“I’m on my way. Stay in the car. I’ll be there soon.” He hung up, and more tears fell from my eyes. I didn’t fight him that hard because I wanted him here. After all this time of flying solo, I finally had someone to call. Drew was my someone—denying it any longer was pointless.
My head fell on my steering wheel as the first sob finally broke free. Josh admired me because I was tough? No, I was well-versed at ignoring. Tonight, I came face-to-face with my demons and they destroyed me.
I lifted my aching head to the tapping on my driver’s side window. I pushed the door open and climbed out. Drew was next to the car, his dark locks full of snow and big eyes peering at me as if I were about to explode before him. He wasn’t far off.
“Where did you park?” Resisting the urge to leap into his arms was almost impossible. Drew was a balm to my shattered soul tonight, but even now I still fought the blinding pull.
“On the corner.” He nodded with his chin behind him.
“You should be with your family. Even your dad. At least he cared enough to ask you to come for Christmas.” My chest heaved as the words fumbled out of my mouth. “Plus, you have cousins you like, right? I think you said an aunt, too? Family is good. It’s important.”
Drew didn’t reply as he inched toward me and opened his arms. It took me five seconds to collapse onto his chest in sobs.
“Shh,” he crooned as he tightened his embrace around me. “It’s okay.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “I told you, I’ve got you.”
“I don’t understand.” I lifted my head off the wet spot of pooled tears on his jacket. “What did I do that was so awful? Why do I still want them to love me and be proud of me? Why am I letting them get to me? I swore she’d never make me cry.” I sniffed and shook my head.
“Listen to me,” he growled as he cradled my face and swiped my tears with his thumbs. “You’re amazing and smart and brave and beautiful. Don’t waste your tears on awful people like that. You’re raising a daughter and working your ass off to make a future for both of you.” He kissed my closed eyelids and rested his forehead against mine. “I’mproud of you, Sara. I’ll tell you more when you’re ready to hear it.”
I stepped closer and brushed my lips against his. It was quick and light, but we both shuddered at the contact. He pulled back, pausing to study my face as if he didn’t believe what just happened.
“I couldn’t not kiss you after you said that.” I feathered my hand down his cheek, breathing him in, my heart now racing with passion instead of despair.
“Once we cross this line, that’s it. I won’t be able to go back,” he rasped against my lips. “I need you to be sure.”
“You don’t want to kiss me?”
“Are you kidding?” His eyes narrowed into slits. “I want you so bad it’s killing me. But you’re upset, and I won’t take advantage—”
I kissed him again, this time letting my lips linger. Drew hissed as I nibbled his bottom lip when I pulled away.
“Just do it, Kostas,” I begged as I ached for him to make a move. All the resistance I’d built up all this time evaporated in a rush.
Drew covered my mouth with his, gliding his tongue across my bottom lip, sensual but careful. His body was rigid and shaking from holding back.
“God, Sara.” My name fell from his lips like a tortured prayer before our mouths crashed together in a hungry, bruising kiss. He groaned as his tongue tangled with mine with deliberate and knee-buckling strokes. It was too much and not enough all at once. His soft, plump lips devoured mine as all the heat simmering between us for the past few months finally boiled over on a quiet, snowy street.
Was this still a bad idea? Probably, but I needed him too much to care. Drew made me feel loved and whole and wanted. I fisted the cropped hair at his neck, and he moved faster, drinking me in with fervor as if he was terrified I’d change my mind and tell him to stop. We weren’t stopping. Not anymore.
A whimper escaped me when he pulled away, both of us panting white clouds into the winter air.
“Those lips . . .” Drew drifted his thumb over my bottom lip. “You’re shivering.” He ran his hands up and down my wool-covered arms.
“Maybe, but I’m not cold.”
“No, you’re not.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “You’re warm and sweet and I need to get you inside before we start attracting an audience.”
I laughed and wiped my damp cheeks with the back of my hand. “Thank you for . . . coming here.”
“A blizzard wouldn’t have stopped me. Not when it comes to you.” He pecked my lips.
I took his hand and led him toward the apartment. “Come meet my daughter.”
“Yeah?” His dark eyes, now almost black, widened. “I’d love to, but you’re sure?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. I still felt as if I’d been punched in the stomach, but Drew made me want to stand back up. I took one last look back tonight, but I wouldn’t let it keep me from moving forward—and I was starting with the man I’d been afraid to want.
That’s how I wouldn’t let them beat me.
