Page 73 of One Little Lie
Without warning, I spill the last of my secrets. The reason I lied in the first place, and the guilt I’ve carried ever since.
Chapter 24
Rylan
We stare at each other long after he finishes speaking. He blames himself for the death of his father. He truly believes that Colton is in love with me.Hatty still loves me.
A breeze picks up from the ocean, and it cools my overheated skin, causing me to shiver. Hatty notices right away.
“We should head back in. You’re cold.” His voice is devoid of emotion. It’s a skill he’s honed, and if I didn’t know better, I’d think he’d retreated. But his eye twitches with the pain he just set free, and I’m not willing to let this go.
Glancing around, I realize we’re still standing naked off the shore of Block Island like we’re the only two people on earth. My heart is heavy, and my mind is swirling with so much activity I can’t think. Instead, I act. I act on every feeling, emotion, and memory I’ve ever had with this man because it all comes back to love at the end of the day. I love him. My heart is in love with him, and it’ll never beat for anyone else. I know that with certainty now.
Pushing him like this was playing dirty. I know it was, but goddamn it, I need him. I’m demanding honesty from him. It’s only fair he gets the same in return. I’m angry. So freaking angry, but love truly is a powerful thing, and it outweighs years’ worth of built-up angst.
Reaching up, I wrap my arms around his neck as he watches like a stone statue. With no effort at all, I wrap my legs around his waist, the water helping me float to him.
“Rylan,” he warns as his cock bobs and nestles at the crack of my ass.
“Do you love me, Hatty?” I ask again for reassurance. For him, and for myself.
“Yes, but …”
My anger ebbs to the recesses of my mind at his declaration.
“Ask me.” It’s a demand, and he follows orders.
“Do you love me, Rylan?”
“I always have.”
Loosening my arms around his neck, I allow my body to drift a few inches lower.
“Fuck,” he gasps as I find my target. Sliding my body up and down, I rub his dick slowly along my slit. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“I know that I need you. I need you with me. I need you beside me. I need you in me, Hatty, like I need my last breath.”
His hands finally move to my hips, and he stills my movements. His eyes are haunted, and I can tell he feels as though he’s betraying his brother, but I know deep down in my soul that the fear is unfounded.
“I need you, Hatty. Please don’t deny me again.”
I feel the thick, round head of his cock notch at my entrance, but I don’t move.
“I’m already living in hell. I might as well rot there, too,” he growls.
I open my mouth to protest his sentiment. To tell him he has to trust me about his brother. To trust me. But his hands close painfully around each hip, and I know I’ll have bruises there tomorrow. Before I can make a sound, he slams me down onto him with such force the air is knocked from my lungs, and I can’t catch my breath.
“For eight fucking years, I had to imagine you with someone else. For eight years, I haven’t been able to look at another woman without pretending she’s you. And for what?” he bellows over my head.
His pace is frantic, and my body moves with him as my brain tries to catch up. And when it does, I know we’re about to set the ocean on fire.
Hatty rears back, and when he pumps his hips forward this time, I meet him thrust for thrust. Surprise has him dropping his gaze, almost like my body brought him back to this moment.
“For eight years, I pretended real love, soul-crushing love, didn’t exist. I made myself believe I could be okay with companionship because you pushed me away.”
He growls, then lifts me higher so he can wrap his teeth around my nipple as he continues to thrust his hips in the water. Waves crash into us. Around us. Through us, but we never lose our connection.
“Do you know what it was like to get a glimpse of your life through pictures on Instagram? To see you living your life like I never existed?”
