“That was about a year and a half ago, I believe. He’d go on these extra-long trips and come back either flustered or closed off, and I never questioned it. See, I was the easy one. I didn’t push him like she did. So he was … comfortable with me. Never really loved me or anything, but I was a good fail-safe. Dependable … reliable.”
Her eyes squeezed shut before she raked her hand down her face. “He’d insist he was overworked and stressed, but the real story was that he wasn’t invested in us, inme. Stupid, wasn’t I?”
“No,” I disagreed and slid my hand against hers. “If you were, then so was I. I never imagined my girlfriend would break up with me right after surgery. Sometimes, you think you know someone, and you really don’t. How did you—”
“Find out? She got pregnant a second time and had had enough of his back and forth so she gave me a call and told me everything. When he came home that night, I confronted him, expecting him to laugh it off or deny it. He admitted it and told me he was relieved.”
“Relieved?” I’d never met the guy, and I already wanted to beat him to a pulp for both stringing her along and then getting so deep in her head for all this time.
“Yep. Said he never had any, how did he put it … passion with me.” Her voice cracked before she took in a deep breath. “He packed his bag and left, and I guess he made a good case since she took him back. It was a quick divorce. In fact, the one meeting we had with our lawyers took fifteen minutes since he started it off with ‘let’s not drag this out.’”
She lifted her glossy chocolate eyes to mine. “Dev wasn’t the first one to call me frigid. It’s probably what I am.”
“No fucking way,” I growled before inching closer to where she sat on the bed. “I can tell, without a single doubt, you are not frigid. He was the issue, not you. You’re warm, passionate, and so …” I trailed off, catching a small smile creep over her lips in my periphery. “He’s an asshole.”
She let out an audible, sad sigh. “This went on for two years, and I had no idea. I even bought his excuse for flying out on Christmas morning. After … everything was over … I threw myself into work. Helping patients soothed me and made me feel worth something, but outside of work.” A laugh followed a sniffle. “Outside of what I could control, I didn’t want any part of it. After what he did and all the horrible reasons he gave me as to why, I just wanted to be by myself. Easier that way. No pity, no pressure to get back out there and get hurt again, until—”
I wrapped my arms around her and pressed a long kiss to her cheek. Her eyes clenched shut at the contact, but she didn’t flinch or move away.
“Until what?” I whispered in her ear.
She sucked in her bottom lip but couldn’t hide her quivering jaw.
“Until you. I wanted you so much, it terrified me, so I pushed you away.” She dropped her chin to her chest for a quick second before straightening and swiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.
My lips brushed her shoulder. “I am so sorry for all those things I said to you. I was angry and scared of losing you. You arenota coward. You’re fucking amazing, and I wish I could lay your ex-husband out for ever making you think otherwise.”
“You’d have to get in line behind Kyle.” She chuckled as her watery gaze met mine.
“The thought of leaving and never seeing you again has been killing me. I want you, Danielle. In fact, between all the candy and the long talks and the … times in the closet …”
Another laugh shook her shoulders through her tears.
“I think I fell pretty hard.” I cradled her wet cheek, swiping away her tears with my thumb.
“So did I,” she croaked. “I want this to be real, but I’m scared. Finding out you didn’t really want me would hurt so much more than what Cliff did. I shouldn’t admit this, but …” she trailed off, her eyes darting everywhere but mine. “My feelings for you predate being your therapist. They go all the way back to when you were friends with my brother. You were sweet and gorgeous and … fucking amazing, yourself.” Her smile faded before she squeezed my hand. “And you didn’t change. The man you became is even more wonderful than the boy I remembered. I fell for you, too, Jack. I didn’t want to ruin my memory of you when reality sets in and you find out that you don’t need me anymore.”
I grabbed her face to make her look at me. “What if we made new memories? Of you and me, outside of this place. Give us a chance, Danielle.” I inched closer. “Let me be the man you deserve.”
Our mouths fused together in a hungry kiss. I gave her everything I had, and for the first time, she relaxed in my arms as if she accepted it. If she’d only let me, I’d spend the rest of my days convincing her how worth it she really was.
“Come home with me,” I said when we broke apart for air.
Her eyes bulged as she leaned back. “Come home with you?”
“My parents are having this welcome dinner for me when I get home. Come after you get out of work. Afterward, we can go somewhere and talk; maybe I could buy you a cup of coffee or something. I told you, we need a date that doesn’t involve vending machines.”
She smiled before shaking her head. “They missed you, I’m sure. I don’t want to impose.”
“They called and came by a lot more than they needed to. We’ll make an appearance for my mother’s sake and then go on our own.” I cupped the back of her neck. “Do you want to see me later?”
“Yes,” she hissed. I smiled at the blush creeping up her cheeks.
“Then, I think,” I whispered, “it’s time to finally do what we want to do. And I really want to kiss you again.”
I inched toward her before she grabbed the back of my neck, covering my mouth with hers.Fuck, this woman could kiss. I groaned when she took my bottom lip between both of hers and gave it a nip before she backed away.
“Text me the address,” she said on a breathless whisper. “I can be there after six.”
