Cane was right.
No one was looking for me anymore.
Cane was standing in front of me, and I put my head in my hands, forcing air into my lungs.
It’s over.
My mind was racing, not quite believing the words I was hearing.This is too good to be true.I struggled for air, my lungs feeling compressed.What does this mean? Does this mean everything is okay now? Am I supposed to just go home and pretend this never happened? This is the end of Simon, maybe, but is this the beginning for Cane and me?
Cane crossed the room quickly, kneeling in front of me. He kissed the top of my head, wrapping his arms around me.
The feeling of touching him calmed a part of my soul and healed a piece of my heart hanging in the balance.
His touch was warm, a mixture of hard and soft that was uniquely Cane. He smelled of cedar and a hint of tobacco. It made me feel at home.
I felt pieced back together as he wrapped me in his arms. My world was righted again. That upwasa viable option.
But is that real?
“I am so sorry.” His voice started to break. There was a vulnerability in him that I had never seen before.
I reached up and wrapped my arms around his chest. Emboldened by my action, Cane scooted me to the edge of the bed, pulling me in.
“I am so sorry,” he repeated again, his voice barely a whisper against my skin.
I ran my fingers through his hair, longer than I had remembered, not sure what to say. Everything was still in such disarray, such a convoluted mess.
I couldn’t find the words that he needed to hear, and I didn’t know the truths of my feelings to share. So I said the one thing, in the midst of all the disorder in my head, that I was certain of.
“I love you,” I whispered.
His body stilled, his warm breath halting against my neck.
“I was so afraid, Cane.”
He pulled back slowly, looking at me with wide eyes. “I love you, beautiful girl. Your strength amazes me. Fuck, I think you’re stronger than I am.”
“I don’t know about that. I just …” I tilted my head to the side, studying his face. “The only thing, and maybe the only thing that I know right now is that I love you.”
He pressed his lips to mine gently, holding my face on either side with his large, calloused hands. I closed my eyes like I did the first time he kissed me and tried to commit it to memory, willing my tears to stay away.
“That’s the one thing that matters. We can figure out the rest.”
Can we? What else is there to figure out?I wasn’t even sure. I hadbeen so focused on Cane and Simon that I hadn’t had time to sort everything else out. Ashley, Cane pulling away beforehesentmeaway, the fact that he had been lying to me …My head began to pound as all of that came back.
“What’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m so glad to see you in front of me. I was so scared something was going to happen to you.”
“Hey. I’m here. I’m fine. It was you I was worried about. That’s why you had to go.” His voice was like music to my ears, music I had been dying to hear and was now being played just for me.
“I know.”
“But that’s over now. You can come back home,” he whispered, brushing a lock of hair out of my face.
I looked into his eyes, knowing exactly what I wanted to do but not at all sure what I should do. I vowed once to always listen to my brain and not my heart, but I couldn’t tell them apart from one another anymore.
Cane pressed his mouth slowly to mine, his lips soft, gentle. I closed my eyes, releasing some of the worry I had been holding inside me at finally being able to touch him again, of knowing he was safe.
