Page 80 of Wreck Me
Megan turned back around and kept walking, her mind whirling. What was going on?
The pictures of the town stopped at the slight curve where the main drag and the side road met. The spot where she’d had her wreck. She gasped when she saw Aidan’s family standing in front of her. Each held a sign with an arrow on it, directing her where to go.
Her heart pounded, and hope ran through her body followed by a healthy dose of fear that she was dreaming. And then when she turned the curve, finding Aidan standing in the middle of the road, in the exact spot she’d first laid eyes on him, she realized that it wasn’t a dream after all.
He lifted his head and their eyes met, her breath catching in her throat. Even yards away, the pull he had on her was intense. Everything around her fell away. The fact the whole town was an audience flew from her mind.
God, he was gorgeous. On the outside of course, with those muscular arms, granite cut abs, blue eyes that held her captive, and the grin that always incinerated her underwear.
And in spite of the fact that he’d broken her heart, Aidan had a good heart and soul. He loved hard when he did love people—it was just a small circle that rarely opened to let anyone in. It hadn’t opened for her and that’s what hurt the most.
She wanted to run to him and jump in his arms. Forget that he couldn’t love her.
She wanted to turn and run all the way to Florida. Forget she ever knew him.
Instead, as he held her gaze and walked toward her, those hands her body craved shoved into his pockets, her boots were glued to the pavement, unable to go either way. He stopped in front of her, close enough that she could reach out and touch him, smell his cologne and the scent that was just Aidan, but not so close that he invaded her personal space.
Megan both loved and hated it.
“Hey.” His voice was low, husky, and danced along her skin like a live wire. It just about did her in. But she had to remember he’d hurt her. He didn’t love her, didn’t want her.
He’d been clear.
“Hey.” She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “What’s this all about?”
“Me and you. Us.”
“There is no us, Aidan. You made no bones about that. Remember? I said I loved you and you said I couldn’t be trusted to know what the hell I was talking about.”
He nodded, his eyes shadowed with regret. “You’re right. I did. And I’m sorry for what I said. It was cruel. You trusted me with something about yourself and then I used it against you. I’ll always regret that.”
She bit her lips to keep them from trembling and looked away, blinking hard. He was apologizing, but he wasn’t asking her to stay. There was no way she was going to let him see her cry. When she was pretty certain the tears wouldn’t fall, she looked back at him, keeping her back straight.
“Apology accepted.” She glanced around at the town, all eyes on them. It made her think of those Hollywood rom-coms where the whole town stops what they’re doing to see if there’s a happily ever after. “Is that why you closed off roads and have the whole town out here? So you could apologize?”
“No.” He stepped forward, and when she didn’t move, he continued to move forward until they were toe to toe and sharing the same air. “I did all this because I want the whole world to know I’m in love with you.”
Her head snapped back. “What?”
“I said I’m in love with you.”
He took her hands in his and turned them over before dropping a kiss on the inside of each wrist. Aidan raised his head and pinned her with his laser blue eyes. “My life before you was black and white and damn lonely. I convinced myself I just wanted to be alone—wanted privacy.”
He paused and looked down at their joined hands. When he looked back up, he lifted a hand to cradle her face, and God help her, she leaned into it instinctively. “Truth time. I want what my parents had. But I’m scared to death to have it. After my dad died, all I saw was pain.”
His smile lit up her world. “Then I met you. The moment I laid eyes on you in this very spot, I knew. You’re who I’ve waited for to rescue me from a lifetime of loneliness. To show me love is worth the gamble.”
His gaze roamed her face, stopping a split second longer on her lips before meeting her eyes again. “I love you, Megan Gentry. I know this is asking a lot, but please stay with me. I never want to see you go.”
Megan couldn’t stop the tears if she tried, nor could she deny he was offering everything she wanted on a silver platter. “I love you too, Aidan.”
He smiled and started to lean forward, but she put a hand to his chest, stopping his forward progression. “You do believe me, right?”
That smile she loved, that turned her inside out, grew and he nodded. “I believed you the first time you said it. It scared me shitless. But now?” He laid a hand over hers on his chest and leaned in closer, their lips barely brushing together. “I want to hear it from these lips for the rest of my life. Say it again.”
“I love you, Aidan Reynolds.” Her arms twined around his neck and pulled him closer.
The words barely left her lips before his mouth covered hers, his arms snaking around her waist. In the distance, the sound of applause and whistling filled the air.
