“You would have been miserable. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how much you lo—”
The word stuck in my throat, and I switched it out. “People have to want the same thing. I’m not made for city life. I’d rather dig my grave than move away from here.”
She bit her lip, looking sad and a little lost.
“Can we pretend?” she asked. “Just for today. That this isours.”
I knew what she was asking.
It was the kind of thing I’d regret when she left and I was still here, stuck to this place, the only place I’d ever wanted to be.
But I looked at her face in the afternoon light and I couldn’t find the word no anywhere inside me.
Then she tipped me over the edge, whispering, “I wantonereal memory with you, Zane. Can you give that to me?”
Mallory Carpenter was going to destroy me.
I reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair back from her face, and I almost tumbled down onto the grass with her, lost in the magic of this moment.
But common sense held me back, so I just looped an arm around her and breathed her in.
If I kissed her now, I’d never stop.
And Mallory Carpenter was going to leave again.
She had a life waiting somewhere else. And I’d already met the version of her that didn’t belong in this town.
And I knew the truth. Mallory wasn’t a country girl at heart, even if she’d been born and raised here.
I could already feel the shape of what was coming. There was a long winter in my future.
One where I lost her all over again as she built a life far away from here.
Far away fromme.
That future settled in my chest like a stone and stayed there even while I held her close in the warm sunshine on a perfect spring day.
After today, I wouldn’t see her again.
Spending time with Mallory was like stabbing myself in the heart over and over.
And today was all I’d allow myself to have, this one stolen moment, before I got back to reality again.
Trying to keep Mallory out of my life was easier said than done. And one night, not long after, I found myself texting her after midnight when I couldn’t sleep, thoughts of her dominating my mind.
We stayed up late that night, texting back and forth, my fingers flying over the screen on my phone while I lay in bed, hard as a rock, wondering why I’d been fool enough to turn her down the other day.
The night ended with me inviting her over to my place so she could see how I lived.
It was a mistake of epic proportions, and I knew it, but I couldn’t stop myself from doing it anyway.
After we finished texting for the night, I may have gripped my cock, imagining it was her hand instead. My mind got more and more imaginative as I stroked myself to relief.
And it was only then that I was finally able to fall asleep, with visions of those heart jeans in my head, and Mallory’s perfect smile.
Chapter 5
Mallory
