantage. I should have told you to stop after a few kisses, but it felt so good.”
The anguish in her voice shredded his heart to ribbons. He pulled her down beside him and drew her close. Stroking her hair, he held her as she trembled in his arms. “It must have killed you to keep this hidden for so long.”
“I was going to tell you that morning, but we both had such miserable hangovers. Then we were so busy at the conference that we never got the chance to be alone. The night before you left, I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer, so I decided to tell you everything. I wanted to see if we had a shot at being together. But then Shelby called, and…”
