“Who was that?” His voice was flat.
“A company in Chicago. I applied before I left town.” I watched his expression, but his face had turned to stone, revealing nothing.
“They’re offering me a senior director position.”
He pulled out of me and rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling with one arm behind his head.
The space between us felt enormous.
“Congratulations,” he muttered quietly.
“I haven’t decided anything yet. I just got off the phone.”
“Mallory, you can be real with me. I just want to know how much time I’ve got left before you go back to your big-city life. That’s all I’m asking.”
“I wasn’t done making love to you yet,” I said, trying to lighten the weight of the moment, reaching for his arm.
He didn’t smile. “How muchtime?”
I sat up against the headboard and pulled the sheet up around me.
Then I looked at him, this beautiful, complicated man who had been wrecking me in the best possible way for two straight days and who was now staring at the ceiling like he was bracing for a blow he’d always known was coming.
My chest hurt.
My big-city life. He said it as if it were a foregone conclusion.
Like there was no version of life where I stayed here with him.
We hadn’t even talked about any future plans. We’d just been lost in the moment with each other.
I knew he liked me, maybe even loved me. But did that mean he wanted a life with me?
Men could be fickle, so I wasn’t sure.
I didn’t answer him right away because I wasn’t sure I knew the answer, and that surprised me more than anything.
When I’d driven back into Red Oak Mountain a few weeks ago I’d been determined to leave as fast as I could. It was hard to imagine staying in a place I’d spent so many years running from. But right now, nothing in mewantedto leave.
I was all mixed up. This wasn’t the right time to make a big decision.
“I don’t know,” I finally told him. It was the most truthful response I could have given him.
As soon as the words left my mouth, Zane got up, reaching for his jeans with the practiced efficiency of a man who had somewhere to be.
His flannel followed. Then his boots. He moved through the room with his jaw set and his shoulders squared, and something painful tightened in my chest.
“Zane, slow down. Talk to me.”
“Should have been out the door by six. I got a little caught up with you.” He didn’t look at me as he reached for his keys on the dresser. “Stay as long as you want.”
Fuck.
And then he walked out. He bounded down the stairs, then the front door opened and closed. A moment later, I heard his truck drive away.
I stayed in his bed for a long time, listening to the engine fade down the gravel road.
Everything in me was a chaotic swirl, but at the same time I felt completely numb.
