Lexie felt the blood drain from her face, fingers instantly chilled by the shot of adrenaline that spiked her blood. “Mitch…”
“Not a word, Lexie. Not until I say a few things.”
She only nodded, and he continued.
“I know I hurt you. With the way I left, I don’t blame you for going out and trying to move on the only way you knew how. Reverting back to those types of relationships after I had broken your trust so badly…I get it. But NatefuckingJean, Lexie? That cocky fuckboy? And the day I left, no less?”
“I told you I did some things I’m not proud of,” she said quietly.
“Yeah well I didn’t think you meant mere hours after I’d been traded.”
“What did you expect me to do?” She yelled. “You were gone! Do you know how many times I called you that day, from the second I heard the news? God, it had to have been upwards of fifty. And you blew me off every single time. I would’ve done anything to hear your voice. I even went to your apartment to see you, but you’d already left. No one could get a hold of you, and then you changed your number! What the fuck was I supposed to do?”
Her voice had risen to hysterical, and she hoped like hell no one would come inside the cabin right now, or they’d be getting an earful.
“I know, Lex,” he said. “I know. But God, you could’ve at least waited a few weeks or months.”
“And how long did you wait?” She retorted. “Before you fucked someone in LA?”
He didn’t have an answer readily available, which led her to believe it hadn’t been long after he moved. Probably not the same night, but soon enough after that she could be hurt by it if she wanted to.
If she hadn’t already been drowning under the pain of losing him the way she had.
“That’s what I thought,” she said. “I regretted it the moment it happened. But I can’t take it back. I missed you so fucking much I would’ve done anything to chase that feeling away. You hurt me so badly.”
“And you think pushing me away didn’t hurt me? Why are you acting like you’re the only one who got their heart broken here?”
“Because youleftme! You made it clear you didn’t want me anymore. With the way I grew up, you had to know how that would affect me.”
He stepped closer to her, pressing her back against the wall. “I have always wanted you,” he said, voice low and full of gravel. “Every second of every day that I was gone, and all of the ones since I’ve been back. That has never changed. Leaving you the way I did and not fighting for our relationship is something I’ll regret for the rest of my life. We can never get that time back, Lex, and that’s on me. But you’ve always been safe with me, and I’m sorry I made you feel otherwise. I’ll spend forever proving it to you.”
“Then why are you so mad at me right now?”
“I don’t like the idea of that little tool having put his hands on what’s mine.”
“Yours?” She asked, voice shaky. Unable to stop herself, she smoothed her hands over his chest and around his neck, burying them in his hair. It was a gesture she’d performed a thousand times, and he still reacted the same: eyelids growing heavy, hands snaking around her waist to cup her ass.
“Yes, Lexie.Mine. You have always been mine. Don’t you know that by now?”
She answered by leaning forward and pressing her mouth to his.
They both whimpered. It was so familiar, his mouth as soft and warm as she remembered. And when he licked his way inside hers, he tasted strongly of champagne and vaguely of the cigars he, Brent, and the rest of the groomsmen shared after the ceremony.
She’d never been into smokers, but on him, it was intoxicating.
He pulled away, her bottom lip trapped briefly between his teeth. When he looked down at her, his pupils were blown wide with desire, no doubt mirroring her own. They stood like that, gazes locked, for several long seconds.
“I gotta ask, Lex,” he said, grasping her chin in his hand. “Are you…”
“Clean? On something? Yes to both. I get checked regularly, and I have an IUD.” She stared at him expectantly.
“I’m clean, too,” he said. “I got checked not long after I came back to Michigan, and I haven’t been with anyone since.”
“Good.” Lexie took a deep breath, the tips of her breasts brushing Mitch’s chest, and his control snapped.
When he dove his hand under the layers of her skirt, deftly making contact with her sex, he groaned. “Why aren’t you wearing underwear?”
The easy answer would be to say it was too hot, and this dress didn’t require them.
