“It’s kind of heavy,” she said with a slight wobble.
“You can ask me anything, anytime,” Zac assured, shifting around her to capture different angles. He paused as she stepped toward him and touched his forearm. He lowered the camera.
“Why did you leave?”
Chapter forty-five
Sixteen years ago, Seattle: Zac
“I’msoproudofyou for telling your parents to back off, tabby cat,” Zac crooned as he swept a lock of auburn hair from her sweaty forehead. His heart battled furiously in his chest just as he felt her heart thrumming in return. The bliss of her orgasm lingered on her lips, pulled up slightly in a satisfied smirk. “That doesn’t sound condescending, does it?”
Tabitha chuckled. “No, it sounds supportive. Which is exactly what I need right now.”
“They’ll come around.” He placed a kiss on the tip of her nose.
Her smile dipped. “I’m not so sure.”
“I am. They could never give up on you. You’re too loveable.”
Her eyes sparkled with so many emotions, a beautiful glimmer in those baby blues that Zac could get lost in—happily—for a long time.
The rest of his life.
He’d already decided to follow her wherever she wanted to go. It would be tough to leave Leavenworth and the Millers, but something told him they wouldn’t dismiss him as a result. They’d brought him in when his own mother and father had decided being parents was a drag and dropped him off on Patty and Robert’s doorstep.
“We’ll compensate you of course,”his father had said, unaware that Zac and Jonathan had opened a window to eavesdrop.
“We don’t want your money,”Jon’s mom, Patty, had said with so much venom.
“What she means to say is that it won’t be necessary. Zac is welcome with us and can stay as long as he wants,”Mr. Miller, ever the peacemaker, had stated calmly.
“Well,”Zac’s father had responded in that stick-up-his-ass way he says anything to anyone.“I’ll have an account opened anyway. My guess is you’ll change your mind eventually.”
They never had and eventually passed the money on to Zac once he’d turned eighteen. He tucked it away, unwilling to touch it—or his ample trust fund, for that matter—because he wanted nothing from his parents. He had everything he needed already.
“What’s your plan?” Zac settled next to Tabitha and pulled her tight to his chest.
“I’ll apply for the colleges I’m interested in and still do the climbing thing over the next year. With or without them.”
“What if they cut you off?”
Tabitha froze. “I—I hadn’t really thought about that.”
Planting a kiss into her hair, he rubbed her shoulders. “I can support you.”
“I’m not going to take your money, Zac,” she blustered as though refusing to touch a piggy bank offered by a love-sick little boy.
He only chuckled, swatting away her concerns. “My folks are loaded. They set up a trust fund, but I won’t ever use it on myself. I don’t want anything from them. But I can’t think of a better cause than helping a promising young journalist get her degree.”
“Zac.” Tabitha braced herself up on her forearms to look down at him. Her messy hair swirled around her face in a beautiful red halo. “That’s sweet, but I’m serious. I’ve lived off my parents’ money and I’m ready to do it on my own. I’ve never touched my sponsorship money, and I’ll apply for scholarships and loans to make up the rest. If I need to work, I'll find something. Maybe on campus or at a climbing gym. I'll be fine.”
“The offer stands, if you ever need it.”
“Zac—”
“I said if, not when. Don’t worry, I know exactly what you’re capable of.” He tucked hair behind her ear and pulled her in for a kiss.
“There’s nothing I can say to convince you to stay the night?” Zac asked, wearing only a pair of boxers as Tabitha tied the laces of her sneakers.
