“You’re right,” he said quietly. “I did. And there’s no excuse for that.”
I wanted to stay angry. Wanted to yell at him some more, to make him feel even a fraction of the hurt I’d been carrying for days. But looking at him now… this strong, capable man who looked absolutely broken… I felt my resolve wavering.
“Lucas said you were scared,” I said, my voice softer now. “That you wanted a reason to push me away.”
Marcus looked down at his bare feet, his shoulders hunched. “Maybe I did. Maybe some part of me thought if I could prove you were bad for me, it would hurt less when you left.”
“So, you decided to hurt me first?”
“I didn’t decide anything,” he said, finally meeting my eyes. “I just... I panicked. All the evidence pointed to you, and instead of trusting what I knew about you and what I felt… I let my fear win.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly feeling cold despite the warmth of his house. “You really hurt me, Marcus.”
“I know.” He took another step closer, close enough that I could see the tears gathering in his eyes. “And I will spend however long it takes making it up to you, if you’ll let me. But Xavier, I need you to know that what we had… what wehave, it was never a lie. Not for one second.”
“Then why?” I asked, my own voice breaking now. “Why was it so easy for you to believe I was guilty?”
He was quiet for a long moment, and I watched him struggle to find the words. When he finally spoke, his voice was raw with emotion.
“Because I’ve spent my whole life believing I don’t deserve good things,” he admitted. “That if something feels too perfect, it must be a trick. And you, Xavier, you’re so far out of my league it’s not even funny. You’re smart and successful and gorgeous, and you could have anyone. So, when someone suggested you might not be who I thought you were, part of me believed it. Because it made more sense than you actually wanting to be with someone like me.”
His words hit me like a physical blow. All this time, I’d thought Marcus was just being a coward, protecting his reputation and his job. I hadn’t realized he was protecting hisheart.
“You’re an idiot,” I said, but there was no heat in it anymore.
“I know.”
“A complete andtotalidiot.”
“I know that too.”
I stared at him, at this man who’d helped me feel more like myself than I had in years. Who’d held me like I was precious. Who’d been brave enough to start accepting who he really was, even though it terrified him.
And I realized I had a choice. I could hold on to my anger, could make him suffer the way I’d suffered. It would be justified. I could go home and leave him in Sagebrush, letting him suffer for however long it took him to forget me. Or I could do what Lucas had done for Beau. I could give him a second chance.
“I’m still mad at you,” I said finally.
“You should be.”
“And I’m not going to just forget this happened.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to.”
I took a deep breath, my hands still trembling. “But I miss you too.”
Hope flickered across Marcus’s face, tentative and fragile. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” I admitted, and saying it out loud made my chest feel lighter. “I’ve been miserable without you. Which is really inconvenient, because I was planning to stay angry for at least another week at least.”
A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips. “I can wait a week if you need me to.”
“Shut up,” I said, but I was moving toward him now, closing the distance between us. “Just... shut up and kiss me you fucking idiot.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. Marcus closed the distance between us in two strides, his hands cupping my face as his lips crashed against mine. The kiss was desperate, hungry, full of allthe longing and regret of the past four days. I melted into it, my anger dissolving into something hotter, more urgent.
My hands found his bare chest, feeling the rapid thud of his heart beneath my palms. He backed me up against the wall, his body pressing against mine in a way that made my knees weak. I’d forgotten how good this felt, how right.
“Marcus,” I whined, pulling at his neck.
