Page 65 of Second Chance Wedding
He stretched out a hand so that he could gently dig his fingers into her hair. He loved her hair. The length and scent and feel of it wrapped around his fingers. “You made a mistake. It happens.”
“You make it sound simple.”
“Because it is. No one is perfect. All the decisions and moments and dress fires,” he said, smiling at the image. “They create us. And because of them we change and grow. But so long as we’re moving forward and becoming better, that’s all that matters.”
She turned her head to look at him, her expression so full of longing and wistfulness that Cole ached to comfort her, even though he felt Ana would probably reject him. “Tell me why you’re scared now. Why you ran out the night of the ball and avoided me since.”
“I can’t handle another fight tonight,” she said, slipping out from under the blanket and away from him to the other side of the fire.
“Then let’s not fight. Let’s talk. We have a lot of years of maturity at work for us now. Neither one of us are the same people we were back then.”
“I know that.”
“But?” Ana turned to face him, and even wrapped in a coat and makeup free, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. She lifted her hands and then quickly lowered them, a huff of sound erupting from her chest as the firelight highlighted her features and turned her eyes to clear green.
“But thingsareeven more complicated now than they were back then. I have a child to consider, I have a business to run, and I have a life chock-full of responsibilities which means I don’t have theluxuryof checking out or melting down like I did back then.”
“You don’t think love is worth the risk? Is that it?” he asked, standing slowly. “Because I disagree. And I think my parents and even yours would disagree.”
“My parents?”
“Ana, your parents are a lot of things, but even I can see how much they love you. Not to mention their marriage is apparently strong enough to survive the ups and downs of their years together.”
A derisive laugh emerged from her, and he hated the sound because it was so unlike Ana and the person he saw—knew—her to be.
“My parents hate you because of me. Why are youdefendingthem?”
He stalked around the pit and caught her by the elbows before she could turn and move away. “Because I can put myself in their shoes. If they want to blame me, they can. They’re scared of the past and what happened because they love you and want to protect you. What they don’t see is that maybe we’re connected in ways only God understands.”
Her eyes widened as she stared up at him, and she shook her head at his words.
“Cole, I meant what I said. We’ve had our moment. Can’t we just…be friends?”
“There’s no playing it safe here, Ana. I don’t want to be yourfriend. And who’s to say we only get one moment? Any kid could’ve taken the limo, but it wasyourson andmylimo. What are the odds?” He tangled his fingers loosely in her hair once again and noted the way her breath hitched. She wasn’t as immune to him as she wanted to pretend.
“So now you believe in fate and serendipity? Is that what you’re saying?”
“I believe,” he said, tugging her flush against him, “some moments are our second chances because we weren’t ready the first time around, and there aren’t any other ways to explain them.”
Cole used his fingers in her hair to hold her still for his kiss. Warmth flowed through them, brought together with their breath and their touch and the tension heightening the very air around them as he took the moment for himself. For them. Hoping to remind Ana of all that they’d once shared and could again if she’d let them.
One kiss bled into three and then four until Ana pulled away with a muffled sound and a determined shake of her head. “Ana.”
“No, Cole, I can’t do this. Not tonight.”
He’d hoped for more time with her. Time to talk about what had happened today and in the past. To kiss her until she lowered her guard and gave up the guilt that kept her afraid and locked in the box she’d hidden in for all these years.
How could he break through that?
Ana stared up at him, looking more than a little annoyed by the kiss and all the emotions it had brought up.
Or was it her response to his kiss?
Yeah, thatwasit, he decided, watching the way she hurried to shift her gaze away from him and ran her tongue over her lips like it was a guilty pleasure.
Ana locked her arms over her front defensively and glared up at him.
Cole sighed and lowered his voice. “How about instead of nightmares tonight, you think about us all grown up and ready for our future?”
