Page 91 of Hard Rock Fling
"You couldn't have known."
"I felt so stupid. So used. There was never going to be a happily ever after with him." I wiped the tears that fell from my eyes with the back of my hand. "I vowed I'd never fall for someone's pretty words ever again."
"I'm so sorry, Hope." Ian gathered me up in his arms, hugging me to his chest. "They were never just words for me. I always meant them."
"I know that, now." I snuggled down into his arms, waiting for the tears to subside, waiting for my cheeks to dry.
I knew that Ian was telling the truth. I felt it in my heart. But there was still one thing nagging at me. If he felt this way about me, why had he let me walk away?
"I like your song," I told him, trying to broach the subject carefully. "And not just the meaning behind the words. You're a great singer."
"I'm okay. Noah's better."
I couldn't disagree with that so I said nothing.
"I wrote it thinking you'd never get to hear it. Never thought anyone would hear it."
"Then why did you?"
"Needed to get the words out. It felt like they were choking me. Like I couldn't breathe around them."
I wanted to hear him say it. "And what words are those?"
Dark lashes swept up and down, from my eyes, to my nose to my lips. They flicked back up again until I was confronted with that brilliant green, staring deep into me, like he was examining my very soul.
"I love you, Hope."
My heart throbbed, a sweet ache. Tears stung the back of my eyes again, happy tears this time. I blinked them away. "I love you, too."
We clung to each other, basking in the words. But there were still so many unanswered questions. I spoke in a near whisper.
"If you love me, why did you agree to break it off?"
His eyes glinted, a dark look chasing away the softness, the tenderness. "Damon warned me. Told me if you saw my scars that word would get out. That you'd be horrified. That you'd leave me and tell everybody."
My throat closed. He wasn't wrong. I was close to telling someone. Anyone.
"When you called it quits, I thought maybe it was a sign. You were getting too close." He gripped me so tight I thought my lungs would burst. I didn't protest. "Letting you walk out was the worst decision I've ever made."
Even worse than cutting yourself?
I kept my thoughts to myself.
"You're the first person to see the real me," he continued. "To prove to me that I matter, even without all thetwinsstuff. You showed me I could be more than that."
"You were always more than that. You were always just Ian to me."
He laced our fingers together and tugged me close. When we were inches away he brushed his lips across mine, a soft kiss.
"Tell me."
My heart clenched, a sweet, tender ache. "I want you, Ian."
I looked up to meet his eyes, a brilliant green.
"Only you."
Epilogue
